La Serena, "the serene one", is a pleasant town, birthplace of Lisa's coteacher and our friend Hugo. He gave us some tips on things to see and do, as did our taxi driver: She still charged us an arm and a leg to go from the airport to our hostel in town, but she explained that there was an airport surcharge included, and she gave us a great recommendation for a restaurant. It's a pleasant town, but it was cold and a bit foggy the whole time we were there. Oh well...After a nap, we set out for a picnic on the beach. Though we found the bus we wanted, unfortunately we didn't catch the name of the stop we wanted, so we took the bus all the way to the next town Coquimbo. It's a port town with an intriguing statue Cruz a la Tercero Millén, a mosque built by the king of Morocco, and a nice fish market - but no beach. We had a picnic in the park and the kids played in the playground, but on the advice of a policeman in the park, we got out of there before dark.
The next day we set out around La Serena. We found the Av. Francisco Aguirre not far from our hostal - as Hugo pointed out, it's an open-air art gallery with reconstructions of classic sculptures. After a spin around the Plaza de Armas and a look in the main church, we set off up an almost-pedestrian mall to the archaeological museum. This had a fascinating collection of artifacts (including boats) and a mummy from the Atacama Desert. We discovered that the local Diaguitas people used to hunt whales from small rafts they would paddle out into the sea.
After lunch in front of a small church with a fascinating bell tower, we stopped by the history museum and then headed for the beach. It was a long walk over there! We couldn't figure out why the town was back against the hills with a 1.5-km largely undeveloped band between the town and the beach hotels, but Hugo told us that when the town was closer to the beach it was overrun by pirates, and Charles Darwin mentions in his journal that the low damp area near the beach was farmed. Now it is being developed with hotels and condos. The beach was pleasant, and after a school group left, we were about the only ones there. Lisa and Berto had a good time collecting shells of clams that had some nice blue colors, and Gabi napped in the baby backpack. We then had a pleasant dinner of local seafood (a fish called reineta, like a cod?, and scallop ceviche) and watched Costa Rica score a dramatic 3-0 victory over Bolivia in the Americas Cup.
Friday: Off to Pisco Elqui, up in the mountains and the home of all sorts of spiritual and metaphysical activity. The Elqui River has a narrow valley all the way down to La Serena, and the entire valley is planted with fruits and grapes. The road is up on the side to maximize the arable area - or maybe to keep it clear of flash floods.
Snow-capped peaks drop down steep, mostly barren slopes to the valley. The road winds up the valley up and over Paso Lago Blanco (4200 m = 13 000') to Argentina, and we took a side valley up to the small towns of Paihuano and Pisco Elqui. It's another oasis town, and from above could be a small town in Switzerland or Austria (except for the appearance of the slopes above). 
We took a hike up the gulley to get a view over the valley - then Mike and Gabi raced back to the hostal to get our clothes out of the rain (still not quite dry) while Lisa and Berto rounded up the pisco, and picked oranges, and lemons from the garden outside our cabana. Mike fired up the heater, Berto set to work squeezing the lemons and life was good. After dinner we caught the sunset glow reflecting off the mountains.
Pisco de Elqui is a favorite spot!The next day we took our rental car up to the top of the valley to check out what we had heard was a nature preserve. No longer! Somehow it had been privatized. We took a short hike up the side of the valley to get some nice views; then Mike scouted for other hikes in the car while Gabi napped.
Tuesday we headed down the Pisco valley a short distance and then went banging up the Cachihuaz valley. From there we did a great day hike in hopes of reaching the snow line. Big wide valleys can be deceptive: the hike took all day.
We paused for lunch by the valley stream, watching the vegetation diminish within about 50 yards from the stream and turn to dry rock. As we started hiking again a pickup truck came by and offered us a ride. Mike and Lisa acceded "for the sake of the children" and rode up the remaining kilometer to the snow. 
Berto was quick to make snow balls, 
and a snow war was on! After snow balls were tossed and mashed down collars, we started down the valley. We encountered quite a few local folks making the excursion up to the snow - must be an unusual event! Gabi took her afternoon nap and we got to the car after about 6 km (4 miles) of walking. A tasty dinner of pastel de choclo (creamed corn and chicken casserole) at a local restaurant and off to sleepytime. A fun day!
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