Star Gazing

La Serena, Chile, 5 -7 Febuary 2008

Santiago, Chile, 8 -9, Febuary 2008

Next stop La Serena (Chile´s 2nd oldest city), a further 6 hours north from Valparaiso. Our last journey to an unknown destination in South America. It is a very popular holiday destination for the Chileans. Unlike Valparaiso, we quickly got a good feel for La Serena. After a very pleasant walk out to the lighthouse we saw what all the fuss is about. Endless white sandy beaches stretching off in both directions. It was busy but not uncomfortably so. Everyone was busy having a good time. Back in town Claire and I got quite attached to the main plaza. It was a great spot to sit and people-watch....when you´re not being harassed for money by the local gypsy women. Truth be told they added another fun element to our people-watching activities.
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This part of Chile is also very important with regards to international astronomy. All the powers that be in the world of astronomy have stations set up somewhere in Chile. There are approximately 340 clear nights a year so you can see the attraction. Claire and I took an organised tour to Observatorio Cerro Mamalluca. This is not a research facility, it´s primary purpose is tourism and to let people see for themselves the appeal of astronomy. It was great and our English speaking guide knew everything there was to know about the skies...well he has been at it for 27 years!! It was 12 midnight and we were completely covered in a blanket of stars. Mars and Saturn were clearly visible - once they had been pointed out, and shooting stars were a regular occurrence. Through their 40cm telescope we looked at the 2 planets. While Mars was interesting, Saturn was incredible. You could see it and its rings so clearly. It´s hard to describe, but for some reason you don´t expect it to look like it does in the books. "That was just an image NASA created to get Joe Public interested in the skies". But it does and it´s beautiful. All in all a great night out.

We dined twice in a local Chilean restaraunt. I, Dave, had Lomo a lo pobre (translates as poor mans steak, which is quite ironic because it´s not that cheap). It comprises of a mound of greasy chips topped with beef & 2 fried eggs. Claire had Merluza Frita (fried hake) and we had pan caliente (hot bread) with pebre (sauce made form tomato, onion, garlic, chilli, dill, oil & lemon). And to finish off we enjoyed a Pisco Sour (bitter sweet concoction of distilled grapes, egg whites, lemon juice & sugar). Pisco Sour is a cocktail in dispute (origin is debated between Chile & Peru)

All too quickly it was time to take that last bus journey to Santiago in anticipation of our flight to Auckland on Feb 10th.