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Chile and Easter Island

San Pedro de Atacama is a town set on an arid high plateau in the Andes mountains of northeastern Chile. Its dramatic surrounding landscape incorporates desert, salt flats, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs. The Valle de la Luna in the nearby Los Flamencos National Reserve is a lunarike depression with unusual rock formations, a huge sand dune and pink-streaked mountains.

It is located east of Antofagasta, some 60 miles southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano.

We boarded the MS Skorpios III, our home for three nights as we cruise the Chilean fjords. This family owned vessel is uniquely designed with a reinforced hull for navigating ice and a small size for treading through the narrow fjords and bays.

We are visiting the Nao Victoria Museum to see a replica of one of Ferdinand Magellan's ships, complete with furniture and hardware.

Lunch stop for today. Another great local treat.

Dining room at Restaurant Tematico. The restaurant has been open for 9 years now. They began by hosting small groups into their family home and quickly grew into a larger operation. The small ranch is an agro-ecological farm with animals, trees, flowers, and nature and culture. It is located in Senderos de Coyo 8 miles from San Pedro de Atacama.

Nicole introducing Daniela Vega Vilches, the owner, her mother, sister and daughter. She started a small business because she enjoyed cooking. Today in just a few years the restaurant has developed a grand reputation among tour groups specializing in local Chilean cuisine.

Graffiti art

I loved this promotion for Puerto Natales on a sign walking around town.

Lago Nordenskiöld) is a lake located in Torres del Paine National Park in the Magallanes Region, southern Chile. The lake is named after the Swede Otto Nordenskiöld who discovered the lake in the beginning of the 20th century.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of radio telescopes in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. Since a high and dry site is crucial to millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength operations, the array has been constructed on the Chajnantor plateau at 16,000 feet altitude, near Llano de Chajnantor Observatory and Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. Consisting of sixty-six 39 feet and 23 feet diameter radio telescopes observing at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths, ALMA is expected to provide insight on star birth during the early universe and detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.

Chile is an astronomer’s paradise. The country is justly famous for its lush valleys and snow capped volcanoes, but its most striking scenery may be overhead. It is home to some of the finest places on Earth to enjoy the beauty of the starry sky. If there’s one country in the world that really deserves stellar status, it’s Chile. ALMA is an international partnership among Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile. Costing about US$1.4 billion, it is the most expensive ground-based telescope in operation.

Toconao is a village 24 miles south of San Pedro de Atacama in the San Pedro de Atacama province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. It lies at an elevation of 8,153 feet above sea level, close to the northeast margin of the Salar de Atacama. The most notable building in Toconao is its church. The bell tower is separated from the main church structure and dates from 1750.

El Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is located 8 miles west of San Pedro de Atacama, to the north of Chile in the Cordillera de la Sal, in the Atacama desert. It has various stone and sand formations which have been carved by wind and water. It has an impressive range of color and texture, looking somewhat similar to the surface of the moon. There are also dry lakes where the composition of salt makes a white covering layer of the area. It presents diverse saline outcrops which appear like man-made sculptures

Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part of Chile. Puerto Natales is the only city in the province. It is located 153 miles northwest of Punta Arenas. It is the final passenger port of call for the Navimag ferry sailing from Puerto Montt into the Señoret Channel as well as the primary transit point for travelers to Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

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