We are docked among thousands of containers being on and off
loaded at this busy Chilean port. It is a fascinating operation in efficient
supply-chain management. Passengers are not allowed to walk from the ship to
the main gate. Instead, shuttle buses are provided for the 5- to 10-minute
trip.
Because travel to Santiago is a minimum of 90-minutes each
way, we chose to stay in Valparaiso. Like Coquimbo, the city rises up the steep
mountainside. As we exited the terminal we met a couple from New Zealand
looking for someone to share a sight-seeing van. After some negotiations with
the local tour company reps, we ended up sharing a van with not only the New Zealanders,
but also couple from Australia. The price was a huge discount from tours
offered by the ship. We had a great tour and made some new acquaintances as
well.
Valparaiso is a beautiful city filled with lots of colorful
homes, some lovely Colonial architecture, and beautiful colorful murals. The
city has been heavily damaged three times in recent years, beginning with an
earthquake in 1985, and ending with a huge fire in 2010 (or thereabouts). We
saw some buildings still in need of repair. We are told the murals are the
city’s way of defiantly recovering from the devastations that have threatened
to destroy it.
Valparaiso over look
Private home
Murals of Valparaiso
On the way back to the ship we picked up five bottles of
Chilean wine that are not sold in the US.
As much as we liked Coquimbo, we liked Valparaiso even
better. It is even high on our list of possible places to spend the winter once
we have cruised everywhere. We are impressed with how clean the Chilean cities
are, which we take to be a sign of pride of place, a decent economy, and stable
government.
A bit of Chilean trivia – Chile has more astrological
observatories than any other country.
No comments:
Post a Comment