Chile - On the Road from Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama

Monday, 28 October 2019

Although only about 150 miles, the bus ride from Antofagasta to San Pedro de Atacama takes most of a day. And there are a couple of interesting places to see along the way.

Baquedano

Baquedano is a small railroad village, where we stopped to see a railroad museum. Unfortunately, the switching yard was too busy to allow us to safely pass from the train station to the museum, so we had to settle for viewing the activity in the switching yard.

This is one of four old passenger cars in the train yard.

The railroads in Chile are mainly for freight. We saw a lot of copper being transported by rail, as these flatbed cars carrying plates of copper illustrate.

Chacabuco

The ghost town of Chacabuco was originally built as a nitrate (saltpeter) processing facility with a residential community. In the early 20th century nitrates for fertilizer and explosives made up about 50% of the Chilean economy. This came to an abrupt halt in the 1930s as synthetic nitrates took over the market. Chacabuco only operated as a nitrate plant for 14 years. From 1973 to 1974, Chacabuco was re-opened as a prison camp for political dissidents during the Pinochet regime. Today, Chacabuco is slowly being restored as an historic site.

The remains of the residential area of Chacobuco. The aridness and remoteness of the Atacama Desert makes this a challenging place to live.

This was the administration building that also acted as a "club house" for the management. There were two tennis courts in front of the building.

Abandoned machinery.

The water tank for the complex.

Between Calama and San Pedro

Several wind turbines, as well as a large solar installation were between Calama and San Pedro.

Mountains as we neared San Pedro.

San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama is the major oasis in the Atacama Desert, and northern Chile's most popular tourist destination. It was the only place in Chile where we saw a significant number of tourists.

The San Pedro River is dry because what little water it holds has been diverted for other uses (mostly irrigation).

Our hotel had irrigation channels that were mostly filled by outflow from their waste treatment plant.

Licambur is a prominent extinct volcano just a bit to the east of San Pedro. Here it is lit by the orange glow of the setting sun.

Chile - Antofagasta - La Portada

Sunday, 27 October 2019

On our last afternoon in Antofagasta, we visited "La Portada", a natural arch and very soft cliffs along the Pacific.

La Portada ("The Gateway")

The bluffs adjacent to La Portada, which is just off the right side of the photo.

Bluff going to the north.

A colony of Peruvian boobies live on the cliffs.

Chile - Antofagasta

Saturday, 26 October and Sunday, 27 October 2019

We had plenty of time in Antofagasta because our trip to the Cerro Paranal Observatory was canceled. On Thursday, we had time to wander around the town, and on Friday, we had guided tours.

The magnificent view from our hotel room had it all - tidal pools, the harbor, the yacht club (with swimming pool), beaches.

Pelicans spent most of their time on top of rocks that stayed out of the water (if not out of the surf) at high tide.

A Peruvian pelican silhouetted against the surf.

Sea lions had taken over a dock in the harbor. They got chased off their perch, but returned as soon as possible.

This sea lion was enjoying the sunshine on rocks that lined the harbor edge.

The cathedral in the central plaza, Plaza Colón, was visible from our hotel.

A British clocktower dominates the center of the plaza.

The cathedral.

The Post Office across from the plaza clearly shows its colonial heritage.

A building across the street from our hotel has stunning "trompe l'oeil" murals on two sides. The figures on the first floor are of significant local politicians, artists, and writers. The paintings are so realistic it can be difficult to tell from a distance that they're not real.

A mural on another wall of the same building. The stairs at left and the light pole at right are real, all else is a detailed painting.

A turkey vulture sites on a (real) balcony on the "mural building".

Night view from our hotel balcony.

Chile - Night Sky

Friday, 25 October 2019

We were promised spectacular views of the southern sky, and this trip delivered. We had two stargazing nights at small semi-professional observatories where we could view southern sky objects through a variety of telescopes. I was able to use my camera to capture a few wide-angle views of the night sky at the Pangue Observatory near Vicuña.

