April 7, 2018 – Coquimbo, Chile

We have begun segment five of our “South Pacific Reflections” 2018 World Cruise, which will go from Valparaiso (Chile) to Colon (Panama); this should take us a little less than two weeks. There was a massive change in the ship’s staff in Valparaiso, and we now have a new Captain (Master of the Vessel), Hotel Director, Cruise Director, both (male & female) lead vocalists, two new dancers, and many new waiters. Of course, almost all the “new” people are actually Crystal veterans who are just returning from vacation time off the ship.

A new segment also means many non-world-cruise passengers left the ship in Valparaiso, and new passengers boarded the ship. We have about 100 more total passengers now than we had on the Papeete to Valparaiso segment. We welcomed that, because now there will be two shows per night in the Galaxy Lounge instead of the one 9:15pm show we had for the whole past segment of the World Cruise. We prefer going to the “early” show (generally 7:30pm) and going to bed at a reasonable time of the night. Also, both lines are now open in the Market­place (Lido Deck) for breakfast and lunch, alleviating the crowding we experienced last segment up there for lunch when only one line was open each day.

Chile has a unique geography, on the western edge of South America. It’s a long, narrow country and is hemmed in on three sides -- the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes Mountains to the east. Chile stretches all the way southward to Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of the continent, and it even touches the Atlantic Ocean at the Strait of Magellan. It measures 2,653 miles between its northern and southern extremities, Chile has an average width of not much more than 100 miles, making it the world's longest and narrowest country. As a result, its 38-degree latitude span gives it an extremely varied climate and vegetation.

Our first port stop in Chile, at Valparaiso, was about in the middle of the country’s Pacific coastline (33°S). Overnight, we cruised northbound and reached Coquimbo (29.9°S) early this morning. This region lies at the narrowest part (or the “waist”) of Chile. The Andes Mountain Range runs closer to the sea here than elsewhere. 

We signed up for the shore excursion called, “La Serena and Elqui Valley.” We didn’t spend much time in the port town of Coquimbo – just enough to see that it’s a city of 200,000 people, built on steep hills and featuring several tall religious monuments, including the imposing “Cross of the Third Millennium” and a tall mosque. Our tour guide, Claudia, told us that the word Coquimbo means “calm waters.”

This was a busy 8-hour day of touring, and there was a lot to see. Of course, we started in Coquimbo which is a busy port city, especially for the export of copper, iron ore, and other minerals. China is their main trading partner.

We learned a lot about earthquakes. As we left Coquimbo and drove north along Coast Avenue, Claudia pointed out areas that were destroyed by the 2015 earthquake and tsunami. Some have not yet been repaired, including a fishing village. Chile is one of the earthquake centers of the world. In the past year, there were 5,000 earthquake tremors; and, just since we’ve been in Chile the past few days there have been five earthquakes, including one of magnitude 6.2.

Soon we arrived in La Serena, a popular tourist destination and capital of the Coquimbo region, with many condos, apartments, and hotels along the seafront beaches. We stopped for photos of the old lighthouse, although Claudia said that it doesn’t function as a lighthouse. But it is a symbol for the city. It was a good place to look at the ocean and take photos. Nobody was on the beach today, as it was a little cool this morning, and the summer season is winding down.

We turned to the east on Francisco de Aguirre Avenue, a busy attractive area accented by replicas of classical Greek statues in the center of the road. Claudia said that if we stayed on this road we would be in Argentina in three hours. Of course, you must cross the mountains first. They have many tourists from western Argentina coming here for time at the beach.

We soon entered the Elqui Valley, a narrow strip of land in the high desert. It was mountainous on both sides of the coach initially, and we saw a lot of Chandelier Cactus plants along the way. They grow to as high as four feet in height. 

As we rode further, approaching the town of Vicuña, the valley became remarkably fertile and Claudia told us that it was irrigated by the Elqui River, which brings water to the coast from the Andes Mountains. We also had glimpses of a pretty reservoir that was built in the desert by damming the river.

The Elqui Valley boasts one of the clearest skies in the world, making it ideal for astronomers and other stargazers. We were told that 40% of the world’s infrastructure of large telescopes are located in Chile. Of the top 10 telescopes in the world, five of them are located here. There are more scheduled for construction and, within 10 years, that 40% may grow to 70%. There was a shore excursion offered today to the Tololo Observatory, which we considered, but decided on the Pisco factory tour instead.

The area around Vicuña is mostly agricultural, including grapes, avocados, and citrus. They are especially well-known for their avocados. Of course, Chilean wine is world famous, but Muscat grapes in this region are grown for Pisco liquor, not for drinking wine.

Our walking tour of the CAPEL Pisco distillery lasted about 90 minutes. Pisco is a colorless (or amber color) grape brandy. CAPEL is the primary producer of Pisco in Chile. During processing, fermented grape juice is twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least 60 days in either French or American oak casks or stainless steel (we saw all three in use today). It is labeled by alcohol content – ranging between 30% up to close to 50%. Our guide led us to believe that higher alcohol level is indicative of a higher quality product with greater aroma and complexity.

Pisco is well-loved and popular in Chile, especially in drinks such as a Pisco Sour or mixed with fruit juice. Chileans consume most of the Pisco they produce. We tasted a very small amount of the final product and bought one bottle to bring home with us.

Next was a break for lunch in Vicuña, the largest town in the Elqui Valley (population 22,000). The bus dropped us off at the town square (Plaza de Gabriela Mistral) for a 15-minute stroll around the plaza on our own. The square is serenely quiet, with many lovely old trees and sculptures honoring Gabriela Mistral, who was born here and was awarded the Nobel prize in literature in 1945, the first Latin American author to do so. For lunch, we went to Halley’s Restaurant adjacent to the square and had an excellent meal before loading the bus for our return drive to La Serena.

In La Serena, we were scheduled to visit the Archeological Museum, but it was closed for refurbishing. Instead we visited the La Recova Market for handicraft shopping (reputed to have 143 stalls, but we didn’t count). It was a nice market, but we were pretty tired by then, so the 20 minutes allocated was enough for us to find the requisite refrigerator magnet.

Next stop, Iquique – our last port in Chile – on Monday (April 9th).

Jim & Ginny