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My supposed 22hr bus from Santiago to San Pedro de Atacama turned into a 26hr ride due to a mechanical fault with our bus but eventually I arrived. I got a bit lost but found my hostel in the end. First impressions were that San Pedro seemed very nice, narrow dusty streets, white adobe buildings and lots of stalls selling knitted jumpers, scarves and other artesanal handicrafts.
After a shower I went into town to meet Jenny (friend from Brazil) for a catch up. We chatted and had a juice in a little cafe. She had taken the initiative and booked us on an astronomy tour for that night. This place is famous for astronomy as it has so many cloudless nights and very predictable winds which reduces turbulence.
So, at 6:45pm we jumped on a bus and drove the 15mins to the astronomy site. Once there our Canadian guide gave us a very detailed rundown of the night sky. He used a laser pointer to show us Jupiter, Saturn, the closest stars to Earth and the different constellations. It was extremely informative. After that he showed us nine large telescopes that were pointing at different areas of interest in the sky. We then had free time to circulate around these as he wandered from one to the other giving explanations and helping people. It was so interesting as it was the first time I had looked at the night sky through a telescope. My favourite one was Saturn. You could clearly see the rings around it, it almost looked fake. Other sights included the brightest star in the sky and a set of three stars called the jewel box with one white, one blue and one yellow star. After everyone had done the rounds we all went inside a small building where we were given a hot chocolate and a chance to warm up. We had a question and answer time with our very knowledgable guide and I learnt that Pluto is no longer considered a planet! I seemed to have missed the boat on that one...
After the tour Jenny and I along with three others from my hostel went for a pisco sour in a nice bar/restaurant with a fire before calling it a night.
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