Life in La Serena

Here in La Serena I work in an office that is on a hill about 2 miles from the beach. Walking to work every day, I have a very nice view of the city and the beach (see picture below). It's still a bit cold here, so I've only made it to the beach once. Apparantly L.S. is a big tourist spot once summer starts (mid-December). I share my office with a Chilean who is currently applying to grad school, a Brazilian who is finishing her Ph.D., and an American who already has his Ph.D. It's a good crew, and we chat quite a bit (usually in Spanish), although people here are for the most part swamped with work and relatively non-social.


This is the view I have from the road that leads up to the observatory offices.


This is NOT where I live. This is the 4.0m telescope SOAR on Cerro Pachon. I went up here to install an all-sky camera in sub-freezing weather with 50 mph wind gusts. So cool!


Also NOT where I live. This, too, was taken from Cerro Pachon. Those are clouds, not marshmallows.

Outside of work, I split my time between my room, hanging out with gringos from the observatory, and hanging out with Chilean college students. My room's small, but not tiny, and the family that rented me the room has loaned me both a TV & a radio at no charge (the family's way too nice). I play futbol once a week with gringos and Chileans, and i'm actually not half bad (my determination makes up for my lack of skill). The gringos from the observatory also put together weekly basketball and ultimate frisbee games. To avoid speaking English all day, I eat lunch at the Universidad de La Serena cafeteria & have made quite a few Chilean friends. Chileans for the most part are hard to initiate contact with (although I suppose being a 6-5 gringo doesn't help matters), but are very friendly once you've spent some time with them.


My room is adjacent to this house (through the two gates in the backyard). There are 2 other rooms next to mine that are currently rented out to Chilean students.


Every house in my neighborhood looks exactly the same!


It's windy on Cerro Grande. There's also nobody there to take a picture of you.


The Elqui Valley from Cerro Grande. The observatory is up in those Andes to the right.

Si, Estoy en Chile!

Hola a todos! I have been in Chile almost 2 months now. I live in La Serena, a coastal city of 100,000 people and capital of Region IV of Chile. Weather here is almost always cloudy and cold in the morning and then sunny and mild in the afternoon. However, we are creeping toward summer, and it's been getting warmer poquito a poco. I am renting a room (w/private bathroom) next to a house in la comuna Colina El Pino. It's pretty sweet...I pay 75 luca a month (~150 USD) and have access to a kitchen. Plus, it's less than 2 km from my work, so I walk to and fro everyday. The only problem with the place is 4 extremely dogs that live there. But soon, I will punt the small, yappy one over the fence, so things are looking up.

Well, it's Friday afternoon, and I'm meeting some Chilean students for some drinks (there's a university right next to my work), so i will leave you with a picture of the greater La Serena area taken by me from Cerro Grande (Big Hill) a few days ago.