From the Lakes to the Desert

So it is 2008 and we are back on our own. As Sarah said, it was really nice to have our parents with us and we really enjoyed the holidays down in Puyehue. But it was time to move on to northern Chile and the new year. First stop: La Serena. We arrive on a Sunday and (big surprise) everything is closed except for the last tour of the year at the Mamalluca observatory. This part of Chile has nearly 340 clear nights per year so it is a prime location for astronomical research. The observatory that we visited was just for tourists though and all the tour guides are Chilean astronomers who also do their own research and everything. It was really cool, a beautiful night and really nice guide who explained lots of stuff about the stars, showing us constellations and planets, had us look through different telescopes of different magnitude and showed us some of his own work and some photographs that he has taken. And, since we are in the Pisco producing region of Chile, we finished the tour with our driver giving everyone in our van a pisco sour for the ride back to La Serena. The next day was New Years Eve and although the town was pretty busy in the morning, it was dead and closed by 8 PM when we wanted to have the last dinner of 2007. It was not a memorable dinner but the rest of the night was great. We hung out with a German guy and his Polish wife who both work for Adidas and an Austrian woman who accompanied us to the beach. With bottles of champagne in hand, we watched three fireworks displays similtaneously as 2007 became 2008. There was the really big one that was just to our right and that was put on by the city of La Serena and then there were two others in different spots along the horseshoe bay that encompassed a few cities. It was awesome and a great way to start the new year.

The next day we went to Copiapo, a cute town a few hours further north. Of course, not much was happening on the 1st, so we chilled in the plaza and walked around for the afternoon. The next day, we checked out the mineralogical museum, quite possibly the most comprehensive in Chile because this is a big mining area and the university here specializes in geology. It was pretty cool and again, the rest of the day was spent walking around and chilling out.

It is now the 3rd and we are in Antofagasta, the city that was hit by an earthquake in November (although it doesn't show it where we are staying). It is the major port here for exporting the minerals mined from northern Chile. Hence it is a bustling place with a mix of new buildings and historic customs houses and whatnot from the late 1800s.

I think that we may be going to a movie tonight at the brand new movie theater. Then tomorrow we move further north to another port town/surfer hangout called Iquique. Then we are meeting up with my brother again in a few days when he is done with the Inca Trail. Frankly, I am a little jealous that he is doing that and we didn't, but he has also been in school all semester, so whatever. It will be cool to see him again regardless. Until then...