Río Elqui

New-to-us Port #10.

Cool and overcast. Those were the conditions we woke up to. A marine layer trapped by the mountains, we were later told. Quite common … and would burn off by midday.

Today we docked in Coquimbo, which was founded by the British. But we explored, to some degree, sister city La Serena, which was founded by the Spanish. Thanks to the urban sprawl, these two cities are now joined at the hip, so to speak.

The tour was organized by Arlene, a segment passenger. It was a small group of 9 people. Everyone but us and the Gelmans are disembarking tomorrow.

I can’t say that the tour was particularly good. We’d met everyone at dinner soon after they embarked in San Francisco, so we were a cohesive group. That wasn’t the problem. Nor was the fact that we had to walk 10-15 minutes to the port entrance to meet our guide a problem.

Rather, the driver/guide (non-English speaking) and translator combination was not great. Plus, two of the more interesting stops of the tour had to be cut out — the Japanese Gardens in La Serena by our guide due to time slipping away in places where we could have spent less time, and the Millennium Cross in Coquimbo by us due to traffic concerns.

That said, we did get to see some interesting places … which is always a bonus.

Our drive to get to La Serena was along the shoreline. Nicole pointed out that the water is always calm at the beaches in Coquimbo … not so in La Serena. In fact, the latter is popular with the surfer crowd.

After a quick stop at the ubiquitous “big letters” — ❤️La Serena — for a couple of photo ops, we continued onto Faro Monumental … the lighthouse that is, as the name implies, more monumental in nature than anything else. Built in the Colonial Revival style, it made for a photogenic backdrop.

Next up was a surprise visit to Cerro Santa Lucía. We were under the impression that we were going to an overlook for city views. And we did. But it was on the grounds of the army training base that is home to the 21st Infantry Division. Staff Sergeant Guerrero, escorted us … with Nicole translating his words. Mui spent quite a bit of time chatting with an English-speaking Lieutenant Colonel, who hopped out of his vehicle to say hello. It was from him that we learned that they are having difficulty recruiting volunteers … only 500 or so recruits are now training where four times as many were accommodated at one time.

When we drove back to the city, we stopped at a market. We were given 30 minutes here. Frankly, 10 minutes would have been enough. We wandered around the stalls — only Chilean pesos accepted — and then went to check out the Church of Santa Domingo nearby. Beautiful stained glass windows, but a service was in progress, so I was unable to check them all out. We did find a vendor roasting candied peanuts nearby who accepted US dollars … 5 packets for $1 … a good bargain … and a tasty one, too.

Our next stop was at the tour operator’s office … to take advantage of the “facilities” and also to pay for the tour. A chocolate shop nearby proved irresistible, so we picked up some sweet treats to take back to the ship with us. The highlight of this stop was meeting and chatting with Monica and Raul, locals who were out shopping with a young man from New York … a friend of their son, who is getting married this week. They were amazed to hear that we’re on for a 180-day world cruise.

Then it was back to Coquimbo for us … with further exploration still part of the plan. Until, that is, we got into stop-and-go traffic. You know the rest of the story since I mentioned it above.

Had our time in port not been shortened at the last minute with a 3:00p departure, we might have had a much better tour. But with heavy swells and winds expected on the way to the turnaround port of this segment, we needed every spare minute to ensure that we arrived there on time. As it turns out, the last Oceania tour bus pulled up to the gangway just minutes before the 3:00p all aboard; and at 3:04p Insignia was pulling away from its berth. Yes, we were in a hurry to get out of Dodge, so to speak.

Tomorrow we get to go off and explore yet another new-to-us port while those who are disembarking will be heading to the airport for their return home.Read more