Politics

Forget it if you think Paranal is just engineering and state of the art science. Like in every situation, from million-dollar business to daily life, it is also about politics, in fact, it is a lot about politics. Yesterday, ESO invited the member state ambassadors in Chile and the chilean external relations vice-minister to visit Paranal. The whole day, at the Paranal entrance, the flags of the visiting ambassadors' countries were up and waving, Portugal included.

In the middle of the afternoon I was called by radio. They were looking for a portuguese to add to the commission. That's how I, in the end of the afternoon, met the portuguese ambassador and his wife, as well as some other influent ESO people I hadn't met before. The Ambassador was actually the only person I was missing to meet at the Embassy and he showed himself very friendly and a great benfiquista. We went to see the opening of one of the telescopes and had a cocktail and dinner afterwards. It was really weird to have dinner at the Paranal cantine following the protocol. Afterwards, they took us to the control room, where science happens at night. Outside, under the most magnificent moonless sky, we saw the mediatic ex libris of Paranal: the 90km range laser, pointing out of Yepun, the forth telescope, a yellow ray crossing the entire darkness of the star-dotted sky, creating artificial stars to aid astronomers in correcting the atmosphere turbulence. Indescribable view! Paranal is getting more interesting everyday and I keep loving to meet people, whoever people...

© by Gerhard Hudepohl (aka my boss!)

The day of the stars

Yesterday we had the Paranal day! Almost everyone (the observatory never stops...) goes down to Antofagasta and we have a full recreation day in one of the most (and the only) exclusive clubs of the city. It is nothing astonishing, but it is a chance to do something different for a change. People are allowed to adjust their shifts to meet the event and to bring their families as well. It is a social event and it works, because it is a day off!

We had volleyball and football games, we had a private beach and we had popular team games, from chair dance to rope competition. Again, nothing absolutely remarkable, but it does bring the people together. I had my first full beach experience in Chile, with my first swim in the pacific ocean. It was memorable, specially because when I came out of the water I had my hand and my feet covered with spikes from sea urshins. They seem to be in every chilean beach, from north to south. When back to Paranal I spent more than one hour with the paramedic, to remove the spikes. Another lesson learned in Chile... At night we had an "event" somewhere, an unofficial birthday party. I love Paranal!

Paranal Bond at last...

It is finally out! After 7 months, the final result of that exciting shooting week at Paranal is out. I'm not a Bond fan, maybe I am now more of a Olga fan (see James Bond post), but we followed the staff, the preparations, the scenes, the shootings, the actors. In some way we felt part of that movie, I felt part of that movie. Therefore, there was some anxiety to see the final result, to see Paranal residence in the movie.

Yesterday, I went in the afternoon to see the movie. I'm not going to make any review here, as I don't want to spoil it in case you want to go and see it. However, it was really exciting to see that gorgeous Bond girl next to whom I once sat, the final outcome of the scenes shot at Paranal and the Paranal hotel, that familiar place, which is my home here in Chile, featured on the big screen. In the end, it's not about it being a good or a bad movie. "It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something..."

(Note 1: Once you see the movie, I can tell you exactly which scenes were shot at Paranal, just post a comment and I'll answer back.)

(Note 2: For all those who at that time didn't believe my tale, I now publish my picture with Olga Kurylenko, the Bond girl.)

Constitución

For the weekend in Talca, my santiaguina friend, Violeta, came to meet me. Since the hikes were limited by the snow, we went to the coast, by train, on the last branch line of all Chile. The trip took 3 hours at a very slow pace, side by side with river Maule, offering great views of the valley and the river. People would wait for the train just about anywhere by the side of the line, there were no visible stations sometimes.

As we got to Constitución, we kept following the river to the sea, by foot, and we walked quite a lot. We circled the town until we got to the beaches, dark volcanic sand meeting the ocean. We followed the coastline and superb rock formations started to appear, some of them were clearly home of seagulls, pelicans or sea lions. It was cold and cloudy, but it was still a great walk. On our way back, we tried one of the seafood restaurants and the food was, again, excellent. There we met Rafa(el), a local fisherman, who sat next to us and told the story of his life, around a couple of liters of beer. He had a typical strong chilean accent, getting worse and worse with the beer, I got around 10% of what he said. We left to the center, which didn't have much to see, and then took a bus back to Talca, taking one hour less than the train. We spent the sunday mostly at the hotel, enjoying the people, the calm and the sun. In the end, it was one of the most complete trips I did: city, countryside, mountain, snow, and sea! Lovely first experience in the south...

Constitución Photo Album