Venue

Concepcion is the second largest city in Chile and just a one hour plane ride from Santiago (or 5-6 hours in a luxurious bus). The Universidad de Concepcion (UdeC) is the third most important university in Chile (after Universidad Chile and Catolica, both in Santiago) with a fast growing astronomy department. It is said that our university has the nicest campus at least in Chile if not more. The university is located in the central part of the city and is in walking distance from all hotels in the city centre. Concepcion is located 10 km inland from the Pacific and beaches are easily reached with public transport.

-1- Main Entrance, a big archway building
-2- Forum, main plaza of the university with Campanil
-3- Central green area
-4- Main Library building
-5- Main lecture halls building, round, looks like an 'UFO'
-6- EMPREUDEC, the conference site
-7- at this corner you should leave the collectivos in the morning or wait for them in the afternoon
-8- art gallary of the university with famous mural
-9- Plaza Peru
-10- Astronomy institute

The conference will take place in the Auditorio (lecture hall) of EMPREUDEC on the far end of the campus of the University of Concepcion (UdeC).

conference-site: EMPREUDEC

From Plaza Peru (No.9) you can walk alongside the university on Paicavi ( = E. Larenas after one block) and Victoria until you reach the far side of the university and EMPREUDEC.

On the university grounds you can walk through the main entrence (a big arc, No.1) towards the central university square (Forum; No.2) and keep walking along the central green (No.3) towards the main library (No.4). Turning left you will see a round structure (main lecture halls, our 'UFO'; No.5). Midway between library and 'UFO' turn right and continue on the roofed walkway until the end of university. EMPREUDEC is now to your left.

-1- Hotel Araucana, welcome reception
-2- stop for Collectivos to the university; on the way back the Collectiivos stop one block further away from the central plaza because of one-way streets
-3- Plaza Peru
-4- Plaza de la Independencia or Plaza de Armas, central square
-5- Tribunales, courthouse square, big archway building
-6- Diagonal, only diagonal street in the centre

To walk from Hotel Araucano (No.1) or city centre (Plaza de la Independencia, No.4) to Plaza Peru (No.3): cross the Plaza and take a left onto O'Higgins. If you see on your left side a big building in form of an arch (Tribunales, No.5) look to your right for a street which leads away in 45 degree angle (Diagonal, No.6). Take the Diagonal and at the end you are standing at Plaza Peru (No.3). (red line)

To take a collectivo turn right before crossing the plaza and walk 1 block away from plaza to the crossing Rengo/Barros Arana (No.2). Take the colectivo lines 6, 21, 22 or 29 "Hasta Victoria con Chorrillos". (blue line)

Conference Excursion

Wednesday, March 4th ca. 14.30 - 20.30 h

The excursion will take you to Lota, a small town, known for its coal mines in the past. Today all mines are defunct but we are able to descend into one of the mines which extends underneath the ocean in a guided tour with original miners. We will provide translators. The other part of the tour will bring us to the Parque Lota and Museum. This parque was designed for one of the rich mining families and is very beautiful to visit. The former house of the family is now a small museum. Lota was one of the first cities (worldwide) which had a telephone net and electric lighting.

Conference Dinner

Thursday, March 5th ca. 20.00 - 24.00 h

The conference dinner will take place in Hacienda Patagonia, a nice restaurant with South-Chilean style (Patagonia) food. We have provided three options for you to choose from:
a) Lamb-chops (cordero) - grilled lamb is their specialty
b) Beef filet steak (filete)
c) Vegetarian Pasta - for our vegetarian friends and colleagues
We need your choice of dinner at latest on the Monday early morning registration. Please let us also know if you want to bring an additional person to the dinner.