Saturday, 13 April 2013
Santiago de Chile to Valparaiso

My bags are dutifully outside my hotel room just before 8am, even though the bus departure time has been moved one hour later, to 10:15am.  It seems the ms Veendam’s arriving in Valparaiso has been delayed for one hour.  There are about 300 new guests joining the cruise here, so that the majority of passengers have already been cruising for 12 days from Buenos Aires.  The scuttlebutt I hear is that two of the most important ports (the Falkland Islands and Ushuaia, Argentina) were closed because of foul weather and high seas.  Although the ship was scheduled to pass through “Glacier Alley” and view a number of glaciers, only one was available because the weather was just too difficult.  Although Cape Horn, where the Atlantic and Pacific meet, is well-known for its tempestuous currents, it is also a matter of the season.  As Fall deepens down here the currents become more violent.  So when I do the cruise someday from BA to Santiago, I will need to do it in Spring or Summer (that’s October through February in the US).

But back to Santiago where the skies are clear and the weather is cool and sprightly.  The bus ride to Valparaiso passes through two major agricultural valleys of central Chile (Casablanca for vineyards and Curacivi for fruits and vegetables), and under two mountain ranges (the Transversal Range and the Coastal Range), through long highway tunnels.   We stop at a small roadside snack and souvenir shop about halfway, and I take the opportunity to buy ice cream and photograph the resident llamas.

 

We arrive at the pier about 1pm, and after checking in there is a long shuttle bus ride to the ship itself.  This is a very busy industrial and military port, so there is much security and only one entrance/exit for passengers—too far to walk from the ship.  But after boarding, dropping stuff in my stateroom, and checking on my table for dinner, I shuttle back to the entrance so that I can explore a little of Valparaiso in the two hours until the last boarding call.  Downtown is too far to go for that short a time, so I focus on the market and shopping area I am in, visiting an upscale department store chain, Paris, in a large indoor mall.  Outside the mall is an even larger open-air market offering everything one might imagine in a small So. American city.  The “highlights” of this area are the post-modern Congress Building and the Monument to Copper built during the years of military rule.

 

 

 

 

 

Valparaiso is built up the sides of many hills (I believe it’s nine) surrounding the large bay.  There are funiculars throughout the city taking pedestrians up and down the steep hills.  Most of these are quite old and constructed of wood, with vividly painted exteriors.  I have time for just one ride, but I am rewarded with wide views of the harbor and, in the distance, the beaches of Viña del Mar.  Then it’s back to the pier and the shuttle bus to the ship for 5pm departure.

Sunday, 14 April 2013

Coquimbo, Chile

Coquimbo is one of those places to which guide books pay little attention, but rewards the inquisitive traveler with a sense of the real Chile.  Coquimbo is a small city with a big port on a spit of land sticking out into the Pacific Ocean.  As in Valparaiso, rows of houses (shanties, really) are piled up and down the hillsides.  But unlike Valparaiso, there are no funiculars or ascensores here, only staircase upon staircase.

Because it is early Sunday morning, most of the shops are closed, but a very big open-air market with farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, newly-caught fish, new and used clothes, and some legitimate crafts hugs the shore.  Chile exports huge amounts of produce to the US and seaweed to Japan—and the goods on sale here reveal the quality of the products.  The people are friendly and although there are big crowds, I feel perfectly safe and welcome. 

On the other side of town is the “English Barrio,” so-called because of the many two- and three-story structures built in early 20^th-century British style.  Many have become artists’ studios and nightclubs and discos (seems to be a thriving industry here), with interesting exterior decoration.

At 2pm the Veendam slips from the pier to the accompaniment of a local mariachi band.  She does a 180-degree turn and we sail past the ruined fortress, small lighthouse, and several derelict ships grounded in the shallows.

 

 

 

 

More about the ship and the food later.