We do not like to do ship tours. And frankly the ship tour was not going to
take us to where we wanted to go in the port of Coquimbo, Chile.
I majored in Spanish and spent a lot of time studying the
works of Gabriela Mistral. She was a
Chilean Poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945. She was born in the town of Vicuña and lived
a good part of her childhood in the town of Monte Grande in the vicinity of
this port. Notably, Gabriela and my grandmother were born on the exact same
day, April 7, 1889.
I contacted a company by the name of Jeep Tours La Serena to provide a private driver to take us to
these towns so that we could visit the various places of interest pertinent to
Gabriela. It was all set, so I thought.
At 10:30 PM on Monday December 29, just two hours ago, I
received an email from this company that they would not be able to provide the
tour for us. They were sorry but they
have other commitments for that day.
Mind you I set this up on June 28, 2014.
And now, two days before I am ready to head to Fort Lauderdale, I am
without a driver to take us to this town.
They offered no alternative.
I chose this company because of their stellar reviews on Cruise Critic
and Trip Advisor and now they are leaving me in the lurch. They were also
willing to customize the tour to my interests. In going back to Trip Advisor tonight I
discovered there is another review
written in Spanish by another party who had the very same thing happen to them on December 14 of
this year. That was well after I had done my research on this company.
So what do I do at this late date? The ship does not have a tour that goes only
to these towns. The cost for a private
car hired from the ship is exorbitant for just two people and I am sure there are not
many others who will wish to join us only to see these two places. This was on my bucket list.
We may try our luck with just getting a taxi at the
port. Not sure yet. Will have to think about it until the
morning. Will keep you posted.
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