One’s first impression of Coquimbo is of a gritty, hillside above a commercial port covered with small houses; not shanties but small individual houses. These houses are finished and painted which helps the over all appearance of the city...better than the cities in Peru. On top of the hill is a huge, stylized, concrete cross erected to commemorate the 200
th anniversary of the declaration of Chilean independence.
We are to take a bus tour up into the Elqui (L-key) valley to see the vineyards, visit a commercial pisco distillery, Capel, and to visit the towns of Vicuna and La Serena. The valley is greener that the area in Pisco, but still on the arid side. We are on bus number 10 and our guide for the day is Allan. He is the son of English immigrants and was born in Chile. He is in his mid-40s and says his parents have been dead for many years. It is obvious that he is losing his English because he uses words that don’t fit the situation and his syntax is awful. Actually, he is the hardest to understand guide we have had the whole time.
Our bus is not air-conditioned and this part of Chile, just south of the driest desert on earth, is in a six year drought and very dusty. The vineyards are irrigated from a river and they have built a large dam to create a lake to store water but even it is way down from its highest level. When they built the dam, about 10 years ago, they flooded out many existing vineyards and now they rise, ghostly, from the bottom of the lake as the water level drops.
We arrive in Vicuna around 9:30AM. We are dropped at a pretty, little town square where a Saturday market is just beginning to set up and only a couple of the small stores around the square are open. We are only given 15 minutes (program said 30) and since it is so early, there is really nothing to do or see without the market.
We determine later that we should have gone directly to the Capel Distillery and then come back to the market. The tours we have taken all seem to be by the seat of the guide’s pants with no firm plan and we frequently do not get some or any of the itinerary described when we registered for it. This is becoming a real sore subject!
The tour of Capel Distillery is interesting but no great shakes and Carolyn lets Dick take it for both of us as there are lots of stairs to negotiate within this large, commercial operation.
Upon leaving the distillery, we return to Vicuna for a snack lunch consisting of two empanadas, one filled with meat and one with cheese, a small slice of cake, a bowl with a canned mango and your choice of a small pisco sour or a glass of wine. Big whoopee!
As we leave the area we again drive around the square and wish we could stop as the artesian shops are open and the market is hopping!
We now head back down the Elqui Valley toward La Serena and Coquimbo. It is around 50 miles from Vicuna down to La Serena where we stop for a visit to La Recova Market. We are only given 20 minutes (program said 45) to see this bustling square block market area and the main square. There is everything for sale on this Saturday afternoon from fish to Chinese made souvenirs. All we can do is wander through part of it and then head for the bus for our return to the ship.
We are not happy campers and Carolyn heads straight to "Destination Services" to complain but does not get a lot of satisfaction. They give her a complaint form to fill out which she does.
We get cleaned up and have a drink to improve our attitude. We have our second reservation in Signatures tonight. The first night was very good so we are looking forward to the meal. When we get seated and look at the menu it has changed...according to the hostess it changed yesterday. There is nothing on the menu that really appeals to us. Carolyn orders the quiche camembert and the lamb chops with dried fruits and nuts. Dick gets sole and pawn risotto and the scallops with smoked bacon. We both agree the risotto is OK and the quiche is not eatable. We both have a chicken cream soup that tastes like warm flour paste so we pass on that also. Dick skips desert. Carolyn orders the chocolate ravioli which is awful. We ask the hostess about how often the menu changes and she tells us it will change 2 more times on this leg. We have two more reservations on this leg so we will check and if it hasn’t changed or hasn’t improved we will cancel one or both.
All in all this has not been a good day...there is always tomorrow.
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