Yesterday, after I blogged, a bit of time was spent in La Serena. I went to the market in La Serena with those observing with me and spent some money. I got a few souvenirs. Everything is ridiculously cheap here (really tasty Argentinian steak dinner with a ton of vegetables and three drinks--one of which was water--for about $25).
La Serena is definitely not a thriving city. Travel guides advise against being alone and female in the city. That's interesting because I'll probably have to do this alone at some point. It's really not a bad place, as far as I could tell.I've had to give up on exchanging money. Today was a holiday so the office that I may have been able to do that in wasn't open. That's the worst thing that's happened thus far. That's not bad.
Today we took the hour and a half drive up to Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. About half of that was spent driving on a long, winding mountain road. It was spectacular. The view is fantastic. The mountains have the slightest hints of red and orange in them, barely noticeable in this photograph. It doesn't hold a candle to Roussillon, France because the colors aren't as striking.
We watched the sun set after dinner, and it turned all of the rocks this brilliant shade of red in the fading light.I am now in the middle of the first night of observing. I am not about to complain. I am in Chile at an observatory. This situation is amazing.
3 comments:
don't exchange money, just take out your maximum withdraw amount from an atm
the mountains look like the one in california and arizona. just as beautiful!!thanks for sharing
The observatory would have done the exchange for the same rate as a bank.
The ATM is my only choice now.
Just wait until I get pictures of the sunsets up...
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