Coquimbo & La Serena, Chile

Sunday morning and we arrived in Chile to this scenic port view in Coquimbo.

Andrew has become the king of negotiators with taxi drivers and did an excellent job of interviewing and hiring Eduardo for our tour of the surrounding area. We started off with a drive south on freeway 5 (it's in much better shape than its name-sake in Seattle) to Herradura Bay. This is a fairly upscale area with a small yacht harbor, clay tennis courts, and some gorgeous estates. 

We visited a shop selling locally produced goods which was perched with a delightful view over the entire bay. 

From there we traveled north to La Serena where we took a stroll around the town square.

You might know that we arrived just as they were setting up for a local celebration involving fire fighters and all manner of fire equipment from many of the surrounding communities. As Mark had on his Stevens County fire district hat he had a brief conversation (with help from the handy language cheat sheet) with the locals. This resulted in the photo op complete with them posting the colors.

As it was Sunday there were a lot of people shopping in the markets, the church bells were tolling and the town had a really nice feel about it. This little guy was practicing his moves while waiting for his Mom to finish shopping. Andrew was suitably impressed that he was wearing the official Arsenal club jersey for a guy that has only been with the team for 2 months. That's pride for the local guy!

From there we went down to the lighthouse, where a race was just finishing up. Then along the coast, nipping into a beachfront bistro to sample the local beers, and we were dropped off back at the fish market just adjacent to the ship. All in all a great day!