Our afternoon hike to Matacilla and star gazing on 3/8/22

In the afternoon we were offered another hike - about 3 miles - to look at the area around the Domeyko Mountain Range. In this area we follow a dry creek where caravans used to meet and is known for interesting colors where minerals were forced and folded into the hills as the tectonic plates pushed together.

As the van went along very rough, unpaved roads, we had yet another flat tire. For me most of this hike was a rehash of Iceland with some scrambling which wasn’t too much fun. There weren’t any animals, but there were interesting colors and formations.

In the evening we had a private star gazing in Explora’s planetarium. It was partly cloudy but we saw the 4 or 5 things our guide wanted to show us which included the Southern Cross, Betelgeuse, several star clusters and the moon.