A chilly and misty morning welcomed us to Coquimbo, which forms a metropolitan area of about 300,000 inhabitants together with Serena a little further around the shores of a large bay. The skyline of the city is topped by a huge concrete cross; a zig zag track leads up to it. However, scaling the heights is discouraged, as petty thieves roam the back streets and tend to lighten the load of any unwary tourist with too many portable goodies on his person.
A couple of hill tops further away one sees a towering minaret, proof of peaceful co-existence of at least two religions.
I took a local bus from the port gates and headed for La Serena, which is said to be an 'open-air museum' of colonial architecture, where 27 churches dominate the city scape. The bus costs $1.00, and for that princely sum it took me the 'slow-route' through hills, shores and valleys in the general direction of La Serena. We passed back street poor barrios, a gigantic world cup soccer stadium, shopping malls and mallettes, schools, hospitals, crossed the same railway tracks again and again...wherever a regular commuter bus would normally stop. The 'scenic route' took 40 minutes - and the driver promised that the 'express' only takes 20 minutes to cover the entire distance. A cheap 'highlights' tour without the photo stops.
La Serena had not yet woken up, although time had advanced to almost mid-day, and shops and vendor stands just started to rig their wares and unlock their metal grills.
I visited the artesan's market, which had changed from offering 'artesan' goods a few years ago, to more mass produced products: toy llamas, woven handbags, Chileanb sweaters, which were no different than the Peruvian ones, some preserves, some lapiz lazuli jewellery, and wallhangings spelling La Serena or Chile, or showing more pictures of llamas or Fedora hatted Chilean flower vendors.
I visited the local grocery store, which sold Chilean wine in liter cartons for around $2.00, and whole pigs heads for $4.00. A kilo of avocados would set one back about 90 cents.
I visited two of the many churches, where most of the saints wear REAL clothes, and some even have wigs of human hair. Large flower arrangements surround them, and votive candles burn in front of the most populars saints, the ones who grant personal favours most reliably.
By early afternoon, the sun shone, and the two semi pedestrians-only streets of the quaint town were in full latin swing: tables and chairs under beer sunbrellas at every corner, organ grinders with their animals, flower vendors, 'antique' and regular stores, made for an inviting stroll around amongst the French influenced architecure.
The most impressive examples of course surrounded the usual Plaza de Armas, the main square in almost every South American town, a large baroque cathedral, an ornate Palacio de Justicia, the Municipalidad, a fountain with yet another hero, and...the bus stop for the Express version of La Serena-Coquimbo transit.
Another buck and - yes - twenty minutes later I was back in Coquimbo, just in time to see all life disappear from the streets, the roller blinds coming down over the shop windows, locks put onto gates to start the afternoon Siesta break. Town comes to a halt.
Not so, the fishmarket, just along the dock from the Amsterdam.. .a sparkling blue sea dotted with dozens of yellow dories, and a few guano covered fishing trawlers, made a fitting background for an endless array of shacks, most attached to restaurants facing the sea. Now, these are not the five star affairs of tourist traps, but the overcrowded, noisy and chaotic places, where fish is caught, cooked or marinated and eaten without the shortest possible delay. There was no 'fishy' aroma to be detected anywhere, fresh, fresh, fresh is the secret.
Everything was displayed, nothing on a bed of ice, though: octopus, squid, mussels, oysters, clams, shrimps, lobsters, all manner of fish, shark, sea urchins, what looked like fish livers. Every single fisherman seemed to run his own show, and customers were almost a solid mass of people buying, eating, and - the tourists - photographing.
I ate, of course. A good Chilean porter together with a deliciously fresh and subtly flavoured fish ceviche made for a pleasant - but too early - good bye to Coquimbo.
