Fish Market at Coquimbo

Here is a view of the bay of La Serena and Coquimbo.  This is a picture I found on Google.com.  The area right there with all the boats is where we are standing in the next picture.

We continued on down the beach to the town of Coquimbo on Saturday.  This is where one can find the fish market and the harbor.  We stood here for a while and watched as the fishermen were taking their catch from their nets.  The nets were full of all kinds of sea life.  They were taking out the crabs and throwing them back in the water (not whole I am afraid).  They also threw back eels which were surprisingly plentiful and were keeping the fish.

As you can imagine this little stroll through the fish market was a shock to the senses (mostly the sense of smell).  The market went on through 3 buildings.  We didn't purchase any fish this time but hope that we will have a chance to try some soon.  We want to ask some friends at work what they recommend that we try.

Another thing we were hesitant to try were these cups of fresh fish.  I really don't think they are cooked.  Quite a few people in the market had purchased them and were eating.  Very interesting!

 Right there where the fishermen were emptying their nets we saw these sea lions waiting for scraps.  You really can't tell from the picture what they look like, but they were gigantic.  We guess they are 3x as big as the ones we are used to seeing in California. 

Here BJ is holding a sword from a swordfish that a mercant in the marketplace was planning on using to make the swords that you see behind him.  The sword that BJ is holding was fresh from that day's catch.