Aftermath

I woke up way too early. Still tired out of my mind. My late arrival, combined with yesterdays events, still wore heavily on my no-longer-twenty-something body. I tried to stay in bed as long as possible. Just trying to sleep some more. But the drapes were not up to the task of closing out the daylight. So in the end I gave up and went to the shower.
The apartment was cold. As usual. I had opted to stay another day in La Serena before heading back to Santiago. I knew from experience that the day after is often a day I would like to just chill. As did I this day. I had agreed to meet my friend down by the beach in the afternoon. But before that, not much else to do but relax, eat, and enjoy my day. And look through the images I had taken. Hoping they would come out ok. New equipment, new techniques and a billion things that could go wrong.
Not much to tell about my day, really. In the afternoon, I went to meet my friend at a restaurant where we would watch a football match between Chile and another country. As you might have picked up on, I am not really into football. But I don't mind in the company of friends. On my way there, my eyes cought the young moon. Just a day after it had covered the Sun, it was setting. A thin slither against the colourful backdrop of the after sunset skies. A beautiful sight. I didn't have my camera with me, so the picture is just from my phone. And not a very good one at that. You have to click on the image to enlarge it. Then you will see the Moon...

I left early from the restaurant. I had an early morning departure. I wanted to get back to Santiago not too late. Only 4-5 hours drive, so nothing bad.
I decided to leave a bit earlier than originally planned, so I would hopefully avoid any heavy traffic in Santiago. I checked the map, and found a route to go. Downloaded the map. Packed the car and left. It was a beautiful drive. And I always see new things when driving back the same road. Stuff I missed the first time. The last part was particularly beautiful, with a backdrop of snowcapped mountains in the distance to the east. I tried taking some photos. But they didn't come out properly.
Along the way, I stopped for lunch at a gas-station. I went inside, and decided to get a hot-dog. I pointed at the hot-dog, and the lady punched it into the register.  I paid and expected her to prepare the hot dog. I asked "hot-dog?". She pointed to a fridge. "Hot dog". In the fridge were wrapped hot-dogs. I got one and brought it back. She pointed to a microwave. Oooo. Nice. Microwaved hot-dog. My favorite... I walked outside with my treat and ate it while laughing a bit at the whole thing. This is the only place I have ever had this. So it was something for my blog.
As I descended on Santiago, the traffic got heavier, and the roads more complex. I pictured the route in my head, and much to my surprise, I managed to find my way without missing a turn. Guess my crappy old brain still has some tricks up its...errrr...curls...
As always with a rental, I had to fill up the tank before returning it. So I had opted for a route that would lead me past a gas-station. This was the old style that we used to have here, where you parked your car in front of the pump, and a guy would run up to you and "fill her up" for you. I gave him a small tip for the service. He thanked me, and I was off. Just as I was about to drive onto the road, I heard a loud smash. I looked up the street a block. A car had rearended another. From the damage, it looked like the driver hadn't even tried to break. Lotsa commotion and swearing between the two drivers. But at least that gave me an opprtunity to slip onto the street, and the final leg to the rental company.
I got my receipts and I walked back to the apartment block where I had rented an apartment for the remainder of my stay. I was leaving on Saturday afternoon.
I walked much of the same streets as I did before. More relaxed. More just to occupy my days. This time, the telescope shop I found the first time, was open so I could check out their gear. Always when I enter a store like this, I want to buy something. But with a stuffed bag and too much gear already at home, I had to control myself. But to ease my urge, I decided I wanted to buy a red light torch. For those of you who are not familiar with astronomy : Red light is used at night because our eyes aren't that sensitive to it. With white light, you loose your night vision. Not so with red light. So areas where amateur astronomers are gathered, are often nicknamed "red light districts". Not to be confused with...well...you know.

I sight for sore eyes. If you're an amateur astronomer...

I managed to find a guy who spoke some english, as my spanish is, well, crap. I pointed to the torch. He picked it up. Held it for a few seconds. "Ummm. This broken. Only for show. We no have any else. Sorry!" But of course. The only thing I wanted was the only thing they didn't have available. Maybe just as well. I could probably have spent thounds of dollars there.
I also decided to take another trip to the Sky Costanera. To enjoy the view one more time. This time in sunshine. With the mountain backdrop not covered in clouds. This time around, I made no mistake, and swept through the ticketing and security check like a pro. And soon I was at the top of the world again. The view was staggering. I wandered around for hours. Taking tons of photos. Only downside was to see just how polluted the air was on the ground. The fog was brown downtown. Yuck! Really hated the thought that I was breathing that thing...

Terrible smog

On the way back to the city centre, I saw these buildings. They really reminded me of the Twin Towers in New York...

Maybe the same architects as in New York?

At night, I tried the stuff I didn't dare the first time. Eating street food. Normally, it is ok. But you never know. And I didn't want to have the eclipse ruined by a bad stomach. But now it didn't matter. I walked past the university, and found a group of students around a hot-dog wagon. Since they ate it I suspected it was ok. I got me a dawg. With everything but the kitchen sink. It was delish! And I also got me a bottle of Inca Cola. You haven't really been to South America without having tasted Inca Cola!

Street beside the university. With lots of stalls.

Inca Cola. The real golden drink!

A perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

....

Hadn't it been for the text I got in the evening. From the airline. Explaining that my return plane had been cancelled out of London due to technical problems. And my return flight would therefore be...LATE. And late it was indeed. After several updates to gates, departure times and so on, we finally left around 5 in the morning on Sunday. Instead of around 2 in the afternoon on Saturday. And as an extra bonus, I got a seat in front of a guy with "scream-sneeze". You know, the kind where they have to scream at the top of their lungs every time they sneeze. And this guy had an allergy of some kind. So every couple of minutes, he would scream-sneeze ten times in a row. And just to make it perfect, he and his wife didn't have an inside-voice. Sooo. I got about 1 hour sleep on the way to London. Where my connection to Oslo had left when we arrived, so I was put up in a hotel to get a whopping 3 hours of sleep before I had to catch the bus back to the airport to get on a morning flight.
So. Not the best of endings. But at least I got home. I got to see the eclipse. I got to meet an old friend. And I got to tick off another country on my list. Just the way I like it!

Ragnar
Chillin' on the road again