Chilly Chile
Trip Start
Feb 20, 2008
1
29
62
Trip End
Aug 20, 2008
San Pedro de Atacama,
Chile
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Internetīs ridiculously slow, so no uploads, and Iīm off through the salt flats of Bolivia tomorrow (yaay border crossings, NOT) so iīll be without internet till probably Uyuni, town in Bolivia, about 5 days later.
Being the ultimate desert, itīs hot here in the day (35š or so) and drops to uber cold at night. Weīre in the southern hemisphere and it will be winter soon. We were bundled up in all our warm wear (and requisite silly peruvian hat) while we learnt about stars, nebulae, planets, supernovae and all, but stroll around in a tank top / flipflops in the day. Very weird
Dusty San Pedro
. More about stargazing: I have never seen the southern sky before, much less see almost every inch of the sky being covered in stars. The milky way was clearly visible, so were all the constellations from Gemini to Scorpio. We looked at Mars, Saturn, and learnt about the brightest stars in our galaxy. As I gaped in awe at the vast infinity before our eyes, I began to understand why the ancient civilisations were convinced of a greater power, why people speak so much about the "glory of god". If God exists, if thereīs anything that would make one go "wow" like this, it was this night. Full of the mystery of the universe, the untold splendours in the night sky. From the darkness, these celestial beauties unveil themselves and lure us.
Maybe thatīs why people are convinced that Heaven exists above and Angels dance in the skies. Thatīs the kind of beauty we indulged in, for 3 hours on a chilly night in Chile, in the driest desert on earth where the earthīs atmosphere is also at its thinnest.
I am enthralled.
