Is Chile Safe at Night? 🇨🇱 | Walking Alone in South America | Ep. 34

Brother, this city is really very beautiful.

Good morning, salaam, namaste, sat sri akal, Ram Ram ji to everyone. Once again, welcome.

Right now we are in Chile, and from Chile we are heading towards Bolivia. In the previous video you saw that we stopped about 40 kilometres before La Serena. La Serena is a big city here and you can also call it a port city.

Today there was a India vs Pakistan cricket match. Normally I had to check out at 11:00 am, but I checked out at 1:00 pm. By 4:00 pm I will reach my hostel. I have already booked a hostel in La Serena.

The 14th (Valentine’s Day) has just passed. On Valentine’s Day there was no hotel or hostel available anywhere.

Now we will leave. It is only 40 kilometres today, so we will ride easily and enjoy the journey. See you on the road.

So friends, we have entered the city area. The atmosphere here is amazing. I will explore the city properly later.

Honestly, this city is extremely beautiful. Look at the roads — there are hills on one side, and on top of the hill there is a historical statue built there. It looks amazing.

Look here — the city is built along the coastline. That building there looks like a bus terminal, and even on that there is writing in Chinese. Maybe there is a mall above and a bus terminal below.

Look at this building — it is quite beautiful.

Now we have come right along the coast, and we will continue riding along the coast for the next 500 kilometres until La Higuera.

This is the fish market. Today is Sunday, so it is not very crowded. Look at all these seagulls flying around. Someone must have thrown fish here.

This is the fish market area. You can see the remains of big fish that have been cut — they throw away the front parts sometimes. The smell here is very strong.

Actually, this is a twin city. The city ahead is La Serena, and this one is called Coquimbo. Coquimbo is the older city, while La Serena was built later.

Coquimbo is the port city, one of the oldest in this region.

I stopped Dhanno here for a while and took out some dry fruits. Someone had gifted me about 1.5–2 kilograms of dry fruits, so thank you very much to that brother.

This was the original old port city, and you can see the port here with ships. La Serena is the newer city, built later.

You can compare it like Delhi and Gurgaon, or Delhi and Noida, or maybe Chandigarh and Panchkula/Mohali.

I feel like flying my drone (which I call “parinda”) here once. Let’s try.

Yes, we have launched the drone. I was a little worried that the large birds flying around might collide with the drone because they are quite big.

Normally the beaches here are very clean. I noticed many clean beaches earlier, but this particular beach does not look very clean.

Now we say goodbye to Coquimbo.

There is also a beautiful church here and a large statue which was built around 1970 and is about 40 metres tall. It is quite famous.

When the Spanish settlers came here, they used this port city for trading and business. Later they developed La Serena according to their own plans, but this older city existed even before that.

So this was the main historical port city.

Now we are leaving the port city.

Look how nicely everything has been built here. This area here seems to be a scrap or storage area, and nearby there is a public gym. It is not just for display — people actually use it.

Right in front there is a Vivo Mall. I have noticed that almost every city here has a Vivo Mall. And of course, you can see Chinese businesses everywhere.

So friends, we are now heading towards the next city — La Serena.

I am recording using my 360-degree camera. Let’s see how the footage turns out. The camera is shaking a little, so I will need to find a way to stabilise it later.

Between these two cities there is just one river, and that river connects them.

Now we are entering the fishermen’s area. All the fishing boats are parked here. On the other side there are many seafood restaurants — the whole road is filled with them.

People here must really love seafood. If fish are caught here, people will definitely eat them, along with other seafood dishes.

The beach here actually looks quite clean compared to the earlier one. People have set up their tents on the beach.

Since today is Sunday, there are many people enjoying themselves. People here are crazy about beaches, just like people in India love mountains.

As you go further north, the weather becomes hotter. In the south it remains cold throughout the year.

The atmosphere here is really nice. Look — there are public gyms everywhere along the beach.

The combined population of these two cities is around 300,000 to 400,000 people, and still they have provided so many public facilities like beach gyms.

That’s really good.

I also keep seeing Maruti Alto and Maruti 800 cars here, which reminds me of India.

There is a place here called Tantra Club. I just came here while exploring. There is a signboard for La Serena.

Look at these beautiful graffiti artworks on the road and walls — very impressive.

Oh, we have been stopped! It looks like we have been given a fine. Yes, they stopped me and issued a traffic challan.

There are many bars and restaurants in this area, and somewhere here is my hostel called The Cool Hostel.

Yes, I have reached my hostel.

Honestly, the room is not very good. This is the bed I got. I was very tired, so after reaching the hostel I went straight to sleep.

Now I have taken out my drone again. The ocean is very close to the hostel, so I will go there.

This is the hostel, and the common area is upstairs.

Let’s walk towards the sea.

Look — a Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle is parked here. It looks great. There is another Royal Enfield as well.

