san pedro de atacama is a nice little town. it actually seems a bit like palm springs….an oasis in the middle of the desert with nice, but overpriced, food/lodging and activities. but it somehow feels more authentic (dirt road, adobe/wood exteriors and accents, etc) and more touristy (there’s not much to see in the town, so everybody goes on tours). tonight, i went on the star-gazing tour which is at the house of a french astronomer. in his backyard, he’s setup 8 nice telescopes and we saw and learned about stuff for a couple of hours. it was fun, but $30 was probably a bit overpriced (even for the us). afterwards, i grabbed a steak with a german who’s been traveling around the world for the last year.