Of star gazing and sun baking

In the middle of the Chiliean desert lives a French man with telescopes pointed to the stars and hot chocolate that warms the spirit after mind blowing visions of the night sky. Having arrived in San Pedro the night before and spending a lazy day around the town, we went to the observatory at 11:30pm and I never wanted to leave. I had about as many questions as there are stars in the sky and I was probably like a child with a new set of Christmas toys. We first looked at Saturn whih}ch was slightly surreal as it was right next to the moon and was very bright. Honestly it looked like those two dimensional stickers that you put on the roof of your bedroom when you were a kid and were illuminated by the light and put you to sleep. But it was really Saturn and the colour and shape were so clear. We then look at Alpha Centaury and other star clusters then a massive close up of the moon which, to be fair, nearly blinded me, but the contours and the craters were so visable it was like you could touch it. Some people feel asleep over the hot chocolate back in the warmth of the house, but I wanted to ask more questions and try to understand the enormity of it. Sadly we had to leave and my mind still boggles.

On our way into Chilie, we stopped at a border check and realised that we were at 5040m above sea level and laughed. I remember how tough the climb over the 4400m pass was when climbing the inca trail and then just walking around at about 4700m in Boliva in the boiling hot sun was kind of surreal considering the cold on the Inca Trail, but I have passed the 5000m mark and am proud to say that I have done it. We are now on the down hill run to the coast line back to a big city before my trip is over. Today we are heading out to some salt springs in the middle of the desert, which will involve some homage to the sun and then we are headed to Moon valley to watch the sun set which I think will be a nice sight over the weird and wonderful shapes of the stones.

It is nice to have some lazy days and I about to go and read yet another book in the sun. It seems that I have become a book monster and am going through them at about one a day. Sadly the truck is starting to run out of books for me to read so I have toswap with whoever I can.

Mwah x