La Serena

The Atacama desert in Chile is one of the best places in the world for viewing celestial bodies. All the major space stations have their observatories in the desert valleys a few hours from La Serena. I went camping with a friend who lives in Chile because he had been before. He regaled us with stories from his last adventure up there. How him and his buddies had biked 70km with 25+lbs on their backs each. 8lbs of water alone! It was crazy.

Energy mountain

I'm not that intense, so I opted to take the bus. We got to the place called Rio Magico (magic river) and it really was magic. There was an observatory in this small town. And only us at the campsite. It was so beautiful to be out in the moonlight with the campfire. I had an amazing time. Unfortunately, the same bright moon caused less stars to be seen, but we still saw quite a few of them.

Beautiful

This particular place where we camped is called the Valle de Elqui. It's known for being the "magnetic centre of the earth" and has a lot of mysticism and stuff associated with it. For example, this mountain was the original location for the NASA observatory. But when they got up there, all the sensors started going crazy because there was a strong energy field being emitted from the mountain. It's supposed to be the source of all the energy.

Pisco Wineries

This place is also known for it's pisco refineries. Never tell a Chilean that Peruvian pisco is better, the same rule applies the other way around. They are both very proud of their piscos. Pisco is a hard liquor made from grapes. The desert is the best place to grow the grapes because it's super hot in the day and gets pretty cold at night.

All in all, a good camping trip into the desert, even if it was only for one night!

Camp

The Magic River Eco-Park

Desert flowers...the best sort