Departing Scenes from La Serena, Chile

 Parks, Architecture, Flora, Fauna, and Port Scenes

(Click on photos for closer view, then click on larger photo to change to next photo.)

Independent, but happy, local dog

Domesticated llama entertaining restaurant patrons

Holland America's Veendam waiting in the harbor

Thank you for the beautiful music!

Final harbor views before heading into international waters.

Vineyards West of the Atacama

Traveling from La Serena to the Valle del Elqui, one sees beautiful mountain scenery and valleys which have been irrigated by La Laguna Dam, enabling productive vineyards to thrive. It was interesting to see what was being accomplished on this land so close to the very dry Atacama Desert. I had seen the vineyards which lie between Santiago and Valparaiso.  It was a nice surprise to see the vineyards in the north as well.

The mountains are quite arid.

The dam.

Elqui Valley winery

"When the roses are healthy, the grapes will also thrive."

Nazca Plate, Earthquake Zone

Since I last posted to this blog, there was an earthquake just north of La Serena (closer to Iquique). Click on this CNN link to see photos. There are frequent earthquakes in this zone, due to the location of the plates. I lived for over 35 years  in California on the western coast of the United States, so the earthquake phenomenon was always of interest to me. We had a hanging chandelier in our dining room in San Diego. Whenever there was the slightest tremor, the chandelier would swing quietly back and forth.  One day, when I had little else to do, I counted the small tremors throughout the day, stopping the chandelier between tremors. I realize this isn't exactly a scientific way of measuring earthquakes, but that day I stopped counting when I got to over 100. (The earthquake plate extends all the way up to Alaska and back down to Japan and further south off the coasts of Indonesia, Fiji, and New Zealand. There are apps one can get to keep track of earthquake activity around the world. I have one, and check it daily.)

(File photo)

(File photo)