Mas Ceviche Por Favor!

Saturday we bused North from La Serena to Caldera with a brief fuel stop in Copiapo, the site of the minning accident and rescue last year. This is deslate country here, and without treasures undergound I am sure there would be just a few small fishing ports along the North coast. At the times when the Panamerican leaves the rocky shoreline for an inland stretch there is only sand and rocks for miles and miles and miles.

Caldera is a small fishing port but our destination is the white sandy beaches of Bahia Inglesa, just a 10 minute collectivo ride South. We hopped off our bus and headed right out of town. Bahia has pristine white sandy beaches and clear water where the seaweed has been cleared away, probably by the town. The water is still cold (kids in wetsuits) and you have to get used to the jellyfish in the water. They are very colorful and we were told they don't sting but but it is hard to discount years of experience.

Bahia is nice and we will be here 4 nights but the services few and expensive so we headed back into Caldera first thing Sunday morning for supplies. We made our way straight to the pier along with everyone else, Sunday must be the day to stock up on seafood. Our friends the lobos grande (fat sealions) were in the harbor moving at only the necessary speed to keep afloat as scraps headed there way from the mongers. From a vendor under an umbrella we picked up some ceviche mixta (mussels, clams, squid, octopus) spooned into a plastic cup out of a big red cooler, as we walked around eyeing the sights and sniffing the scents. We have been enjoying the seafood since crossing the Andes into Santiago. Pastel de jaiba (crab caserole), ostiones (scallops), corvina (sea bass), pejerrey (kingfish): congrio (conger eel) and sopa de mariscos (shelfish soup). We have been getting our fill, aware that it will all fade as we head into the hills of Peru and the food with fins are replaced with clawed feet. Not having a plan for cold fish and with a few more errands to run in Caldera we didn't purchase anything but commited to returning later, if for nothing else but more ceviche.

Back in Bahia we break out the umbrella, paddle balls and convert our mate bag into a perfect beach cooler!