Chile: The North and Things Going Wrong

Recently I watched an excellent movie on the recommendation of my friend, called 180 Degrees South. The movie is about an adventure through the Patagonian mountains and a man's attempt to climb Corcavado, a relatively unscaled volcano in the heart of the region. During the movie he meets up with the founders of Patagonia and North Face. When the journey takes a bad turn one of them  states "Adventure starts when everything goes wrong."

Thinking back on the past couple months and the trip to Patagonia and then especially this past weekend up north, I've come to realize just how true that is. Whenever things went "wrong" they were actually just coming together. I guess my group of friends and I have come to learn this bit of wisdom via experience down here! This past weekend was a case in point. 

Last Thursday we traveled 7 hours north by bus to get to La Serena to catch a tour to Isla Damas the next morning. The Isla is home to dolphins, penguins, sea lions and a host of other fascinating marine wildlife. However, the boat tour was cancelled that morning due to "rough seas". And the next morning. And the morning after that. After trying and failing to see penguins multiple times so far during my Chile stay, I'm starting to wonder if they even actually exist.

When we arrived in the beautiful, hot and extremely remote Valle de Elqui we almost didn't get to go to any of the observatories in the area due to a couple of them being closed for the weekend (all the scientists were off at a "The Cure" concertŀgo figure). A lot of Pisco de Elqui was closed down for the season, we missed the pisco tour, and everyone got sick on Saturday night, bus trouble. The list goes onŀ

But still, I can't say this weekend was a failure by any means. The observatory we did end up going to was amazing. We saw Saturn (with its rings!) through a giant telescope and learned about the southern hemisphere constellations. For about 4 hours we were standing on a giant rocky hillside, gazing up at some of the clearest views of the milky way you can get on earth. When I was little I wanted to be an astronomer for a time, and my inner 6-year old was freaking out. Looking up at all those stars, I was getting a little dizzy from the sheer vastness of it all. When the guide pointed the telescope at a seemingly vacant area of the night sky, we would peer through only to see clusters of billions of more stars. Weird galaxies shaped like butterflies and spiders and faraway blue and red stars. 

We spent a couple days exploring the charming city of La Serena. La Serena is the second oldest city in Chile and it was lovely. We wandered in and out of old markets, antique stores and museums. We also had some delicious seafood in Conquimbo and peaceful strolls along the beach. Despite the many setbacks it was- as several of us later said- an interesting weekend, for sure. An adventure, as always.

Beautiful downtown La Serena

Archeology Museum

Park overlooking the city

Market center

Solar-powered restaurant in La Vicuna!

Cactus juice...surprisingly good!

Main Plaza, Pisco de Elqui

Pisco is a bit of a ghost town this time of year...some hippies clearly stuck around, though.

Southern edge of the Atacama Desert

Last day in La Serena and the lovely Pacific

La Serena lighthouse

Mapping out elaborate travel plans in the sand

Also, as an aside, to my fellow New Englanders in Boston, the running community and USA as a whole, you're getting lots of love from Chile. Mantente fuerte!