The Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon, 1 hr 45 mins drive East of La Serena and their office in town.
Australia is a 4.67% partner in the international Gemini project (Gemini North is on Hawaii), giving Australian based astronomers about 15 observing nights per year on each of these 8 m telescopes. Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, where I spent most of my working life, was awarded two multi-million dollar contracts to design and build specialised cameras for both telescopes. As project manager/engineer I was involved in the on-site testing and commissioning. It was great to see years of hard work come to fruition!
On our Chilean holiday Mrs jxv and I visited Santiago, La Serena, Valparaiso and the Atacama Desert. I would like to explore some of Southern Chile, but there are so many places still on our list that I am not sure whether/when we will make it there. Your TR will probably bump up Chile's place on the list. I am looking forward to it.