Chile is one of the best places in the world for astronomy. Unfortunately we weren't able to do it in San Pedro due to it being a full moon and cloudy sky. Not ideal.

However the Elqui Valley north of Santiago is also home to several observatories and is world renowned. The weather forecast looked perfect and so we decided to make the trip.

First leg was a 7 hour bus up to the town of La Serena on the coast. A very popular holiday town, inexplicably 2km from the coast. Between the town and the sea are many new developments of hotels and holiday homes - and a lot of empty space which will no doubt be built on in the near future. Out of season and in grey weather, this area was a little depressing.

On the plus side for us saddos, there was a new commercial centre with the biggest supermarket in the world (not independently verified). To my joy they stocked Laughing Cow, although unfortunately not called La Vaca Haha as suggested by Melanie Precious.

Back in La Serena itself, the centre of town turned out to be a bustling and pretty place with some lovely churches. It had a nice feel to it. We found a little restaurant close to the hostel for local cheap eats, all good.