December 18 - Coqumbo (La Serena)

Last night I was sitting at one of the bars talking to a fellow from New Zealand and one of the guest services agent came up to me and asked me if I was "Cynthia Plante-Jenkins"?  Why yes I am.  The wrong color of tags and departire times for our Macchu Picchu trip had been given to us and I guess it was easier for them to give them to me in the bar (just down from the Guest Services Desk) rather than make their way upto our cabin on the 10th deck.  That's the magic of the Medallion - they can find you anywhere!

Coqumbo

This was another industrial port, but it was the worst.  The whole portway was covered with bird droppings and it stunk. Shuttle bus out of the port, then onto another bus for our excursion.  We had an early morning excusion today - 7:00 am to see some petroglyphs and wine tasting. I wasn't really interested in the wine tasting, but wanted to see the petroglyphs.

The one with the holes in it, the holes lines up with one of the constellation at certain times of the year.  They call the holes cups and also use the holes to collect water.

VPN

My VPN that was working to connect me to work has now expired.  I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm home to catch up on emails. It also means I cannot post any Wordles or Connections 😞.

I thought I'd post some of the drink prices. Each bar has a slightly different specialty and menus vary.  I don't think the prices are bad compared to Toronto prices. Sorry about the cookies, but I was using the night time cookie snack plate (oatmeal for Pat and peanut butter for me) to hold the menu open.

This is what I was drinking last night - a Peanut Butter Cup.  It was very delicious! 

Diner

Before Diner Drink was a key lime Martini.

Diner was a chilled tropical soup and prime rib with baked potatoes, baked tomatoes, green beans and Yorkshire pudding.  Pat and I could have had 2 meals out of the one slab of beef. I barely put a dent in it, but it was very good.

After diner, I went shopping to spend the 200 credit and Pat went back to the room to pack.

I couldn't figure out why it was light out so late and today it dawned on me, we are in South America, during summer, traveling south, so of course the days are getting longer. Duh!

We leave the ship in the morning for our Macchu Picchu tour.  I suspect I will only have internet access in the evenings at the hotels. Tomorrow we do a tour of Santiago after getting off the ship, then fly to Lima for the night.