Coquimbo is a small fishing village, quickly turning into a second-home area. Its major industry is fishing, second is agriculture - tourism is fourth.
We left the port and made our way up to the Elqui Valley, a fertile river valley bordered on both sides by the Andean desert mountains. This is one of the few points in Chile where the Andes come right down to the coast. There are several river valleys whose waters flow into the ocean, thus creating unusual agricultural valleys amidst desert terrain.
Avocado orchards and wine groves abound. Again, the national drink is Pisco, and the Chileans lay claim to it (I vote for the Peruvians, however). The unusual weather, combined with the sandy soil, make for excellent grapes, and the Chilean wine is superb.
Along the way, we stopped in Vicunia, a small town where Gabriella Mistral, poet and Nobel Laureate, was born. She is less well known than Chile's other Nobel prize winner for literature, . There is much German influence in this area of Chile. A former mayor of Vicunia hailed from Ulm, Germany, and designed this unusual town hall, reminiscent of architecture in his home town.
We find the buildings and town squares in Chile to be drab compared to those of Peru. The food, and the music, however, are terrific!
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