Sunday February 8, 2015 - Coquimbo, Chile

Sunday February 8, 2015 – Coquimbo, Chile

We woke up at 8:30 – not the crazy dreams last night as before, thank goodness.  We dressed in workout clothes and went to the track and walked 3 miles – 34 times around!  Then to the coffee bar for coffee and a biscotti.  Showers and dress for our tour today.  We docked in Coquimbo instead of being at anchor.  There is a folklorico group dancing on the pier – very colorful.

We went to the buffet for lunch and then to the Lounge and met our tour group.  We headed off about 1:30 for our tour to The Enchanted Valley near Ovalle and to the Tabali Winery in the Limari Valley.  Christobal was our guide and he was very animated and informative.  The roads out of Coquimbo/La Serena were good and we were on the Pan American Highway for a while.  The trip to the Enchanted Valley was about an hour.  It was dusty and dry – very little rain each year in this region.  We were in a ravine where the early Incas used to live.  There were rock drawings and carvings frequently in the area.  Christobal explained their way of life and the meanings of many of the drawings.  We went to 2 different zones to view the geoglyphs.  Interesting.  These drawings are believed to be from about 2,000 years ago.

Chilean dancers welcomed us to our first port of call in Chile

The town of Coquimbo, Chile

Christobal was very animated and an excellent guide

Old drawings on rocks from 2,000 years ago

More geoglyph drawings on rocks outside Coquimbo, Chile

Primative picture of a man

Tim exploring through the rocks and bushes

Holes in rocks - each represents one family

Close up

 

We then rode a short way to the Timbali Winery – a beautiful relatively new winery in a large culvert.  It is owned by the richest man in Chile.  We took a tour of the winery and then got to taste 3 of the wines – a sauvignon blanc, a syrah, and a pinot noir.  The label of Timbali has one of the rock carvings from the nearby area.

Christobal describing the rock carvings - this one was used by the Timbali Winery on their labels

Modern Timbali Winery outside of Coquimbo, Chile

Christobal describing the facilities in the Timbali Winery

Barrels with wine stored in the warehouse

Large mural in the basement of the Timbali Winery

One of the 3 wines we tried at Timbali Winery

Vineyard

Strange fruit on one of the trees at the winery

We rode back to Coquimbo and the city was abuzz with a large fair and people were everywhere.  We got back on the ship and went to see Kutu in Horizons for a “dresser”.  We showered and went back to Horizons for a glass of wine.  We have discovered that we need to arrive at dinner with a drink as it takes the sommeliers a long time to get to us.  The maître d’ from Portugal had us wait just a bit and then gave us a prime table for two by the back window.  We watched the sun set over the Pacific as we had our dinner.  Tim is doing the Canyon Ranch menus again.  We went to the theatre and unfortunately missed Meghan’s part of the show but we saw the magician again.  He actually is more of a comedian than a magician but an enjoyable show.

Sailing out of Coquimbo, Chile

We had a nightcap and then went to bed.