Colorful Coquimbo

Today was the third of what will be 8 port stops in Chile! This morning we woke in Coquimbo, another port city located on the Pan-American Highway in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. We’re only here until 3 p.m. so after breakfast we decided to leave the port and go for a walk. We ended up walking about 2 miles total (a mile from the port into the town area and back). Obviously, there’s no way to see much of the city on foot but of course I had my phone with me (no internet service though) and snapped some photos.

According to our Currents, Coquimbo has a population of 740,000 and is known especially for shipping fruit and copper from mines in the region. It is popular for its beaches and it also has a rich cultural and indigenous history. I will remember it because of its many stray dogs and colorful graffiti. My guess is that, like other cities in Chile, it doesn’t get a lot of rain because the sidewalks are dirty and covered with bird poop, at least around the port area.

For the first time this morning we had breakfast in the Grand Dining Room. After returning to the ship, we had lunch in the Terrace Cafe and afterwards Ronnie worked on his research paper while I took a 3 hour nap! Tonight we ate in one of the specialty restaurants onboard and were randomly seated with an interesting couple from the Napa Valley area (she's a psychologist and he's a lawyer, author and Toastmaster instructor). Ronnie was able to participate in his zoom BSF meeting tonight for about 40 minutes before he lost the connection. All in all, we had a very nice day.

We're now 3 hours ahead of Texas time, so it seems like I'm constantly asking what time it is between my watch, computer, phone, ship clock and time zone changes. I'm hopeful I can log in for my meeting tomorrow, but it totally depends on how many others are trying to use the internet at the same time. Instead of logging on at 9:30 a.m. as I normally would, I'll log on at 12:30 p.m.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that (amazingly!) we were able to stream the latest episode of The Chosen on Ronnie's phone last night - it was so good!! The finale for this season will be next week and we're hopeful we can watch it as well, but we'll see... 

I’ll post some of the photos I took this morning.

 

view from our ship (note swimmer in foreground doing backstroke)

 

pharmacy in port

Ronnie buying mouthwash

 homes built on hillside behind the town

tsunami? run this direction!

lotsa locks

metal sculpture, Plaza de Armas

colorfully painted building across from park

Iglesia San Pedro

 tiny cheese shop

hospital?

houses stacked on mountainside beyond city center

 

stray dogs everywhere!

 

different colored houses zigzag on steep hills surrounding the city

Port Coquimbo, Chile

afternoon view from our balcony