Exploring: Santiago, Valpo and La Serena; Day 6
Up the Valle de Elqui.
After a delicious, well paced breakfast (strange to eat and converse with other tourists...), we headed to the out for provisions and cash. There are new malls in most large Chilean cities and they are certainly the place to go. Folks seem to flock to them just like in the USA. Given that Dylan's passion is astronomy, our next stop was at the headquarters of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory where we obtained permission to visit a real-deal research-grade facility on the upcoming Saturday. We were lucky to get tickets as they usually need to be arranged months in advance. We celebrated by having lunch with the Hare Krishnas who serve wonderful vegetarian food in a speak-easy-like restaurant where there is no signage on the street. Top secret lentil dahl.
We motored up valley past active agriculture and a nearly dry reservoir to the town of Vicuña where we hoped to purchase tickets to a smaller, more hands-on observatory, Mamalluca. Before we could make it to the office, we stumbled upon a crew filming a commercial for one of Chile's largest department stores, Ripley. Like may others, we stopped to watch the different shots come together and the different teams coordinate their trades (props, lights, sound, music, wardrobe, child-wranglers, digi-techs, etc.) Fun. After arranging tickets, walking around the square and enjoying the sunset, it was time to keep driving up river toward Pisco Elqui, our final destination.
Wells and I went for a late-night walk around town. Very cool...can't wait to see it in the daylight! We stayed in cabanas at El Tesoro de Elqui which also had a wonderful breakfast and a room with two double beds and a twin for ~$80 per night. Not bad. While reading a book in the dining hall, I met some grad students from the U of Arizona who had been at a "Water-Energy-Nexus" conference in La Serena for the last 10 days. It was good to learn from them about the water history of the region and what their future research plans were. I wish I had know about the conference!
After a delicious, well paced breakfast (strange to eat and converse with other tourists...), we headed to the out for provisions and cash. There are new malls in most large Chilean cities and they are certainly the place to go. Folks seem to flock to them just like in the USA. Given that Dylan's passion is astronomy, our next stop was at the headquarters of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory where we obtained permission to visit a real-deal research-grade facility on the upcoming Saturday. We were lucky to get tickets as they usually need to be arranged months in advance. We celebrated by having lunch with the Hare Krishnas who serve wonderful vegetarian food in a speak-easy-like restaurant where there is no signage on the street. Top secret lentil dahl.
We motored up valley past active agriculture and a nearly dry reservoir to the town of Vicuña where we hoped to purchase tickets to a smaller, more hands-on observatory, Mamalluca. Before we could make it to the office, we stumbled upon a crew filming a commercial for one of Chile's largest department stores, Ripley. Like may others, we stopped to watch the different shots come together and the different teams coordinate their trades (props, lights, sound, music, wardrobe, child-wranglers, digi-techs, etc.) Fun. After arranging tickets, walking around the square and enjoying the sunset, it was time to keep driving up river toward Pisco Elqui, our final destination.
Wells and I went for a late-night walk around town. Very cool...can't wait to see it in the daylight! We stayed in cabanas at El Tesoro de Elqui which also had a wonderful breakfast and a room with two double beds and a twin for ~$80 per night. Not bad. While reading a book in the dining hall, I met some grad students from the U of Arizona who had been at a "Water-Energy-Nexus" conference in La Serena for the last 10 days. It was good to learn from them about the water history of the region and what their future research plans were. I wish I had know about the conference!