Coquimbo & Valparaiso (sort of)

So, I know it sounds a little ridiculous to say we’ve been busy, but we have! Today is our first sea day since Wednesday. I spent a good portion of the day huddled around my laptop in the guest laundry room. It’s like a warzone in there…those old ladies are relentless. They will fling open your dryer and toss your sopping clothing on a table, which is exactly why I kept mine heavily guarded. Back away from the delicates granny.

Thursday we docked in Coquimbo. Everyone back home is going to hate me when I say this, but the weather lately has been absolutely perfect. Blue skies, no humidity, a light breeze, about 75 degrees. As usual we spent the day exploring the town and doing some shopping. The streets of Coquimbo had a very European feel with brick sidewalks, trendy shops, and interesting architecture. We went to a supermarket, which was very much like a King’s or Wegman’s with some other interesting items for sale such as a vacuum-sealed pig head. The perfect souvenir! I had to use some of my Spanish to ask questions in one clothing store. It’s funny how after 4 years of it I know a lot of vocab, but I can’t seem to put sentences together. It was an interesting conversation to say the least.



Thursday night we left Coquimbo and by the morning we were already in Valparaiso. I can’t really say we spent a whole lot of time in Valparaiso, because we immediately got on a shuttle that took us to another city called Vina Del Mar. Here, we wandered around in a garden for a little, walked through the town, and then decided to go to the beach since it was such a nice day. Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar are big resort areas. It felt like we walked forever and a half to get there, but it was well worth it and we spent a while napping in the sun.

The shuttle driver told us that the typical salary of a person working in Valparaiso is around $250 a month. Even this is enough to own a house and a car, as well as raise a family. The cost of living is very low in Chile. My parents were so excited to hear good Chilean wine only cost around $3-$5 a bottle. We also spent the following day in Vina Del Mar and after going to the beach again we went to a supermarket to buy wine with our Chilean pesos. It was a little like watching children in a candy store. 3 bottles of wine cost $12 American dollars.

Yesterday marked the end of the first voyage of the trip so everyone except the 220 world cruisers got off and a new batch of characters came on. The last segment had about 650 passengers including the world cruisers and now there are about 900, the ship is bustling! I’m basically the big, bad senior cruiser now, taken people’s lunch money and everything. Ok maybe not, but I might be put to work. My dad is buddy-buddy with one of the cruise directors who said he would love if I helped him out with some things for the next segment. I’m not exactly sure what it will entail, but as long as I get a badge I’m in. I’m also not exactly sure they’ll write for my job description, maybe ‘Joe’s daughter’ because that’s how people refer to me. (Whispers) “Look, there’s Joe’s daughter...hi Joe’s daughter.”

After our stop in Puerto Montt we will sail through the Chilean fjords (what a fun word…fjordfjordfjord). I’ve noticed that my descriptions of the towns are starting to seem a little redundant, I mean gosh, not another day at the beach. So I’m going to start focusing on other interesting experiences/observations because there have been quite a few, and so many to come. For now, adios amigos.