Star Gazing in La Serena

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It took a mammoth 16-hour bus journey with a bus change at 11pm, to reach the small seaside city of La Serena but it was certainly worth it, even if solely to see the amazingly clear skies littered with stars.

La Serena lies on the coast and it was our first sign of the ocean for some time, after three weeks spent in land-locked Bolivia. It didn´t feel like a seaside town though - no donkey rides, no chippies and not one stick of rock in sight, in fact La Serena was very much a colonial market-type town, very pleasant indeed and a great place to chillout and explore at leisure. It was also the first time we´d seen so much greenery for some time - the descent to lower latitudes obviously brings with it the climatology associated with grass and leafy shrubbery.

The town sits in the Elqui river valley - an area famed (in Chile) for Pisco grape cultivation and also as the home of Poet & Nobel Laureate, Gabriela Mistral. It is a fertile region with plenty to see and do and La Serena is home to the travel agencies flogging all the various options. For our trip into the Elqui valley we decided we´d try out some horse-riding with Chilean cowboys. Cowboys in Chile are known as Huasos, similar to Gauchos in Argentina but with their own traditional attire complete with huge ornamental spurs. Our Huaso for the day, Christian took us on a gentle trot (mostly) through the Elqui valley countryside visiting a small rustic Pisco factory along the way. I say "mostly" because we did some galloping which both Laura and myself were a bit unsure of, especially since in the Huaso saddle and stirrups, galloping involves leaning back, slapping the horse pretty hard with a whip and then holding on for dear life as it hurtles across the dirt-tracks. It was a pretty exhilirating experience but when Christian asked if we wanted to do more, we both were firm in our replies of "No, grácias!". By the end of the ride our bums were crying out for a rest, the saddles are pretty uncomfortable and my John Wayne stance was in effect post-ride. In fact my bum hurt for nearly two days afterwards - no cheap jokes please!

The region is also home to a collection of the largest telescopes in the world on account of it being host to the clearest nights in the world. Don´t ask me why, I´m no meteorologist, all I know is the nights and days are cloudless, the Southern skies offer a better view of the Milky Way and as a result both the Europeans and North Americans have their 8m VLTs (Very Large Telescopes) here. You´re probably laughing at the acronym usage, apparently there are ELT (Extremely Large Telescopes) and OWLs (Overwhelmingly Large Telescope) being proposed at the moment - no joke! For amateur astronomers or those wishing to do a bit of star-gazing, the Cerro Mamalluca observatory in Vicuña offers an opportunity to use 12" telescopes and to gain a brief understanding of astronomical bodies within our Universe. Our guided tour of the sky started with a presentation about the elements of the universe, finding your way around the night sky, naming and recognising constellations and using easily available applications to further your knowledge e.g. the StarryNight program, free to download here. After our intro we were taken outside to use the telescopes. First we oserved the the planets in the night sky; Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. This was probably the most incredible part of the evening seeing with your own eyes Saturn´s rings and Jupiter´s moons and stripes caused by planetary storms. We went on to locate Nebulae, Star Clusters and distant galaxies such as the Sombrero galaxy (M104). Finally after viewing Alpha Centauri and its triple star system we headed back to La Serena with a Pisco in hand and feeling very insignificant against the huge expanse of the Universe. I have also vowed to get into amateur astronomy on my return, if only the London skies will let me....

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