Day 7- A great day with Steve

Posted by Lisa on February 12th, 2006 — Posted in Activities

On Saturday, after a nice big breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon, we headed off for our personal tour of Gemini Observatory. It was a hour and a half drive from La Serena. Driving up to the observatory was a much better experience than Thursday’s drive. Steve actually knew how to use the 4 wheel drive. Once we got up to the observatory, Steve gave us a tour and showed us the telescope and bHROS- his instrument. Gemini observatory is located over 9,00 feet high in the Andes about halfway between the ocean and Argentina. In the distance we saw some snow probably glaciers in the more distant and higher peaks of the mountains in Argentina. Some of our friends from here are actually camping there this weekend. While we were at the top we saw a few young Andean Condors flying around. On the drive down to the bottom, we saw hawks, goats and horses along the mountainside. We then stopped at a papaya stand, had some papaya juice- the papaya trees are located in La Serena, and at this stand they also sell wine from Falernia Vineyard. We bought a bottle of their 2002 Syrah which has won numerous awards here in Chile. We then traveled to Vicuna and stopped at the Capel plant for a pisco tour and tasting. The tour itself was short and in spanish, but we were able to figure out the pisco process. We then went into Vicuna, walked around the artesian shops, tried Copao- which is a type of cactus fruit grown in the Atacama. It tasted like a cross between a kiwi and grapes. Then we stopped for onces and had some pisco sours and empanadas before coming home.

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