The moon and the stars

The theme of today was the moon and the stars. In the late morning and afternoon, we visited the valley of the moon. It's so called because those who named it thought it was like being on the moon, whereby I think its more down to the white salt encrusted rocks, and the landscape with no plants, no water, and if course no animals.

The strongest hint that it's not the moon is that under the white crust and above it, there is red sandstone, not something you find on the moon.

It is an interesting place for a drive and short walks, and the kids had fun on the way back, sitting in the open trailer of the truck.

Tonight, we went beyond the moon to the stars by going on an astronomy tour. It was interesting but a little less than the experience in the Kalahari (Namibia). A pity since the Atacama is where the big earth based telescopes are due to clear air and skies. I suspect we simply had too much light pollution from San Pedro. In Kalahari, we were at least 30km from the next town.Read more