First stop, industrial-size winery with impossibly small doors.
A distillery—last stop on the Mendoza wine tour. Unremarkable except for the building.
This lunch was amazing. First time I've felt *full* since childhood.
People of various European nations, feasting after the wine tour.
Mendoza City.
Approaching the Andes.
Waiting at the Chilean border, on the icy upper shelf of the world.
From the La Serena airport to the observatory at Las Campanas, my driver (a friendly mechanic named Juan) and I spoke Spanish for two hours while driving in a brand-new, bright-red pickup truck along the coast (of course, in Chile, no matter where you are, you're probably near the coast). Juan's view was that life is all about going to the beach and drinking Pisco and having "sexo," as the act of love is called in Spanish. I considered his claims thoughtfully and found them hard to disagree with. Juan's children are (1) an electrical engineer and (2) an international business major. He has been working at the observatory for fifteen years. Charming fellow. We had a great time. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of him.
After a while, the way from La Serena to Las Campanas turns into a Martian wasteland. Tierra sin vida. Rocks everywhere.
One of the large, twin telescopes.
The other one (plus connective tissue).
