Slept soundly after a night of no sleep on the plane. Breakfast was communal. There was a young British guy staying at the hostel. He had been working in Santiago for the past year. He said that the Chilenos rarely worked even though they put in long days. They come in late, go out for coffee, go out for extended lunches where they drink wine, are useless by the afternoon and then stay late but get little done.
We walked to the bus station from the hostel. Easy walk. We caught a bus to Vicuña. It cost 2000 pesos. It took about an hour. There were not many passengers on the bus. But happened to sit next to a young man from Bulgaria who was in college at Dartmouth. He was in Chile visiting is brother, who was working in Santiago, and took a side trip to some of is brothers friends in La Serena. He was taking a bus trip to the Elqui Valley for the day.
Walked from the bus station to the observatory office. There was one tour at 8:30 in the evening - depending on the weather. In the afternoon clouds had begun to roll into the town. But we were hopeful. The woman at the office said that they often dissipate by the evening. And they did.
We stayed at the Hostel Valle Hermoso. It is run by a very friendly woman - Lucianne. Our room was simple but ample and clean. It cost 24000 pesos a night. We had an adequate lunch nearby at the Social club restaurant. We spent the afternoon wandering around the town. The town has a marvelous setting among the mountains. But because it was Sunday many restaurants and shops were closed. There really wasn't much to see. But the town did have a good super mercado where we picked up some empanadas to go and some pastel de choclo (a round pastry filled with a savory mixture of ground meat and corn). We ate them in the main square. The square was odd because it had music blaring from the speakers all day and all night long.
We went the observatory office at 8:00 pm. It is just off the main square. We were taken up to the observatory in a minivan. We had selected the English language tour. There were only four of us in the tour. We began with the large telescope. We viewed six objects: Saturn, Mars, some nebula, and some distant stars. The tour guide was very thorough. She using an astounding laser device to point out constellations like the southern cross and some of the astrological signs that were visible at the this time of year in the southern hemisphere. The sky was dazzling and clear. TheMilky Way and other galaxies were easily apparent. At first we thought they were just clouds but there were clouds in the sky that night. Just stars and dark sky. Saturn and Mars were also visible in the early evening. After the telescope viewing and an outdoor viewing, there was a short power point presentation. Hen we were driven back to town. We arrived back at our hostel at 11:15.
When we rang the doorbell to be let in, the owner greeted us in her bathrobe. She also was kind enough to give us a small - but extremely effective - electric heater. It was colder in our room than it was outside. The hostel was built of all abode walls, nearly two feet thick. We needed additional warmth that night.
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