When we arrived in Chile I felt as if I were hanging on to the edge of the world. This past weekend, I felt like I was on top. The Mamalluca Observatory was amazing. We seemed so close to the stars that I could reach out and sweep them about. The Milky Way looked like it had been sprinkled with twinkling fairy dust as there were so many tiny stars tucked in with all of the enormous ones. The Southern Cross was a beauty - a treasure to behold.
We were able to take pictures of the rest of the weekend and here they are!
We stayed at a cute little hostel in La Serena.
We also toured the Elqui Valley which is truly wine country. So many beautiful vineyards were either nestled down in the valley or sprawled half-way up the mountains. We sampled something called pisco which is pretty much the national drink. They make 50 million liters a year and only export 5 million which leaves 3 liters a year for every man, woman, and child!
We ate at a completely solar powered restaurant and took lots of pictures for Brian. The food was all cooked by these amazing solar ovens. The ladies would just come out on the patio and put in a dish of goat casserole or chicken or potatoes! They even baked our bread in them!!
We also stopped by one of Chile's many dams. A lot of their electricity comes from water!
As for the bus ride, well, let's just say Julia Grace can't read.
We also saw two other galaxies that were only viewable from the southern hemisphere. Awesome!
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