Coquimbo, Chile

            Friday, 22 Dec 2023 – We were scheduled to dock at Coquimbo at 8:00 AM.  Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, and has a population of about 17.5 million.

Coquimbo is situated in a valley 6 miles south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than 450,000 inhabitants.  Its dock area is among the best sheltered in Chile and a winter haven for the Chilean navy, as well as a loading port for cement, phosphate fertilizer, and various ores and concentrates.

We barely made it to the Terrace Café for breakfast before they closed.  Sally cut back on her bacon this time.  After breakfast, Sally went online with her laptop for a little while, then lay down for a nap.  Jesse went off ship to look for tools to repair Sally’s glasses, which she had somehow badly damaged.  There, he walked past several souvenir shops.  When he reached the end, he opted not to venture out farther into the city, and after taking a couple of photos, he returned to the ship.  The temperature for the day had been predicted to be in the 50s, so Jesse had worn a hoodie, which had been a bad choice.  He got really sweaty during the venture.  With all the walking required, it was a good thing that Sally had not come along!

Since it had been raining earlier and a little on the cool side, we decided not to try swimming.  Before going to dinner in the Terrace Café, we went dancing to the 4 Corners Band for about 15 minutes in the Horizons.  The Terrace Café was very crowed, but sat with a couple of the other dancers at a table for four.  Their names were Ed & Alicia.  They were originally from the Philippines, but they lived in Battle Creek, MI for many years, Minneapolis for a few years, and now live in Traverse City, MI.  Alicia worked at Kellogg’s in Battle Creek.  Ed is a retired Agriculturalist and spent many years abroad.  When we were trying to decide which wine to order, Alicia suggested Riesling, which we both like very much.