La Serena

Chile

March 2007

LA SERENA
5th to 7th March

What a relief! the buses in Chile turned out to be pretty much as good as those we had enjoyed in Argentina and quite right too, for this was another epic slog up the main highway heading North. Now Chile, in case you've never studied the globe, may well be ever so skinny, but its extremely long. Much like one of those condiments you add to spice life up a bit, oh what are they called? Oh yes a Chile, how appropriate! An hour or so into the drive we stopped at a roadside fruit stall, where we leapt out to stretch our legs and peruse what was on offer. A massive colourful display of every type of fruit and veggie but with just enough mouldy ones lying around and cheeky flies to put you off actually buying anything. Sarah was tempted by the avocados, as it would seem here you could buy enough here to feed an entire army for about one British Pound. Thankfully she declined, but what a bargain.
We watched a cool film on the bus, about diamond slaves in Africa once again starring Leonardo De Caprio and jolly good it was too. During the trip we noticed Sarah was getting more than her fair share of glances from the bus attendant, who served the drinks and controlled our viewing material. Strange, because this wasn't the first time it had happened in Chile, as a young girl seemed infatuated with looking at her whilst we queued for ice cream one day. I just put it down to the fact that she had dyed her hair red before we left Bunoes Aries, but she reckoned she must be a TV star look-e-likey. I'm not convinced, but rather than ask the guy what he was looking at or better still, punch him on the hooter, I did neither and it still remains a mystery. Shortly after, another film sprung to life and we were ecstatic to find out it was Mel Gibson's newly directed movie 'Apocolypto' that we'd wanted to see for ages. Quite interestingly it is set back in ancient Mayan times in Mexico and shows the Chichen Itza etc that we'd visited last year. Full of action from the get go, we were engrossed, hanging on to every word, afraid to blink in case we missed a blip of this superb entertainment and just as a nail biting moment arose with the star about to have his heart ripped out by his captors, at some primitive ceremonious ritual, the bus doors hissed opened and we were told to leave the bus! Not for any exciting reason, but quite simply because we had reached our destination! What!!! We can't be there already I cried (internally) and wanted them to just drive around the block a few more times so we could see the last half of Apocolypto. How frustrating..... Why didn't they time it better and start the movies earlier? Imbecile!

So they wrestled and shoehorned me from the bus, or at least that's what it felt like and although I felt cheated, it was late, so I resigned myself instead to finding our bed and getting some much needed shut eye. Our small hotel was very very nice with a pretty internal courtyard where you could sit, drink wine, and look up at the night sky. Our room, also very very nice. It had a cosy feel and its centre piece, a bed more comfortable than you can possibly imagine. It was one of those high doubles that you almost needed to take a run up to, to clamber on to. With just the right amount of sag and give in the mattress that you feel like it's cuddling you, but also so deep and thick that the tooth fairy herself could cunningly slip an anvil underneath during the night and you'd be none the wiser. Add on top of that, multiple layers of sheets, blankets, duvets and eiderdowns and you end up with the kind of bed you find at any good Grandmas house. Once in, you were imprisoned under the mass weight of embroidery and cotton that held you down like a vice. Even when we woke during the night for a wee or in the morning, it took all of your mental and physical strength just to battle your way out of this hypnotic cocoon. Needless to say we overslept both nights we stayed there!
We just loved this town as it was clean, perfectly sized and offered just enough to keep you occupied for two days. Our first priority was to get booked on to the night time observatory excursion and we did just that. Made the call and were told to be in our hotel reception at 7pm for the pickup. Right then I was very excited as I love starring at the night sky wondering whats out there and this was going to be my chance to get a closer look. We pottered around town that day, scared to venture too far in case we missed our pickup, doing very little and getting a quick hair cut and buying more bus tickets. The weather was a perfect 28C with a coastal breeze that prevented any mugginess or sweating. Back to the hotel by 6pm to ensure we weren't missed, only to be told by reception that the trip was cancelled due to cloudy skies. I looked up from the courtyard and the sky was clear, but I guessed that up in the mountains it could be a different story. Totally gutted, I called them and asked if we could go tomorrow and they said we could if the weather was OK. We only had one more night here and I almost prayed for the first time in my life as I really didn't want to miss this opportunity. Instead we devoured a bottle of red whilst playing poker in the courtyard until we could feel that enchanting bed almost calling us to fill it once more, and finally we gave in to its request. PS Sarah won the poker.

