Friday, January 07, 2011

Precious water

Since John last wrote about oasis, we have bused through another couple thousands of kilometers of desert and sand in southern Peru and northern Chile. We now think we understand what true desert is, maybe until we travel North Africa and the Middle East.

Whenever a river flows through the desert, then you can have a green valley. East of La Serena, the Elqui Valley is such a valley, much treasured and touted for northern Chile. Having been through countless such valleys in Peru, we were not so impressed. However, I liked the unusual blue of the storage lake behind the dam. Overall, we found our outing the next day to the port city of Coquimbo more interesting.

View of Elqui Valley from Cerro de la Virgen in Vicuña.
View from Cerro de la Virgen - Vicuna, Chile

Another view of Elqui Valley from Cerro de la Virgen in Vicuña. That's a vineyard at left center.
View from Cerro de la Virgen - Vicuna, Chile

The storage lake and dam as seen from a speeding bus.
Storage Lake - Elqui Valley - Near Vicuna, Chile

Sharing this pint of homemade ice cream (half coffee, half chocolate) at El Cobre Soda Fountain was the perfect way to end our day trip to the Elqui Valley.
Soda Fountain - Vicuna, Chile

View of the coast at Fort Coquimbo.
Near Fort Coquimbo - Coquimbo, Chile

The Cross of the Third Millennium in Coquimbo which soars 93 meters above the highest hill.
Cross of the Third Millennium - Coquimbo, Chile

Felt pretty safe as we walked up the hills in Coquimbo, being that we were out of danger from tsunamis.
On High Ground - Coquimbo, Chile

The bandshell on the Plaza de Armas in Coquimbol ready for The Feast of Epiphany.
Plaza de Armas - Coquimbo, Chile

1 comment:

Crash Eddy said...

Googled "Cross Third Millennium Coquimbo" and, voila, your photo is the second hit. You're famous! Your photo is better than the ones in the other top hits.

The bandshell with its symmetry is assuredly more attractive than the asymmetric Koka Booth and NCMA venues.

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