Coquimbo
Just down the beach (the seemingly endless beach) from La Serena is Coquimbo, the port for the region. Coquimbo appears and disappears depending on the seemingly ever-present coastal fog, but Gwen managed to snap this picture - including the Cruz del Tercer Milenio aka the massive cross that sits on top of the hill - one night at sunset. Coquimbo, so I'm told, is much more working-class than swanky La Serena - and it's got lively docks. In part that's because it's an important port (though by no means as important as it was before the Panama Canal opened), since the iron ore from the Romeral mine leaves the region this way. However, there is also a whole lot of fishing based in Coquimbo.
On Sunday morning, we went for breakfast at the fish market in Coquimbo. What great fun: some of the fishermean are cleaning their catches at the docks, and tossing the refuse in the water, where it's fought over by pelicans and sea lions. If the mood strikes you, you can wander among endless stalls selling all manner of raw and prepared fish products.
One of the things that struck me was the number of stray dogs and cats. They were everywhere (not just in the fish market, but there was a very high frequency of them there). They live on whatever scraps they find (and sometimes, as was the case with one cat I watched for a while, whatever choice bits of seafood they can steal!). They look pretty awful by our standards - skinny and raggedy - and yet, oddly enough, they were all very tame. I'm used to non-housecats being of the shy sort, but I could have had my pick of kitties to pick up here.
A fish market does not sound like the best breakfast place in the world to some. It smells fishy, after all. I, however, wasted no time in ordering my seafood empanada (I skipped the instant coffee) and happily tucking in, surrounded by fish stalls, hopeful dogs, naughty cats, and the many other smells and sounds. I thought it was great! Who needs bacon and eggs... (I can eat breakfast food at any time of the day. Conversely, I can eat non-traditional-breakfast food at any time of the morning. There are advantages to having a cast-iron stomach and a love of diversity in food).
I did, however, have to draw the line at raw fish. It's not that I mind eating sushi, not at all, but we'd been warned by the locals: the ceviche is to be avoided these days, due to bacterial outbreaks (ceviche involves marinating raw fish in citrus juice, ie. no cooking). Even my cast-iron stomach did not want to risk spending the rest of the trip in the bathroom.
There were nine of us at breakfast, and we'd come there in two Toyota Yaris cars. One of the cars had to stay in La Serena, on account of more people coming to the airport and details like that, but Polo and Dave offered the other one up for adventure. Strangely enough, the group was very reserved (or, not strangely enough, polite). Fortunately for me, I'm not so very reserved when it comes to having the chance to have an adventure. I had a map. It showed a national park near Ovalle. I had read in Gwen's book that there is a "cloud forest" in the park. I declared my intentions. In no time, we had Bruce, Barry, Gwen, Lorenzo and of course me laying claims to the little car that could...
On to Fray Jorge National Park
Posted by Johanna at May 8, 2005 08:21 PM