Tag Archives: Coquimbo

11 December 2019:
Coquimbo, Chile:
Well Off the Beaten Track

December 11, 2019 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

As is typical for coastal towns in this part of the world, dawn arrived gray and cool. By midday, it brightened just a bit, and then–almost as if controlled by a clock–the sun broke through at 2pm. By 6 tonight, we can expect warmth and a rising wind.

Except for the occasional semi-tropical storm, local weathermen don’t have an awful lot more to talk about.

***Viking Sun*** at the dock in Coquimbo, Chile

I went with guests on a trip up the coast to the market town of La Serena, perusing unusual fruit the locals call tuna, known elsewhere as prickly pear.

The region’s climate is somewhat close to that of the Mediterranean. Chilean wine is better known than their olives, but both grow up in the hills. A local favorite is aceitunas sin amargo, large black olives said to be without amargo or bitterness.

The hilltop Cruz del Tercer Milenio (The Cross of the Third Millennium), with an observation platform up high, reflects the predominantly Roman Catholic background of Chileans. It stands 83 meters or 273 feet tall, which allows the Chileans to claim the highest cross of South America. (In case you were wondering, Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Hill in Rio de Janeiro stands only 30 meters or 99 feet tall. And in any case, it’s a statue, not a cross.)

At the other side of the bay, seen to the right in this photo, is a handsome mosque constructed by the Kingdom of Morocco as a cultural offering; there is only a very small Islamic population here. The minaret is modeled on the famed Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco

The afternoon sun fills the Explorers Lounge aboard ship in Coquimbo

The content of this blog is entirely mine, and is not endorsed or approved by any cruise line or other entity.

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9 December 2019 to 4 January 2020:
Valparaiso, Chile to Los Angeles:
Crossing the Equator on America’s West Coast

December 10, 2019 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

We flew south all through the night from New York to Santiago, Chile. We left the wintry East Coast of the United States and landed in summery South America.

Viking’s Viking Sun will spend the next 28 days heading northwest and then north, calling at ports in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and then San Diego and Los Angeles in the United States.

This is just one month in a record-setting eight-month-long World Cruise. We will cross the Equator as we sail along the appropriately named nation of Ecuador. In fact, across the eight months of this cruise, this ship will cross the Equator four times heading south then north then south then north again. A hearty few dozen guests will be aboard for the entire journey, while others will partake of various segments.

I’ll be posting photos and comments here throughout this cruise. I hope you’ll join me here.

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30 October 2017:
Coquimbo, Chile:
Quiet and Serene

October 30, 2017 Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

We’ve arrived at the waist of Chile, the slimmest part of the long and narrow nation.

The name Coquimbo comes from a Diaguita word meaning ‘place of calm waters’.

And when the naturalist Charles Darwin arrived in 1835, after his visit to Tierra del Fuego and just before his historic visit to the Galapago Islands, he wrote that the small town was “remarkable for nothing but its extreme quietness.”

Therefore it makes perfect sense that Coquimbo quietly merges with a neighboring city along the coast: La Serena.

Serena, as an adjective, means serene. As a noun, it refers to the soft evening dew.

Quiet, calm, and serene—with the exception of a long-ago history of pirates, and an everyday concern about an active earthquake fault.

SUNSHINE ON COQUIMBO

ABELONE AND FRESH FISH

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