Chilean Elders

I could post today about my last trip, with pictures and all, but instead I will talk about mórmons. Fair trade I think... I hadn't seen any of these missionaries since I left Portugal, but today, at the airport when coming again to work, there they were, five or six elders and one hermana.

Until today, I thought all elders were somehow american, or at least with that gringo look, speaking foreign languages with a bad accent and terrifying innocent homes. But today, I saw chilean elders and that fascinated me! They keep the suit and the plates with their name, their last name, as apparently they refuse to use their first names. They even treat each other as elder X or hermana Y! The hermana was just a kid, with so much make-up on, that she looked more like someone who needed guidance than someone who was able to provide it.

When arriving to Antofagasta, another group of elders, identically dressed, naturally, were waiting for them with a big welcoming banner. They were just kids, giggling in suits, making the whole scene even more unreal. I don't know much about these people nor what they actually do, but they are indeed a lot of fun!

Argentinean Flavours

The past weekend was dedicated to two of the biggest pleasures in life: eating and drinking. Destination: Mendoza, Argentina. Together with two house mates, we decided to dive into the Argentinean culture for a couple of days across the border. The result... Hell Yeah!

The trip takes around 6 hours by bus. We shared a minibus with a group of worldwide young christians in mission. Well, it was not as bad we thought it could be... We passed right through the Andes, across ice-topped mountains, rivers, lakes, the argentinean pampas. Another photo album at the end of the post. However, one of the most thrilling moments is crossing the border. Apparently any non-processed goods of animal or vegetable origin are not allowed to cross the border. The christians had a lot of fruit and we convinced them that they would have to leave it at the border. They shared it with us to not throw it away and in the end they didn't even check the bags... Nice move from our side, but they weren't that happy!

As a city, Mendoza doesn't have much to see. It has a huge park, a couple of nice squares and that's all. But the culture, the lifestyle, the meat and the wine are a different story. It is possible to have a "eat all you want" parrilla for a fixed price of 4 Euro. The wine is unique, with some endemic flavours, and we are talking about mid-priced quality wines for 8 Euro a bottle. The lifestyle is a perfectly natural bohème, while in Chile it can feel a bit forced sometimes. One night we went to a good-looking restaurant quite early to eat something before dinner and taste some wine. We started talking with the waitress (naturally, as she was pretty cute) and while she was calmly opening the bottles we soon found out the argentinean cultural level. From the recent problems with the meat producers strike to the current argentinean political scenario, passing by the education policy, she showed herself interested in and aware of everything. Moreover, she was a university student, as all the rest of the restaurant staff, in her first year of psychology. Education in Argentina is for free, which contributes for an amazingly high cultural development. In the end, we drank 3 bottles, had a huge tabla for snacking and then ate a big steak for dinner for around 16 Euro each. Impressive!

We came back during the night and had to face the freezing cold of the cordillera again at the border. Well, one of the narcotic brigade dogs didn't like one of us and he was kindly taken to a room to be searched for drugs, naked... Shit happens!...

Mendoza Photo Album

Paranal

Some of you asked me already how do things work around here, what am I doing and how this place is. Well, after more than one month and almost three turnos, things look now a bit clearer to me, and I am able to answer.

How is this place?
Paranal has 4 optical Very Large Telescopes (VLTs) with the largest mirrors in the world (more than 8 meters and in theory able to recognize a man on the moon), 4 Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) which work together with the VLTs to perform interferometry (basically they see in infrared, which is good for the full moon nights), 1 Very Small Telescope (VST) and one other telescope (VISTA), both of them are optical and not yet operational. The VLTs are the most impressive, they have a startup procedure every night which lasts around 40 minutes. Their whole structure is able to rotate and the domes open, allowing for a field of view of 90 degrees in elevation and 360 degrees in azimuth. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

How do things work around here?
The Observatory is divided into departments: maintenance, logistics, engineering and a few more I don't recall right now. I belong to the electronics group of the engineering department. Each group has its assignments, its car fleet, its people. The purpose of all these people is to assure that the telescopes are fully operational by the end of the day, so that the astronomers can work at night. And one night without observations has costs of something like 1M Euro.

What am I doing?
I came as an electronics engineer and am currently working on improving a control board, that is obsolete and no longer manufactured. This means performing digital electronic design and working with FPGAs. In short, something new for me! And for them! Apparently, this sort of design engineering is something unusual here. Normally, all design is done in the headquarters in Garching, Germany, and here only maintenance. People are friendly, the group has a positive vibe and I'm starting to make friends. Olga helped quite a lot! I am, definitely, happy!