An Astronomical Adventure to the
Southern Skies of Chile
(Copyright, 2007-2008)

(Note: Feb.8, 2008--
I am holding off on further installments until I am able to acquire some additional astronomical photographs for
the first week of the trip. I hope to receive some of them by mid-March.)

At present, this is a brief introduction to my Chilean trip, which began November 9, and ended December 1 of 2007, 3 weeks, when I returned home. I am just beginning to put my thoughts together, and will be back again from time to time over the following weeks to complete it.

These pages are pretty much oriented towards those who might want to travel to Chile for astronomy purposes, but I've included some other items of the trip which are not astronomical that may be of interest to anyone. As such, I've tried to provide some insight into planning and other considerations for going there the first time. I hope to provide some information that will be helpful to anyone who goes there on a professional tour, as I started with, or who might want to take a personal unguided trip via car, train, van or bus within the country.

I had the good fortune to visit and enjoy the skies of the southern hemisphere some 20 years ago on a business trip. Although pretty much restricted to larger cities and the freedom to move around then, I have wanted to return to those skies to see them more fully, and in a less fragmented way. At the time, I was far less prepared for what I would see in the sky. For the most part, this trip was to satisfy that need. In a sense, it was a need to complete my mind's view of the sky surrounding earth, north and south. Chile seemed like the best way to accomplish it. Further, it is the location of many of the largest professional telescopes in the world, and the facilities continue to be at the forefront of astronomical research. Astronomy drove my need; however, there was some time to enjoy the culture, history, geography and people of Chile.

Planning

My original intent to go south of the equator again began in earnest several years ago, with thoughts of returning to Australia. It had pluses: dark clear skies, common language, past familiarity, and good public and professional astronomical activity. Since I did not want to carry large telescopes and other equipment with me, it had another plus. There were a number of large public sky shows that I could comfortably reach and make use of equipment already there. Chile was not in my thinking until very early this year when I happened upon a tour to Chile for some purpose other than astronomy. However, I knew some of the largest observatories in the world are there, and it all clicked.

Somehow, via Google, I managed to find a tour company that specialized in astronomy tours with the a big plus that it offered nights under the stars

with very good telescopes. Despite a number of references on the internet to the company, QUASARCHILE, I could not find a single person on the internet who offered an experience about their tour with them. This bothered me for months, despite the company's very good web site and several e-mails to them. I finally got lucky a connection with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. That led to a very solid contact, a fellow I knew from college had set up their business some years ago. Now I had to decide whether a 10 day tour was worth my while and money, and I wanted to enjoy the skies for a longer period than provided by the tour.

A stumbling block to extending the trip was that I did not know Spanish nor did anyone I know wanted to share the trip. Since I have traveled outside the U.S. before, the unfamiliarity of Chile did not bother me too much. The decision to go depended upon how much more I could find out about the country. In September, I was still unsure, with only a few weeks to decide to make a down payment on the tour. I happened to be visiting Palo Alto, CA, and while there I had an inspired thought. Why not go over to Stanford University to talk to someone in the language department?

They re-directed me to the Stanford Overseas Program. I entered their office when most of the staff was at lunch. I noticed an office door open, and poked my head in to find a fellow reading. He answered very positively to my request to find someone who could give me a clue about traveling in Chile. He had been there nine or more times! We talked for about 30 minutes, and he bolstered my confidence that I could do it on my own. However, I still felt it necessary to at least get the basics of Spanish under control. It was a matter of carving out some time in the next 8 or so weeks to learn Spanish. Off went my down payment, and I began learning Spanish as best I could from books. As it would turn out, it was not enough on my unguided portion of the trip, but happily I survived without any unfortunate incidents. More on language needs as I go along. It's amazing what one can do with paper and pencil, some friendly help from the Chileans, patience, drawings, and access to a computer for translations. At times it was a test of resourcefullness.

My confidence was further buoyed by contacting a Latin American travel agent in San Francisco, and more Google work on the internet to plan the 3 week trip. In addition to a good number of sites found via Google, I found the South American Explorers, in New York. They gave me a few more leads, and things were looking good.

An unanswered question was would I spend two weeks on my own before the astronomy tour of after it. The tour was not well centered during a period of dark skies, enough but not quite what I had expected. By going early, I would be able to really visit there under dark skies for more than a week. The disadvantage was that I would begin on my own, and not first profit by increasing my understanding of Chile and Spanish from the private tour. I decided to play it safe, and begin with the tour. (Later I found the reason for the tour offset was because of a scheduling problem with two people on the tour, but reasonable under the circumstances. More on that later.)

It did not take long for me to pretty well get a handle on where I wanted to go, and what my approach to the solo part of the trip would be. I knew I had a bail out position if things were not going to my liking. It was simple. Just get back to Santiago, and get the next plane to the U.S. Fortunately, there was no need. I further decided to challenge my language and coping skills immediately when we began the tour in Santiago, nor did I hesitate to do the same when we returned to Santiago, where I had a full day at the hotel still available as part of the tour.

The first 9-10 days of the trip were as part of a professional tour by QUASARCHILE of major astronomical observatories and facilities in N. Chile.
The last 12 or so days I began my personal unguided tour of Chile. This second part began in Santiago and went southward for several days to the
beautiful Lake District. I had planned to go further south, within 100 or so miles of the northern edge of mountainous and rugged Patagonia, but had a change of (astronomical) heart. Instead, I went back into the northern section of central Chile to see some more astronomical sites missed on the private tour. I also made an attempt to pay homage to Darwin by visiting a famous site from his journeys in the 1830s. The beautiful and inviting portions of the lower (southern) Lake District and Patagonia would have to wait for another time.

Chile is a modest size country with varied scenery from desert in the north, Mediterranean greenness in the middle, to the rugged wilderness of the south. The total land area is about the size of the state of Montana, the 4th largest state in the U. S. However, it is very narrow and long, extending along the west coast of S. America, averaging 107 miles in width with a length of 2,700 miles. It is bounded on the east by the Andes and the west by the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island and Robinson Crusoe Island, owned by Chile, which lay several thousand and hundred miles, respectively, west of the country. Chile is bordered by Peru and Bolivia in the north and Argentina to the east.

The next installment of these pages will begin with the astronomy tour in the north. In the next and future installments you will hear in my journey of a powerful earthquake, the very arid Atacama desert, my brief bout with heat exhaustion, the lagoons and parks of the north, a look at the night sky, a number of astronomy observatories and facilities in both the north and central area, smoking volcanoes, wild rivers,

tours of some of the large cities, my homage to Darwin, transportation within the country, and tips to future travelers (particularly those who want to go there for astronomy), an accident that brought useful future insights about medical treatment on private tours, costs, wildlife, the Humboldt Current, future astronomical developments in Chile, the flora and fauna, and more.

For the moment, I will leave you with a few pictures from the trip, and a map of the north with some of the cities we stayed.

This is indeed a very large telescope. In fact, it is given that
name, or VLT. The biggest in

Chile

, 8.2 meters. One of four
at the top of the Paranal mountain site!

Smoking Volcano after the Earthquake