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heffeisaheffe
We had a clear night with no moon. The stars were clear and numerous. Really I would almost pay just for the rude up to stare at the stars for a night. The telescopes and observatory are a bonus. That being said we had an excellent guide named Luis, great English, interesting facts, wide range of knowledge and he was even able to inject some humour in to the tour.One complaint (although may be common for a lot of things in Chile) is the van transport up was super late. They said to be there at 10 for the 1030 tour... The van showed up around 1025 and we headed up around 1045. Would have been nice not to have to wait so long for something scheduled.
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maryjoe0777
The Mamalluca experience was extraordinary. When we were driving to the observatory it was nearly sun set, the light on the ElQUI valley is remarkable. Once we reached the observatory we were divided into groups by language. That was a plus, the English speaking group was small. Our guide was very informative and explained all in detail. He would focus the huge telescopes and would allow each one of us individually to gaze at each. The moon, several planets, several star and star clusters .He even helped us use our camera to take a photo of the full moon. ASTONISHING !! You must go here.
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Inselhuepfer3
I had a really good time at the Observatory as our guide was really knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the night sky, however, for me personally the telescope part of the tour was a waste of time - it took quite a while to set up, then there were about 25 people queuing up trying to get a look and I didn't really see anything special other than specks of light. That said, it was great to see a telescope in action and having the Southern Hemisphere nightsky explained was the main reason I went along, so it worked out for me and based on that I would recommend this tour.
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bess325
Unfortunately we had arrived in Vicuna when there was a full moon and were unable to tour one of the smaller observatories. It is very easy to purchase tickets in downtown Vicuna and they set up a transfer for you as well for an additional price. The tour was in English. However, the tour group was very large (40+) in a very small space. The time you actually get to use the telescope is very limited and you spend a lot of time waiting. But it was still interesting to learn about the stars. If you plan to go to Mamalluca it is a good experience but keep in mind what to expect.
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746jeffreyr
We arranged for the visit to Mamalluca as part of a three-day astronomy/outdoors tour of Chile. It was the first night, right after we got into Santiago from the US, connected on LAN to La Serena, and spent the day touring La Serena and Coquimbo - so it was a long day and night for us! Ours was an English-speaking tour (nice perk in a place where few speak English), but it was way too big a group - several families with unruly children, and frankly more than the guide (who was quite competent in terms of stargazing) could really handle given the facilities at the site (just getting everyone into the main observatory to see things was a challenge). The big downside of the large group is very little time on telescope for anyone when 20+ people have to see things. Positives included getting pictures down the scope (the guide was good at this, but with the big group it slowed things down more), and the remarkable clear/dry skies of northern Chile. Overall, glad we did it, but probably I won't seek it out again.
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SavMichael
The observatory office is located a block away from the square in Vicuna. Reservations can be made for the tours in advance. The tour is available in English and Spanish, but the English tour will probably have less people on the tour allowing you more time with the telescopes. If Luis is your guide, you will learn a lot about the stars that you never knew. It was a great experience.
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Viajeraenfamilia
Mamalluca is obviously an icon of the region and we all appreciate the efforts done to open a gate for people to begin looking upwards to the wonderful sky that we have. However the attraction has become too popular and you get into a very massive group where they give you an endless talk (if you go with children under 10 they will surely be bored and anxious) and then they divide you into groups to go and use the telescopes and observe something cool (if it is not cloudy). Be prepared to wait for at least 15 people before you get to put your eye somewhere, so in this region, having more than one place to go, I would definitely recommend more personalized visits with brief talks and more telescope time. Definetely bring warm clothes it can be very unconfortably cold.
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peterk661
This is a must see attraction when you are in La Serena. Great opportunity to see through the telescopes and learn some astronomy. We had very unusually cloudy weather in sept of 2014. The observatory was not open for several nites so if you are in town for a few nites plan this visit on your first nite, even if you're tired. I was told it was very rare for the weather to be cloudy. It was a tad cloudy on my last nite and they opened the observatory because of the demand. Conditions were not perfect but there's a lot up there to see. The staff were knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The tour in Spanish had about 20 people. The English tour had only 2 people and that was very fortunate for us, more time w the telescope. Don't miss the mamalucca observatory.
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quoeratdemonstrandum
Set your expectations for this one. You get to look through some powerful telescopes but you're not going to see anything mind blowing. Just sort of an amplified view of what you see in the sky. The English guide was great and knowledgeable and gave a full tour but my group had a good twenty or so people, some who clearly were just doing the tourist thing and didn't really care and you have to wait your turn to look through the telescope. So if you don't like crowds and prefer a more personal, unique experience, I wouldn't say Mamalluca gives you that. If you're in La Serena anyway, it's cheap and easy enough to go (through a tour operator) but not worth a trip specifically for it from, say, Santiago.Also, small point, but it would be nice if they had a souvenir store of some sort.
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frogANDpepper
I am backpacker, 37yrs old, 40+countries visited.I visited Mamalluca observatory encouraged by good reviews on Internet. That was my second observatory, my first experience was in San Pedro de Atacama.PRICE: 4.500 pesos for the entry, 3000 for return transport with a mini van arranged in a ticketing office in Vicuña (the lady in the ticketing office also reserves the transport).WEATHER TIP: The observation of the stars depends strictly on the weather conditions, so before you make a reservation check weather forecast. Vicuna has normally clear sky in most of the days but you never know. We arrived to Vicuña on a cloudy day and we were told in a ticketing office that it's better to wait a few days so we went to Pisco de Elqui instead for two days. When we returned to Vicuna we were advised to buy a ticket at 8pm for the tour at 8.30pm if the sky is clear, which we did so. TRANSPORT: I did not have any problems with the transport from Vicuna, minivans were punctual (by the way ticketing office was still open at that time) taking us from ticketing office (15 min drive) and taking you back straight after the tour to the center of Vicuña. You are back by 11.30pm.PROGRAM:** 9pm start of the tour, English/ Spanish groups to choose** observation of Mars, Saturn, stars with the telescope inside the observatory with a dome roof and adjusted watching space and guide explanations** observation of Milky Way, clusters with a telescope outside** presentation in the observatory building: digital display of pictures of stars and planets and the moon, explanation of astronomy website 'stellarium'.** finish about 11pm***** there was no observation of the moon.IMPRESSION:- Too many people, lack of silence, there were 3 groups for about 15-20 people each including young Germans talking and laughing constantly - the guide should learn how to execute silence especially from people who do not appreciate opportunity; - observation outside was at the same time for all groups which means that you hear other guides in the background and you can see other laser pointers in the sky...- Guide's commentary was not structured well which was a shame cause he was very knowledgeable. It was more questions - answers type of a tour but he spoke very good English.- Mars and Saturn was very small and the image was blured, we did not observe the moon and there was no option to choose the tour with the moon observation- I had some questions to the guide at the end of the tour but I was rushed by a driver to finish which was not very nice.OVERALL: I expected very good standard after reading reviews but after my experience in San Pedro de Atacama I found it disappointing, overrated with way too many tourists for a tour. For my partner it was the first observatory and he said he would not have visited it at all. I visited a private small observatory in San Pedro (10.30pm-12.30am) with just 5 people in total, we observed the planets and stars (the telescope view was much better then but I think it might depend on the timing) and then waited for the moon which was the most impressive. I liked digital presentation though, very interesting.
