La Serena: Twinkle twinkle little star, now I know just what you are!

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The further north we get the more arid and deserty it becomes. It's such a contrast from the lush Lake District down south. La Serena isn't far from the beach, but the weather still wasn't warm enough to get our shorts out.

The first thing that happened in La Serena was that we got fleeced by the taxi driver. Gringo prices and all that, but I wasn't in the mood for arguing it. We'd had an early start and a long eight hour bus trip. It was only by a euro in the end, and in the grand scheme of things it was better to let it go. He brought us to a funky hostel called Aji Verde. We grabbed some dinner from the local deli counter and arranged the two tours that we wanted to do while we are here before we ran out of steam and flaked in the hostel.

Thankfully, our tour schedule allowed us a long and lazy sleep-in on the first morning. When we eventually emerged from the hostel we toured around La Serena, doing odd jobs, posting postcard and buying groceries. We ate a ridiculously cheap but very tasty menu del dia at one of the few restaurants that hadn't hassled into eating there and generally just enjoyed having a day off.

Star-gazing at the Mamalluca Observatory
That evening we were picked up by a luxurious people carrier that would ferry us to the Mamalluca Observatory, about two hours away. We were joined in the car by a nice Chilean family with three young daughters. As the driver took off at speed we heard a rumble coming from the back seat. The youngest of the girls was car-sick. The poor girl wretched time & time again, and the only allowance the driver made was to stop and get plastic bags to save his beige interior!

As we approached the observatory the road turned to gravel and dust and the security guard asked the driver to dim his lights as he drove up a steep hill. We were dropped at the front of the building and told to follow guidelights to get us to the front door. Then we were segregated to the English speaking colony, and left until all the Spanish speakers had entered.

In the end it turned out they were just trying to make sure that all the English speakers got in our group, we just happened to be first on the scene. Our guide, Luis, was a very witty guy, and proceeded to lead us upstairs to the dome. His dimmed the lights and began to explain about the telescope that was in the centre of the room. He pointed out jupiter to us through the hole in the roof, and then set up the telescope so that we could look at it in more detail. It was amazing to see the planet in so much detail that you could make out the two red strips across it and two of its moons (that are actually three) that were orbiting at the bottom of the planet. Then he moved the dome around so that the hole was pointing in the opposite direction. In the dark you are so disoriented that you think it is us moving, not the roof. He pointed the telescope at an area of the sky and one by one we looked through and could see the eye piece fill up with a hazy cloud. It was a nebula, a cloud of gases that form the stage before a star is born. Then we saw the nearest star to earth - only about 5 light years away! It was actually a twin star when we looked at it up close and they spent their time gravitating around each other. Apparently most stars are born with more than one star. As we asked questions about what we were seeing, Luis told us about the various telescopes that are currently in the world. The biggest around at the moment is called VLT (Very Large Telescope - it´s true!).

When our time upstairs was up we were moved outside to be shown the various constellations in the southern hemisphere sky. Standing in the cold night air we could see why this spot was chosen for the observatory. The sky was so clear, and light pollution was kept to a minimum. With his laser pen Luis pointed out the Scorpio, Sagitarius, Aquarius and Pisces. Then he pointed out the Llama constellation and the other animals in the Milky Way. We used an outdoor telescope to see up close what one star to our naked eye looks like - it was beautiful. The telescope lens was filled with lots of little twinkles.

As he explained the way the world shift on its axis, he pointed out the southern star and showed us how to find the earth axis from whereever the southern star is situated in the sky. It was a magical evening, and to cap it all off we even saw a shooting star!

We moved indoors again for a sit down powerpoint talk on what we had just seen. Luis showed us a sequence of photographes taken from a normal telescope and those taken by the hubble telescope. The level of detail is phenomenal. We saw an animation that showed the comparitive level of earth to the rest of the planets, and to the sun. Apparently its a good thing to be small, you last longer in the universe...

The final image that we saw was of the many galaxies that have been identified in the space outside our own. It was humbling to say the least. You feel very small leaving the observatory, and it really begs the question of whether we could really be alone in this universe.

Isla de Damas Tour
Having missed out on seeing penguins in Argentina last month, I was delighted to learn that the Humboldt Reserve was only a few hours from La Serena. We'd finally get to see penguins!

Having reached the hostel at midnight after the Observatory tour, we went quickly to bed in order to get ready in time for the 8am pick-up for this tour. The bus was a very European affair - comprising a Paddy and a Dutchie (us), a German couple, two German teachers and a Belgian tour guide. I quickly noticed that Philippe and I had no secret language left!

The trip to the reserves took a few hours, but it passed quickly as we chatted to the Germans and admired the pretty countryside. We saw wild desert donkies, guanacoes, a whole lot of cacti and many other desert flowers. We arrived at the port around 11am and had to pre-book our dinner for later in the afternoon. We looked around for our boat, and were surprised to see nothing but small row boat style boats. As we pulled on our very fetching pink life jackets a row boat with an outboard motor pulled up to the pier. It was a tight squeeze, but eleven of us baled in and whooped as the boat took off at speed. Turns out a small boat with a big engine equals a lot of speed! The sea was very choppy, but our boat was more than a match for it. A big swell of water would rise in front of us and then we would come crashing to the sea with a bump. It was like being on a rollercoaster for a while and all elelven of us were doing the "Wooooaaah" noises. Eventually either the sea calmed or we did, but we began to notice little eyes staring out of the water at us. We were being watched by some sea lion cubs.

We were going to be let off the boat on the Isla de Damas, but first we were guided around the protected island "where all the reproduction takes place". As the boat moved close to the shore the Spanish-speaking captain was pointing determinedly at some rocks on the shore. What, its just some rocks! As our eyes adjusted to the grey we began to make out the small bodies of four little Humboldt penguins. They were so cute and were waddling from one rock to the other. They were so tiny though that it was difficult to get a photo, but that didn't stop us all from trying!

As the boat moved along beside the island the captain pointed out several birds and felt we should be photographing them. I don't know enough about them to care, and no one was able to tell us what they were in English. Around a corner we came upon a group of sea lions lounging about on some rocks. There were so many of them. The big ones were huge blobs of blubber and could barely move around the rock. The little ones were cute and showing off their moves, "orfing" at us.

Once we were done with the sea lions we headed onwards around the island. The captain was getting nervous about the choppy water and asked us if we wanted to continue. All bar one said yes, but that one naysayer was enough to turn the boat around. We were dropped a short while later on the Isla de Damas where we were given 50 minutes to walk around. All of the animals are savvy enough not to go near the island though, so a much as it was a pretty island, there wasn't much to see!

As we made ready to get back in the boat a cry went up shouting "Dolphins, Dolphins". We were dragged into the boat and immediately the captain put the foot down and brought us out in time to see three or four dolphins jumping in the water. We hung around the area for a little while longer and were rewarded with more dolphins jumping in and out of the surf. A playful sea lion was trying to keep up, doing the same moves after them. It was a nice way to cap off a nature-filled day. The boat made good time bringing us back to shore, and we had a delicious seafood lunch before hitting the road to get home to La Serena in daylight.

We are heading on again tomorrow. We're going north to Caldera, still in search of the elusive sunny beaches.

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