Mar 17 The new beach crowd. And Stars!

If La Serenas days of glory are over (they are), the busy multi story apartment blocks are going up along the shore further south in Coquimbo. Here masses of holiday makers come for the surf, sand, casino and outlet malls. But along the water thee is still a lively fishing port feel to the small but excellent seafood restos. We drive down to find one and are pleasantly surprised by the full house in there, locals all enjoying huge plates of wonderful shellfish soup, fish and of course, pisco sours. Mine is mango, delish. Fee digestifs thrown after after too.

  Good thing about Serena was our host, rather dour ex-Scot John, a mine of information about the changing nature of Chile’s economy and way of life. Apparently its all going downhill!

  La Serena for 5 days was more than enough so we are pleased to set off for a night up the Elqui valley at Vicuña. 

  We find the winery that is now open, but no tours. However, it is interesting that they are making wine from PX the famous grape. Used by the Spanish to make a very sweet dessert wine.

  It is week of the stars here. Did I say there are numerous important Observatories all over this part of Chile? The night sky is very clear, no pollution, so enthusiasts with big lenses abound. Tonight is a special night. Many enthusiasts have brought their big telescopes to the main plaza and will turn off all the lights at 9pm so we can all look through them and see stars. All the locals are out to enjoy it. Kids buying treats and sweets. Families and teens accumulating in the centre of this sleepy wee town. The band is deafening, as usual. A

  The big news is the astronomical association is taking delivery of a large financial grant to teach more students in this area.

  For the first time in my life I line up to peer through the big microscope and see a nebula - Ted passes.

  We find a small recommended restaurant, again we are almost the only customers, but the famed chef does a nice job for us. 

We drift back to the hotel. We seem to be the only guests in this ramshackle place of old glory. Next morning, we are the only guests for the ‘buffet’ breakfast, nice enough all the same.