Someone asked me, “Where are you from?”
I said, “I’m from India.”
He said, “It’s a really nice bike.”
I replied, “Yes, it’s mine.”

These two people here are actually from Argentina.

There is music playing here — I don’t really understand what they are saying.

Now we are walking towards the sea. Once the reflection of the sea appears nicely, I will fly the drone there.

It is now around 8:00–8:30 pm, and you can still see many people here. Even though it is cold, many people are swimming in the ocean.

The temperature right now is around 15°C, maybe even slightly less.

But people who love the ocean will always enjoy it.

Personally, I don’t enjoy the sea that much. Everyone has their own preference.

Alright, now let’s head back to the hostel. The hostel is very close. I either have to go through these posts here, or take a longer route around them.

Here is the English (UK) translation of your text, keeping the natural vlog storytelling style.

I will just go around from there and come back. And here the desert-like feeling has already started to appear. Soon we will take you to a very beautiful place. Keep watching.

This is my hostel. This is the common area. Downstairs there is a restaurant, and here there is a small swimming pool. My room is on this side. I have parked Dhanno (my bicycle) here comfortably. This is the reception.

I have already flown my drone and come back. Now I am going to the supermarket. But before going to the supermarket, do you know what I am taking with me?

I am taking a plastic bag with me. I will keep this with me because otherwise they charge around ₹100 for a bag or plastic at the store. I didn’t have a bag with me, so I picked up this plastic from here.

Most of the buildings here are outside-facing apartments, and the big supermarkets are about 1.5 kilometres away. I am thinking of buying something to eat and stocking up a little.

I have almost run out of food, so I will buy some food items and come back. Then I will do a bit of video editing. I have already connected my laptop for data transfer, so the footage will get transferred in the meantime.

Look at this — all these high-rise buildings along the coast. Most of them are probably Airbnb-type apartments.

The population of La Serena city is around 250,000 people. Tomorrow, when we go through the city centre, I will show you that part properly. Right now I am passing from the outer side of the city.

There are a few safety concerns in this area. Look here — people park their cars here and go to the beach. All these cars are probably from people who have gone towards the beach.

The area where we are right now — on one side is Coquimbo and on the other side is La Serena. So you can say we are travelling between two cities.

Those buildings you see ahead belong to La Serena, and Coquimbo is now completely behind us.

Somewhere ahead there is a Unimarc supermarket. There are about three or four big supermarket chains here — Lider, Unimarc, and a few others. It is better to buy groceries from these big supermarkets.

There are small local markets too, like this one here, but the prices are often double or triple.

Wherever you see flags outside a building, it usually means there is a supermarket there. But because this is a coastal tourist area, things are even more expensive.

People come back from the sea and take showers here, so prices are higher.

There is also a railway line here. I have not seen a train running yet, but that signboard says Coquimbo, so that side still belongs to that region.

You could compare it like Mohali and Panchkula with Chandigarh, where everything looks like one big connected city.

The area we are going towards now is where you will start seeing big industrial equipment, because beyond this point the mining region begins. We will talk about that in the next video.

Alright, I have reached Unimarc now. Let me buy a few things and then leave.

This Unimarc is quite large.

Now I am looking at the bread section. There is this classic bread, but I prefer multigrain bread because it feels healthier. This one sometimes feels like it is not fully baked.

They only have large sizes, but fine, I will take one.

Now what else? I usually buy Nescafé cappuccino sachets, but they are not available here. This one is 3-in-1 coffee with vanilla flavour. Let’s try this — it might last for a few days, and it probably won’t be too sweet.

So coffee is done. I also bought some fruit.

Now I need shampoo, but here they only sell big bottles, not small ones.

Alright, I have finished buying everything — fruit, muffins, yoghurt, and a few other items.

Now the problem is that it has already become dark outside, and the hostel is 2 kilometres away. I have to go on foot, and this area is not very safe.

What should I do? Should I walk or not?

Even the gates of the supermarket area are closed now. Let me try booking an Uber from here. Safety is important.

Uber is asking around ₹350 for just 2 kilometres. Should I walk instead? I often take risks like this.

Let me take out some money from my wallet and keep it separately. I also separate my phone and passport. I usually do this whenever I travel through risky areas.

But now I cannot do much because I am wearing track pants with only two pockets.

Still, there are people walking around, so maybe it will be okay. The only risky part is a small stretch without many people.

Anyway, I walked back to the hostel. It was about 2 kilometres. I thought, why pay ₹400 for such a short distance? Let’s just take a small risk.

What I did was this:
I kept my wallet in one pocket, my phone in another, and I took out some cash from the wallet and kept it in a separate hidden pocket along with my passport.

I also carried the camera in my hand so that it looked like I was just carrying equipment and nothing valuable.

And like that, I reached safely.

Alright friends, let’s end today’s video here.

We will meet again tomorrow with a new video.

Until then —
Stay happy, stay busy, stay cheerful, and stay healthy.

Jai Hind. Jai Bharat. 🇮🇳