An interesting turn of events, while waiting for my coach at the terminal in Los Vilos I (fortunately) decided to log on to my emails via my mobile phone and found a message just come in from AirBnB about my accommodation in the apartment in Coquimbo - the host had cancelled due to a problem with the bathroom so with only an hour to go I had to quickly look for and book something else as I was due to arrive at 5:30pm at night into a city I have no idea about! Thankfully, AirBnB has a filter that shows places that you can book into with instant confirmation and I found a homely looking place in the suburbs for only NZD$15 per night, hosted by a hostess with excellent reviews and who also speaks English. So, I am settled into a lovely little home with her and her 15 year old son who is at high school (and her dachshund dog, Harmony). It's about half the price I was expecting to pay in the apartment block but is further out of town so there will be some additional transport costs (although Miriam - the hostess - has offered to take me into town by bus tomorrow and show me around points of interest). I'll pay her (USD$20 per day) for being my travel guide, of course, even though she offered to do it gratis. It is so useful having a guide who not only knows the city but who can translate as well.
The trip up by coach (sub contracted to another carrier) was only okay - the aircon didn't seem to be switched on for most of the journey and only came on about an hour before we got here so the cabin was a bit warm. The onboard TV movie was a noisy action movie with lots of shooting and violence and enough to give anyone a headache (especially as the dialogue was in Spanish). I'll carry some ear plugs on the next trip by bus. At the comfort stop in Ovalle I ordered a cup of coffee and offered a 5,000 peso note (which was all I had on me) but they wouldn't take it because it had a tiny chip out of it! I explained that I'd been given the note in change at Los Vilos but to no avail. By then I'd sipped the coffee so they weren't going to take it back. Suddenly I got the idea to offer my EFT-POS card and despite all the trouble I'd previously had trying to use it it worked and everyone was happy. There are a lot of wind farms between Los Vilos and Coquimbo and a new four lane highway being built from Ovalle to Coquimbo, which will improve the travel time somewhat. I was travelling on the top deck so got a good view of the countryside en route. The same barren and desolate dry desert most of the way apart from one or two valleys that had large tracts of flat irrigated land growing what I think were potatoes and brassicas, mainly - huge olive and grape areas, too. The crops look like they've been planted mechanically with modern tractors with GPS (the rows are too neat and uniform to have been planted manually) but I haven't seen any large modern tractors working anywhere, so it's a bit of a mystery. Plenty of older models.
On my walk to the bus station in Los Vilos I noticed a street market and as I had plenty of time browsed the stalls and bought half a kilo of black grapes to snack on en route to here (and a warm hat). What intrigued me was the number of vendors selling fruit and vegetables by the truck load - considering by my estimate they'd only sell about 5% of their offering and it was perishable produce I wondered what they did with the rest. Some would last for weeks (spuds, onions, etc.) but cabbages, broccoli and other leafy greens would surely be past their best within a few days. There must be a lot of well fed pigs in the area.
The highlight of my day was sitting on the front porch of where I'm staying having a coffee when a hummingbird flew down to feed on a flower - the first time I've ever seen one and it was an amazing sight! It just hovered in exactly the same spot for a few seconds before feeding and then departing. I hope I see it again while I'm here. I'd like to get a photo, but they're very quick.
Catch up again soon.
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