Stellarium - Planetarium for your computer

stellarium.org

When we visited the star gazing facility in Chile, our guide showed us different views of the sky above us with Stellarium.
This is a free and open source application, available for all mayor platforms (Windows, Mac & Linux) and in dozens of languages which enables you to travel in space and time to have a look at the stars.

By entering a location you can see what kind of stars to expect, which constellations are visible & much more. You can see in real time how satellites pass and stars wander or hurry it up by pressing fast forward.
But you can also travel back and forward in time. Want to know which kind of stars are visible on the 17. of April 2017 in Reykjavik, Iceland? Or on the 1. of July in 1394 in Lae, Papua New Guinea? No problem!

The application can of course much more than most of us will ever need. There are many differen plugins and scripts available, from following the path of the sund during the year, demonstrating lunar eclipses, displaying Super Novas to sending digital commands to your telescope tracker.

All in all it is a beautiful piece of software which everybody with a slight interest in the world above us should at least try. Its free, so nothing to lose ;)

View from Concepcion with enabled constellation lines, labels and artwork.

Travelling latin america, a little statistic

loading...

Friends - Has & Steff

mouseyingaround.blogspot.com

In Peru we met Has & Steff a couple from Wales, not England - Wales! ;) And for everyone who doesn't know were that is: Wales.
In the month we travelled together we survived the Inka Jungle Trail, met funny, unique and weird people, got drunk and suffered the day after, seen breathtaking nature in Bolivia, met Fernando (4 year old) a super cute boy with the biggest cheeks I've ever seen, and shared a lot of great memories!
At Santiago they took the plane to New Zealand, heading forward to Australia and Indonesia.
Thank you Has & Steff for this great time.

Pucon & Puerto Montt (30.02.2014 - 06.03.2014)

It took us almost a whole day and three different busses to reach Pucon from Santa Cruz. This little town is famous for its many outdoor activities. You can go canyoning, river rafting, do a canopy tour, visit the different hot springs and of course do a lot of hiking. To relax from our bus journey we headed to visit the Pozones hot springs. They where nice but sitting in hot water when it is already hot weather is kind of pointless, you just sweat even more ;)

The next day we decided to do some hiking and ventured to the Santuario El Cañi. Having heard it would be steep we thought we where (mentally) prepared. But it took us 3 hours of steady climbing to reach the plateau with its lakes. It was nice to stroll beneath the huge trees, enjoying the lakes and having a rest before tackling the climb to the viewpoint. Almost an other hour of climbing was rewarded with an awesome view!
If you want to do this go as early as possible, I can't imagine how it would be to do this under a powerful midday sun!
The decent, thanks to my shot knees, was the more painful part in my opinion... I'm getting old!

From Pucon we headed further south to Puerto Montt. Here ships leave for Puerto Antes in Tierra del Fuego. We hoped to find a cheap last minute deal, as the summer and therefore the window was closing. Sadly the cheapest boat was still way out of budget, as where any trips down into the arctic from Ushuaia. Also we would have to get some serious trekking and winter gear, our sneakers aren't really made to wander around the end of the world ;).

So we sadly decided to head over to Bariloche in Argentina and postpone Patagonia for another day when we would be a bit better prepared...

Weekend and Wine B&B, Santa Cruz

weekendandwine.cl
21 de Mayo 0317 con Avenida Las Toscas, Santa Cruz

Weekend and Wine is a five room bed & breakfast close to the main plaza. Every room is lovely decorated and offers everything for a pleasant stay. The breakfast is extensive, perfect if you plan to do some wine tasting in or around Santa Cruz.
The hosts are very friendly and helpful with every information to visit wine yards.

Breakfast for two

Laura Hartwig, Santa Cruz

laurahartwig.cl

If you like to visit a wine yard which is close to Santa Cruz, Laura Hartwig it is. This lovely family run company produces wine in the second generation and exports it all over the word. Nevertheless it could maintain its charm as a little wine yard.
The tour starts with a ride on horse and carriage trough the yard followed with a tour trough the production and the wine cellar. Rounded up with a wine tasting at the end.
This tour cost around 15USD.

Hostal Jacaranda, Valparaiso

Urriola 636, Cerro Alegre, Valparaiso

In Valparaiso you find a lot of very nice, mostly colonial hotels & hostels. An option which is also affordable is Hostal Jacaranda. It is based in two different buildings, a smaller house with a garden and the one in a colonial building newly renovated. Each room has a different color concept and is stylishly furnished. Both buildings have a kitchen you can use.
The area around the Hostel is a nice dynamic neighbourhood with lots of good bars, restaurants and little shops.

