December 5 – Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile
At this port we have 2 towns to visit. We are docked in Coquimbo, and we can visit the adjoining town of La Serena.
We walked a little ways along the dock in Coquimbo and decided to catch a taxi to La Serena. Zaga (our invaluable Spanish speaker) negotiated with a driver to take us to La Serena and we piled in and were off.
It seems every town in this area has, as its city center, the Plaza de Armas – for lack of any other knowledge we had the driver take us to the Plaza de Armas in La Serena.
This is a view of the plaza.
Vendors along the plaza
Leaving the plaza, we struck out for a nearby (?) mall. Along the way we passed this church, the tennis club, and some examples of beautiful foliage in the city.
We toured the mall – I think when this cruise ends we will have seen every mall in South America, but the differences between theirs and ours are always fascinating. When we left we caught a taxi to take us to a local shopping area called La Recova.
Zaga bought some strawberries and cherries. It is amazing how she gets these things aboard the ship.
We negotiated a taxi fare back to Coquimbo and took off.
High rise condos between Coquimbo and La Serena – cant tell from this photo, but they are right on the beach.
As we reenter Coquimbo, their foremost landmark is visible – The 3rd Millennium Cross, the tallest monument in South America.
Back in Coquimbo – the similarity between the Panamanian and Texas flags in striking.
Back aboard and off to our next port.