As the sun set, Venus was visible over the domes on Cerro Tololo

Even well-known constellations seem strange when seen from the southern hemisphere. And at 30° S latitude, the Zodiac is high overhead rather than laying along the southern horizon (as seen in Virginia). From the bottom up: Venus, Mercury, Scorpius, Jupiter, Sagittarius, Saturn. The dome of the Cerro Tololo observatory is visible on the horizon near Venus. [10 sec exposure]

The Milky Way in Sagittarius - the center of the galaxy. [30 sec exposure]

The Magellanic Clouds, small elliptical galaxies near our Milky Way galaxy.

Taken on the beach at La Serena on October 24. We watched the relative positions of Mercury and Venus change over the course of the tour.

Chile - The LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope)

Friday, 25 October 2019

The skies in the coastal range of northern Chile have arguably the best "seeing" in the world for optical astronomy. Originally, we were supposed to visit four professional observatories, but the civil unrest that broke out a few days before we started had almost everything closed - not because the observatories were sites of demonstrations, but because the staff had great difficulty getting to the sites.

The one observatory we did get to see was the construction site for the LSST on Cerro Pachón. This large (8.4 m) optical telescope is designed for a very specific job: to survey the entire sky every three days for 10 years - 18 TB of data every night, with real-time data analysis. It is scheduled to be fully operational in 2021 or 2022.

The LSST is on Cerro Pachón, along with a couple of other telescopes. Cerro Tololo is the first site for modern telescopes in South America, having been developed by a consortium of US universities and the National Science Foundation in the 1960s.

This sign may have overstated the slope, but there were some steep climbs and downhills on the road.

The desert in these mountains is severe and bleak. This photo shows the telescopes atop Cerro Pachón. The LSST is the large white and blue structure on the right.

Another view of Cerro Pachón. This time from Vista Sidney Wolff, where the road splits to go to either Cerro Tololo or Cerro Pachón.

Cerro Tololo as seen from the LSST site.

Our first view of the LSST.

The coating chamber where mirror maintenance will be performed.

The strutcure that will support the mirror, which will be directly above where everyone is standing.

Outside the dome-to-be. The rotation of the dome structure was being tested while we were there.

Sidney &Richard Wolff, along with our guides from the LSST staff (Victor, Jacques, and Giovanni).

Our tour bus shows that the area is every bit as dusty as it looks.

We had a late picnic lunch back at the guard house after we completed our tour. The bus took a lot longer to travel the 50 km from the guard house to the LSST site than a smaller vehicle does, so our "lunch" had to wait until 4 PM.

Chile - Valleys & Grapes - Wine & Pisco

Wednesday, 23 October, and Friday, 25 October, 2019

The Spanish conquistadors brought grapes to Chile in the 1500s. Wine and pisco (grape brandy) have been part of the culture ever since.

On Wednesday, we had a tour of the Casablanca Valley, between Santiago and Valparaiso. On Friday, we were in the Elqui Valley, between La Serena and Vicuña.

The Elqui Valley as viewed from the Puclaro Dam (Embalse Puclaro). The Elqui River provides enough water for agriculture in the valley.

The reservoir behind the dam. The reservoir provides a source of fresh water for irrigation and drinking; the dam generates a modest amount of electricity.

Vineyard near Vicuña.

Fermentation tanks at the Capel Pisco Distillery in Vicuña.

Oak aging tanks at the distillery.

The stills that produce the final product.

The tasting room at the Kingston Family Winery in the Casablanca Valley.

Set up for our wine tasting: two whites and three reds.

Chile - Santiago

Wednesday, 23 October, and Thursday, 24 October 2019

In October we took a tour of Chile with fellow alumni from Carleton College. The focus of the trip was supposed to be visiting the large astronomical observatories that take advantage of Chile's perfect sites for such instruments. Unfortunately, our plans changed with the civil unrest that erupted the week before our trip, the topic of a forthcoming post.

We didn't get to see much of Santiago. During the day we were discouraged from going more than a block or two from our hotel, which was in the thick of things in central Santiago - normally a great location. In the evening, curfews were in effect. It really didn't matter much because all of the museums and most of the shops were closed.

Here are few sights from the bus:

The channelized Rio Mapocho was dry. The cement wall held a variety of murals. I loved this one of a cat eyeing fish as they swam by.

A church steeple near the central market area.

Another church steeple in the same area. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the name of either church as the bus went by.