La Serena, Chile – Kyoto, Japan
I got fed up with South America and made an impulsive decision to just fly straight to Japan. I flew from La Serena to Santiago then directly to Kyoto. Japan is everything I had imagined; with its Zen garden full of lush greeneries, flowing water, carefully placed rocks, ponds with Koi and ducks, etc.
Haha! I kid I kid! I wasn’t in Japan. Still in La Serena, actually. Here’s the real entry for the day:
La Serena – Vicuna – La Serena, Chile
Who would have thought La Serena got a pretty decent and well managed Japanese Garden. I think it was either a gift or a collaboration with the Japanese.
But anyway, by dusk today, I was on a tour bus heading to the neighboring town Vicuna then to the Mamalluca Observatory. The tour inside the observatory was so much more informational than I anticipated. In fact, it was so jam packed with geeky cosmic info that I got real giddy. I wish I had known, cos I would have put my iPhone voice recorder on. I probably only retain 20% of the cool stats and tidbits.
I learnt how to always tell where the south is from the stars (granted that I’m in the southern hemisphere.) Here’s how:
• Locate the Southern Cross constellation
• From the longer line of the cross, follow the direction 4.5 times
• This will bring you to the pivot point
• Draw a straight line down to the horizon and that’s South for you
And I googled how to tell North from the North Star.
Also, check out this application called Stellarium. It’s free and is available for computer and on iPhone.
The whole time at Mamalluca I was busy listening to the info while trying to take long exposure photos in pitch darkness. The result are some alright photos and a crack on my iPhone (I used my iPhone to prop my camera). It’s time to change my iPhone bumper; the rubber part is literally disintegrating.
One Comment
Nice photos! The observatory seems really cool!