San Pedro de Atacama Day 2

Today was a mixture of activities and admin. Much like precious admin days, Allan had some things to sort for Aconcagua and his university work. I looked at Santiago accommodation and activities for while he is climbing. I also went into town and did some grocery shopping. When Allan took a break, we went back into town to book our Valle de la Luna tour for tomorrow.

After the sun went down, we made some dinner before we met at Plaza la Apachata for our stargazing tour. We had a short 15 minutes drive out to the desert to get away from some of the light pollution. When we arrived, we had mulled wine and snacks to start before heading out to some benches in the dark. Our guide, René, was funny and knowledgeable. He struck the perfect balance of jokes, sarcasm, and information to keep us all engaged. We learned a lot about how to read the stars and he helped us identify some constellations. Some of them were quite tricky because they were upside down (southern hemisphere and all).

Then, we got to look through some telescopes. We saw things like nebulae, star clusters, and even planets. It was absolutely wild to see Saturn and Jupiter so clearly! We also got a picture that you can actually see us and the stars. It was a quick drive back after the tour, and then time for bed.Read more