Atacama Desert: Stargazing

The first night in San Pedro de Atacama, we booked a stargazing tour. The Atacama Desert is renowned for its clear, dark skies and stargazing is one of the most popular activities. A van came to pick us up at our hostel and we crammed in with about 15 other tourists. We only had to drive about 15 minutes out of San Pedro to reach the viewing area, where they had folding chairs set out under the stars and near a sort-of rock shelter with a long table, a fire, and a heater. We were going to have cocktails and snacks there after our astronomy talk under the stars.

We all sat in a folding chair, each with a blanket because it was COLD, and our guide, Alejandro, had the 1 other English speaker (a Canadian living in Buenos Aires) sit by us so he could go down the line of tourists, alternating between Spanish and English explanations of what we were looking at in the sky. (His ability to switch seamlessly between languages was impressive.) He compared the Greek cosmos stories of the Milky Way with the Atacama cosmos stories of the Rio Sagrado (sacred river) and its main constellations (a llama, a fox, a snake, and a frog) and then pointed out more of the Southern Hemisphere constellations on display: the Southern Cross, Capricorn, more that I’ve forgotten, and most important (to me, haha) Sagittarius.

Then we all huddled into the rock shelter to give Alejandro time to set up a couple of telescopes. Inside the shelter, our driver had laid the table with cups, mugs, wine bottles, hot water and tea, and trays of snacks. At the same time, a professional photographer named Manuel was setting up his camera under the Milky Way/Rio Sagrada and calling people for portraits. We took turns looking up at the sky through the telescopes, warming ourselves by the fire and with cheap wine, and sitting on a log under the stars for the most amazing photos I’ve ever had taken (which were included in the cost of the tour).

After we all had our photos taken and had our fill of the telescopes, we loaded back into the van and were dropped off one by one at our accommodations. Andrew and I got back to our hostel at about 11 pm and crashed out immediately. The alarm would be going off at 5:20 am for the next tour.

Cost of tour per person: $35,000 (about USD37)

Park fees per person: $0

Recommended by us?: Yes! Wear warm socks and layers. Even if you’re not interested in astronomy, you will be rewarded with your favorite personal photo.