Summertime Crowds at the Beach

BJ and Andrew play at the beach in La Serena

Summer is in full swing here in the southern hemisphere.  We have been wondering how crowded La Serena would become when all the tourists arrived because we have been hearing about it for so many months.  Most of the tourist here are from the western parts of Argentina.  It is a much closer drive for them to get to the ocean than if they went east.

It looks pretty crowded from this picture and it was, but it doesn't feel uncomfortable.  The beach at La Serena is so large, that you can always find a bit of sand that is a comfortable distance away from everyone else and enjoy the sun and and surf.

With over 6km of beaches there is plenty of room for all the Chileans and Argentines and the few of us US citizens that are scattered in to the mix.  The busiest time at the beach is between 4 and 7 pm, after lunch and before the sun goes down.  Chileans have a big lunch, the big meal of the day, around 1:30 for a couple of hours and then stay up well past midnight, so there usually isn't much going on early in the morning during tourist season.