Our room

Fauna, Valparaiso

faunahotel.cl
Paseo Dimalow 166, Calle Alegre, Valparaiso

Based in the old town in the hills you find Fauna, a bar/ restaurant/ hotel with one of the best views in town. The interior is of modern design with a lot of wood and metal.
The wine and menus are a bit pricier but very good. This is is definitely the place to have an afternoon drink and enjoy the beauty of Valparaiso.

Santiago & Santa Cruz (25.02.2014 - 29.02.2014)

In Santiago we visited the Plaza de Armas and had a look at its surrounding buildings. Strolled through the side streets and ended up in the fancier Bellavista district. Had some burger and beers and headed back to the little apartment we had rented with Has & Steff. Even went to the gym on the 25th floor with an awesome view! The pool was sadly too cold ;)
We met up again with Pim & Mark and ended up drinking till 2 in the morning and weren't the only ones having a good night out on a wednesday.
The next day we said goodbye to our welsh friends as we headed south and they would catch a flight to New Zealand two days later.
In Santa Cruz we stayed two nights to visit one of the many vineyards in the region. Together with an other visitor from Santiago we had a tour of the vines by horse cart. The lady explained the history behind the vineyard and the different grapes before heading to production facilities. We saw how the grapes get cleaned, crushed, filtered and then stored in oak barrels. Later the wine gets bottled and depending on demand a single lady labels all bottles by hand!
For the pricier wine this means to applying glue by hand to four labels and then attaching them so they are properly aligned. The rest have stickers for the front and back which have to be placed by hand as well. Because the wine yard is quite small and each country where they export to has different laws in terms of labelling it isn't feasible to buy/rent a machine.
Afterwards we could try the different wines they have on offer and ended up buying a bottle for later on ;)

Greater Valparaiso (20.02.2014 - 24.02.2014)

Our night bus dropped us quite early in the morning in Valparaiso. Together with Has & Steff we took a cab to the hillside where our hostel was. Wanting to know a bit of the city we decided to join one of the free walking tours. But the two guides where soooo annoying (silly laughs, clapping hands like retards and speaking like we where babies...) we soon snook off. We passed the day by wandering around the streets by ourselves enjoying the graffitis and the many little shops.
To relax a bit we headed to Reñaca Beach the following day, but the water was cold with huge waves and currents so the life guards wouldn't let anybody in =/. The beach itself was covered in promotion stands, encouraging people in silly dances or just plain boredom (Samsung Electronics stand on the beach, o_O). Nevertheless entertaining/amusing ;)
The next day the City Down Hill Worldcup made a stop to host the Red Bull Cerro Abajo. By chance Pim, which we met a couple of years before while diving in Nusa Lembongan, was in Santiago for work and came over with a buddy to see the spectacle. We had a great time, wandered along the whole run and had some spectacular views. Later in the evening Pim, Mark, Melanie and I headed over to Viña del Mar, which was once the beach-get-away for wealthy merchants of Valparaiso. It is quite a contrast from the little winding streets covered in graffiti of Valparaiso to the big shiny hotels and condos of Viña.
Our last day we spent again wandering the many colourful streets and snapping pictures of the street art.

Fisheyes

Red Bull Cerro Abajo @ Valparaiso, Chile

Our footage of the Red Bull Downhill contest.

Red Bull Cerro Abajo 2014 Valparaiso Chile on Vimeo.

San Pedro & La Serena (15.02.2014 - 19.02.2014)

We stayed in San Pedro for two nights, enjoying the western standards but clearly not its prices. Everything is ridiculous expensive, almost swiss prices! Coming from Bolivia we had already seen more then enough lagoons, geysers and deserts so we skipped the overpriced tours ;) 

After two days of relaxing we headed further south to La Serena. From here we headed eastwards to visit the Pisco valley for a day. Where they produce the grape brandy with the same name, Pisco. You can have a look around one of the distilleries and afterwards try the different kinds they sell. Was interesting but the drinks weren't really my cup of tea... ;)

For the night we had booked a tour around Mamalluca observatory. Located next to Vicuña with its 300 clear days a year its the ideal place to go stargazing. The guide showed us the different star constellations, galaxies, the moons of Jupiter and other things. Was quite interesting, but the dumbness of certain people (taking pictures with your phone and flash of the stars!?! o_O) was just amazing...

We passed the time relaxing in the garden, fixing the blog and having a barbecue!