Chile - Atacama Miscellany

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

San Pedro de Atacama is by definition "tropical". It lies just north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

The official Tropic of Capricorn marker.

We were supposed to get a tour of ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), a radio astronomy observatory near San Pedro that is at an altitude of more than 16,000 feet. Unfortunately, all we got to see were drive-bys of the entrance guard house ...

... and the Operations Support Facility with offices and housing that are at a much more livable 9,500 ft.

Chile - Laguna Miscanti & Laguna Miñeques

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

Not too far away, but much higher in elevation (14,400 ft) are the lakes Laguna Miscanti and Laguna Miñeques. There were a few flamingoes here, and more waterfowl, but we didn't get close enough to get good photos. This was basically a scenery stop.

Laguna Miscanti. I loved the subtle colors in the volcanoes in the background.

More volcanoes behind the end of Laguna Miscanti.

Panoramic view of Laguna Miscanti.

Panoramic view of Laguna Miñeques.

Chile - Laguna Chaxa

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

Laguna Chaxa is a saline lake in the Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in the Atacama. It has gorgeous mountain backdrops and plenty of flamingoes.

Volcan Lascar is an active volcano in the area. You can just barely make out smoke rising from a vent near the summit in the middle of the photo.

Calling this a "salt flat" belies the actual texture of the plain. The ground is extremely rough and abrasive.

An occasional reddish tinge to the salt flat is evidence of arsenic in the salts.

We saw Fabian's lizard throughout our travels in the Atacama near San Pedro.

Laguna Chaxa. We saw all three species of flamingo that can be found here.

Chilean flamingoes in flight.

James' flamingo.

Andean flamingo, the most common flamingo in this area.

A close-up of an Andean flamingo.

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.