The night skies of northern Chile are among the clearest in the world. I’ve been astounded here every evening by the sheer beauty of more stars crowding the darkness than I have ever seen in my life… it’s something that just about every human being can appreciate.

La Serena is a thriving coastal town, a vacation hot-spot in Chile. It’s about an hour’s flight north of Santiago and the gateway to Valle de Elqui, a fertile agricultural region nestled in the mountains where I spent a long weekend.