So the next day after wrestling off the bed sheets I shot outside to check the sky and hoorah, not a cloud to be seen, and I just hoped it would stay that way. To pass the time until our exciting night trip we hit the beach - just a short cab ride away. Bizarre, as it was a gorgeous day and the beach superb, but still it was nearly deserted. One look at the waves and we soon realised why, they were rougher than a cowboys stubble, and crashed into the beach without remorse. Check the photos and you'll notice an unusual sign that we don't see much on the English coast - Tsunami escape routes! Nestled on the east shoreline of the Pacific Ocean and also lying on a fault line, apparently Chile gets a noticeable earthquake every five years. So with that in mind we did manage to semi relax and enjoy lying on the beach, but with one eye on the ocean at all times and ready to run for the hills at the first sign of a tremor.
Seven in the PM finally struck on the clock and soon after, we were in the minibus along with eight other tourists heading for the mountains as night fell. Sarah and I were in the very front, next to the driver, and being nosey I gave the dashboard a brief glance and spotted that the gas gauge was flirting dangerously with the empty sign. I nudged Sarah to make her aware but being English and reserved I just thought, well its his van and he obviously must know that either its low or its just plain broken and really we are plush with gasoline. It was a two hour drive on dark and hairy mountain roads and with about thirty minutes to the destination the gas light blinked and the shock was immediately obvious on the drivers face. I laughed and asked him if we'd make it and he said yes but it would be by the skin of our teeth if the winds in the right direction. Well I'd love to tell you that we broke down in the freezing cold desert and were all forced to eat the driver in order to survive the night but instead the van coughed and spluttered its way in to the town to the drivers relief.
We made it to the observatory at 9pm and were split, along with other vans, into manageable groups and were all given the grand tour. Forming very patient queues we took turns in watching the geek push lots of buttons which swung open the large coned doors and aimed the big black telescope at his chosen point in the night sky. It was hard not to try and push in as you heard the aahhhs and oooohs of those at the eyepiece.
Firstly we were shown Saturn and at 150 times its usual magnification and in black and white it was very simple but also very obviously Saturn. I couldn't bare to stop looking at it although I knew others were waiting to see. After seeing all those famous glossy colourful close ups of the ringed planet, published by NASA this was rather different. It basically looked like the geek had slipped a piece of black card over the end of the telescope and on it drawn, with chalk, a tiny white ball with a white ring around it. Later, when outside, he pointed out Saturn in the sky amongst the millions of stars and it looked no different, but at least now we know where it hides.
Next we were shown the place were baby stars are born, and that is inside a Nebula. A Nebula is a massive area of gasses mostly consisting of Hydrogen and resemble velvety clouds in space. The one we were shown actually sits within the well known star constellation Orion's Belt. Being in the southern hemisphere, Orion's Belt sits upside down, but anyhow if you look at the belt, just underneath is whats supposed to be Orion's sword, three smaller stars in a line. The nebula is not visible with the naked eye but lives next to the middle star in that sword. Like Saturn, this was also very special to see up close.
The sky over Chile is one of the clearest in the world and for that reason there are many many observatories along this side of the Andes mountain range. There are also plans by a world consortium to build the worlds biggest radio telescopes which looks like uber massive satellite dishes and with fifty of these all in a grid sitting in the desert I'm sure they would look sensational.
Then we were given a fifteen minute presentation on space and how astronomers were exploring it. Some of the facts and figures were truly mind boggling and how scientists have painstakingly mapped out galaxies so far away you can hardly comprehend, is an achievement to say the least. When you see a photo of distant galaxies they all appear like elongated disc shapes as if the galaxy is like a thin wheel of stars and since then, Ive noticed that on a clear night, and with no light pollution, if you look up at the sky at our very own galaxy (the Milky Way), you'll notice that all the stars are clustered in a narrow band from top to bottom with only a few stars dotted around at the sides... If you look you'll see what I mean.
Once outside we were also shown several very distant star clusters. They were over 1,500 light years away and with a naked eye glance yet again looked like a regular star, but when focused on through the geeks scope, it was like looking up at the night sky all over again. So in this one very tiny focused point in the sky, sat another universe entirely. In a word, Splendid. As we drank a locally brewed strong drink to warm us up and hunted for shooting stars, the full moon now crept up over the first and lowest mountain and soon its own light pollution started to hide more and more stars. So we left and were back to the hotel around 1am. I laid in bed that night remembering what we had seen and trying to understand what we'd been told but soon my brain throbbed with the overload as I fell asleep very content indeed.