| Planes, airports, etc. |
[Aug. 30th, 2008|07:52 pm] |
Hey all,
So I'm in Chile, ostensibly for work but I've tacked about a week of vacation on the end to take full advantage of a free airfare to South America.
I'm here because an astronomer in Arizona was awarded time to use a telescope in Chile but was unable to go on the observing run and he asked for a volunteer to take his place. Free trip to Chile anyone? Yes, please. With my advisor recommending me as an experienced observer I was chosen to spend 3 nights at the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachon, Chile. Woo hoo! The aim was to look at some Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs, fancy was of saying lumps of rock past Neptune) to nail down their positions. Constraining orbits is important work if you want to be able to observe the objects, without spending half the night examining a large area of sky to find them, in a year or two's time. So I packed a small amount of belongings in a backpack (no checked in bag makes things simpler) and off I went.
So... let's start with the journey. I flew from Honolulu, Hawaii to Dallas, Texas. An 8 hour flight but was there any food? No. Thanks American Airways. Then came the 13 hour connection in Dallas. I tried to get a hotel room (since work was paying) but they told me I would have to pay for two nights, given the hours I would need it for - 8am to 8pm. So never mind. I paid $25 for a day pass to the business club lounge which was full of free beer, wine, soft drinks, food etc. Once I'd also paid for internet access I was a happy camper. Oh, they also had nice hot showers. Lovely. The day went quickly enough and soon I was on a 10 hour flight to Santiago. Pretty boring flight, don't remember much of it so I guess I slept a lot. Did get a couple of good pictures of the desert when we were about 100 miles north of Santiago.
Then through Chilean immigration (far more efficient that the American version, I have to say) and past a long line of Americans and Australians complaining about the entrance tax. This is actually a reciprocity tax, and the Chileans honestly label it as such. If it costs a Chilean money to enter your country as a tourist, it will cost you money to enter theirs. So it's worst for the Americans who charge citizens of most countries $131 to get a tourist visa. I heard one American describe it as a "rip-off the gringo tax'". No buddy, it's a "let's-get-even tax". But, happily, I am British! And so it was free to enter as a tourist. Not that it would have mattered since I simply would have forwarded the bill to work.
I walked out past the duty-free to arrivals in Santiago and was confronted by a barrage of questions. "Taxi? Need taxi?" "Hotel?" "Want tour?" No, no and no. I pretty much ran past the horde of people waiting for their loved-ones and up to departures. There was an awesome machine there, named 'Luggage-Secur', or some such. The machine basically wraps your bag in bright yellow clingfilm (saranwrap). It was amazing. Probably a bit irritating for any security official that has to open it along its journey but oh well. So I watched that for a few minutes then continued through to domestic departures to catch my flight to La Serena. I had 4 hours there and I don't really remember what I did, other than confirm myself as a tourist by getting a sandwich from Starbucks, not understanding when the woman asked me if I wanted it hot and buying myself and the Helens some souvenirs. Then on to La Serena.
La Serena is a small historic city on the coast about 300 miles N of Santiago. Actually, with Chile it's hard to be far from the coast. Have you seen the ridiculous shape of this country? Hmm, I wonder if this is the country with the weirdest shape... well, I can't think of a better one. La Serena has a population of ~160000, or it did when my Lonely Planet guidebook was written. My taxi driver, Tito (spelled phonetically) met me at the airport and drove me to "The Compound", the headquarters for a bunch of telescopes. I picked up keys etc. from the security guard on the way in and was dropped off at my room. The place I was staying in was essentially a motel, with a small communal kitchen which I raided for any food without a name clearly marked on it. I found enough to have a dinner of egg-fried rice, followed by marmalade toast and a yoghurt, washed down with milk. YUM. Then followed some naps, an hour trying to guess the wifi password, half an hour trying to unlock the door to the library that reportedly had computers hooked up to the interweb, a quick meeting with a Dutch astronomer who also couldn't get the wireless to work but did know how to open the library door and then some quick gmailing and hotmailing. I went to sleep at about 3am, figuring I was most of the way towards being a night-owl.
Next day, I was taken up the 9000ft mountain, which lies just west of the Andes. Watch this space for photos... or go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rach150384
Rach |
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