Give Antofagasta a chance

Since arriving in Chile, when I told people I was going to spend a month in Antofagasta, the typical responses included "Are you sure?" "What an ugly city..." and "WHY?" to name a few. Even my guidebook of Chile says the following aobut my new home city:

"It is not a terribly attractive place, perhaps only worth stopping at to break a long journey."

It's true that this city is a bit more industrial and less tourist-oriented than La Serena, but I'm here to show the haters of the world that this is actually a great and beautiful city.

First and foremonest, I don' think that any place, anywhere could be considered ugly when you combine the ocean and the mountains together. The dry climate makes for some brown mountains without any vegetation, but there's something kind of dramatic about them nonetheless. And the water, just like in La Serena, is stunning.

The city itself is great, too, with a great variety of places, art and people everywhere.

And with the desert so close by, amazing night skies are easily within reach. Last night, I was invited by new astronomy/outreach friends from the University to go to a star party. The skies were incredible and since I was gifted a beautiful new tripod by the La Serena outreach team, (along with a new Galileoscope!) my pictures are a lot better... although not excellent.

Check out the Milky Way!

Check out the LMC!

But the best thing about this city so far has been my wonderful home and roomates.

My new roommates! Left to right -- Pablo, Ive, Moni, Me (Cats Izzy and Charlie in front)

I'm excited to eplore the city more and get started with the project soon.