January 24-26, 2024
John and I (and Liam, Alan, Guy and Karen) all made the same decision concerning La Serena – to just “wander about”. First of all – we docked in the town of Coquimbo, about 15km/10 miles away from La Serena. Good news for me- Coquimbo has a fort! I talked my friends into walking from the ship (my GPS said it was 1.2km (3/4 of a mile)). But do you remember the comment in the last blog about the shuttle buses at the terminals always seem to take you in the wrong direction? That was very true for Coquimbo – a full kilometer in the wrong direction. We walked anyway. The extra ½ mile took us by the Barrio Iglesias (English Quarter) – which had an interesting idea for their tsunami evacuation route.
And here is a good time for an aside. Chile experiences over 1000 earthquakes per year (yes, you read that correctly – about three per day). The great majority are less than 4 on the Richter scale. Major earthquakes – those > 8.5, are rare. In the last century a 9.5- the most powerful ever recorded, hit on May 22, 1960 (which created a tsunami that spread across the Pacific, hitting Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines). The most recent was in September 2015- an 8.3. Chile sits on the fault line created by the collision of the Nazca plate with the South American Plate. The Andes are one of the few mountain ranges still growing due to this movement.
Back to touring. Our 2.2 km walk was accompanied by a Podenco/ “Galgo” (aka Spanish Greyhound). Like in Panama, sometimes dogs decide to join you for a walk.
Along the way, we came across some interesting ruins with intact archways (a great testament to the stability of the arch). Finally – we reached the fort! The portions that have been reconstructed help give the visitor a good impression of its prior small size, but impressive vantage point. The other plus – it was free to enter.
We encountered some friends from the ship who were taking a tour of the area, and had been to La Serena and recommended seeing the Japanese gardens and nearby Cathedral in La Serena. We grabbed two Ubers – for about $9 each including tip, the six of set off (forgetting we would be in Japan later in the cruise – but what the hey). The gardens were lovely, and cost 1000 pesos (about $1 on normal conversion, but since we were using US dollars, somehow our conversion rate dropped to about 700/dollar) – it was still only $9 for 6 people.
We walked up the hill into town and walked around the large Cathedral, but did not see a way in, and then proceeded to the nearby café for lunch. We had forgotten to factor in the terrible traffic for our return, and even though we called for our Ubers at about 2:30PM – 1 hour prior to “all aboard”. Liam, Karen and I ended up leaving our Uber 600 meters from the terminal entrance when the driver’s GPS instructed him to go into town and 15 minutes to drop-off – at 3:18. Liam raced ahead to let them know we were coming. But we shouldn’t have worried – two large tour buses, who had been stuck in the same traffic, arrived a couple of minutes after we entered the line for the shuttle bus to return to the ship.
That night was Burns night – the night dedicated to the prolific (both in writing and issue) Scottish poet, Robert Burns (for us “Yanks” – he wrote Auld Lang Syne). I was to give the address to the Laddies (Alan did the address to the Lasses). We also each read a poem (my two limericks are listed here – both written by me).
Burns Night
There once was a bard named Burns
Whose words can take quite a turn
They’ll make you laugh with a quip
Or will hit like a whip
And that is how everyone learns
Ode to a Fine Glass of Wine
How fine is this cup of wine?
Beginning a simple fruit on a vine
It got smashed in a press
And time did the rest
It’s bouquet and flavor divine
We had an amazing time – I drank a glass of scotch (Glenlivet) – I’ll stick to wine.
And then on to Arica. We arrived at the first day of Carnaval Andino Con La Fuerza del Sol (The Andean Carnival With the Force of the Sun). The docent at the family owned and run Museo del Mar explained their festival had become a practice ground for international groups going to the Carnivals of Rio and other large events leading to Mardi Gras.
The parade route ran by the Cathedral of St. Marks – which was designed by Eiffel.
We continued on the aforementioned Museo del Mar, where the son of the original collector gave me a private tour of the amazing collection of seashells, and their living exhibits – which included many types of coral.
(I really love these small family run museums and have started seeking them out. They are extremely personal, and entrance is generally free or just a few dollars. This one was outstanding.)
We continued to wander up the hill to the Archeological Museum – the lady fussed at us for not having local money, and they didn’t take credit cards, but John was persistent and she let us in for free (the fee was equivalent to $2). They had found over 30 very early human remains, some of which were mummified – especially the young children and infants that had died.
Beyond was the big hill (El Morro)- we looked up and decided “nah”, the day was warm and we were thirsty.
We wandered down into the shopping district and found a nice place for lunch. The size of empanadas in Argentina were bigger than what we were accustomed to in the US – a little bigger than your palm, so 2 would be plenty for lunch. I ordered one with cheese and one with mushrooms and cheese – they were about the size of my hat. I ate all of the one with mushrooms and forced myself to eat ½ of the other – the excellent queso fresca was too good to go to waste.
John decided to go in search of a massage, and I wandered back to the ship, catching a few more of the dancing troupes along the way.
History lesson:
One cannot discuss the history and politics of Chile without discussing Augusto Pinochet.
In 1970, the Chileans elected socialist Salvador Allende. Part of his plan for the “Chilean Way to Socialism” was to nationalize several private industries, the profits of which would help expand public education and improve the living standards of the Chilean people. Major corporations who owned and invested in these industries, many based in the US, were not fans of this plan. The US was concerned that Allende planned on making Chile a communist state. Allende had promoted Augusto Pinochet to Commander in Chief in August of 1973, not knowing about the planned coup that US President Richard Nixon was aware was in the works (documents released in 2023 showed Nixon and Kissinger were aware and did nothing to warn Allende. Additionally, information from the CIA showed that the organization likely assisted in the planning of the coup). In September, Pinochet took power as part of a military Junta, which he was named the Chief until 1981. The Constitution passed in 1980 allowed him to become President, and he remained in that position until 1990 – but remained as Commander in Chief of the army until 1998. As the dictator of Chile, he persecuted leftists, socialists and any in opposition – by some estimates over 3,000 people were executed or disappeared. He tortured tens of thousands, privatized the Chilean social security system and sold thousands of acres of public property below market value. Personally, he is known to have embezzled at least $27 million – and likely more. The CIA and the US continued to secretly support him well into the 1980’s, despite awareness of his human rights abuses (through both Republican and Democratic Presidencies). After retiring, he traveled to London in 1998 and was arrested for human rights abuses, though never stood trial due to “ill health”. He died in 2006.
Despite fair elections since Pinochet’s fall from power, their Constitution has not been changed despite several referendums (several international corporations have a hand in this since the current Constitution is very private business friendly). Chile is now considered one of the most democratic countries in South America.
Time to rest up and ready for one of the big events of the cruise – Machu Pichu!