"It´s weird to see Orion NOT upside down"

...Said our guide about his recent visit up north.

And you´ll never see the North Star in the Southern hemisphere....Yeah, I guess that makes sense.  They go by The Southern Cross in the south.

Last night we went to the Mamalluca Observatory to learn about the stars and the universe.  Our guide was very nice and well spoken but he assumed we knew all the basic terms already; super nova, nebula, black hole.  Ok, I admit I should know these terms and I kind of sort of knew... a bit.  But I would have preferred he gave a quick description every time he mentioned the term for the first time.  We saw loads of stars, lots of satellites, and even a few meteors, leftover from the big "Dec 13" meteor shower.  He pointed out a few constellations and explained when we would see them in the sky and where, depending on the time of day and year.  He also told us which planets were in which constellations. So, he did share a lot of info but not too much of it was absorbed cause it was all just sort of thrown at us.  I woud have liked to have sat inside and look at a map on the ceiling of constellations drawn out so we could recognize them when we got outside.  But we did see Jupiter through the telescope, rings and all.  That was pretty cool.

Our hostel in La Serena

                              Outside Pablo Neruda's house/museum.  The highlight of Valparaìso.

The two Belgain beers we tried at the Irish pub in Chile.  There were otherwise loads of Danish beers to   choose from.

                                                      A typical property in Valparaìso

                                                  Anothr angle of our hostel in La Serena

"Cake of crab"  Not really crabcake as we East Coasters know it.  But soooooo good.  Fresh and crabby and buttery.

Ceviche. Imagine raw hake chopped and siting in lemon juice, fresh garlic and sprinkld with coriander.  Not the most appetizing looking dish but very fresh and yummy.  I couldn't look at while I ate it. Plus I was already half stuffed on the cake of crab.

MontGras for the ladies.  About the same price as in DK.  I opted for a very local red wine for that evening.

Real  Moai, removed from Easter Island at a time when they thought it was ok to remove such things.

There is not much to do or see in La Serena but we are glad we found the Archeological Museum and the Observatory tour.  On the 1.5 hour bus ride home in the pitch black, we were entertained by some awesome videos of popular music over the last 4 decades.  The highlight was "Dust in the Wind." Nobody in the bus (save for me) had ever seen the video and were highly amused, no, cracking up to tears, whenever Robby Steinhardt made an appearance with his famous violin.  We all thought it was the best part, for different reasons...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ&ob=av3e

                                   Christmas and Santa's chair at the US style mall in La Serena.

Getting ready to look at a bunch of blurry bright, blue or orangey objects, just that much closer. 

Today we are off on an overnight trip to San Pedro de Atacama, where we will try to get a 3-4 day tour in the Uyuni salt desert in Bolivia.  Still not exactly sure where we'll be for Christmas.  In Bolivia in any case...