Meanwhile in Chile…

Posted by Steve on September 12th, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve

Not everyone gets to go off and play. Some of us have to stay here in Chile and save the world work. Lisa seems to be updating things just fine from the Outer Banks (although we’ll see if she stays…) but I’d thought I keep you and her up-to-date on the other hemisphere. We are fast approaching 18 Septiembre, the Chilean Independence Day. For all the patriotism you see near the 4th in the US, we’ve got nothing on the Chileans. Things get rolling as soon as September arrives and nearly everywhere you go gets decorated with flags and banners and balloons. Since the Chilean flag is red, white and blue, it all feels very familiar. Nearly all the taxis have two small flags on the front, so they all look like diplomatic taxis. The actual holiday is on Sunday, which is sort of a bummer since we don’t get the day off then. Unlike the US. they don’t have separate “observed” holidays on Mondays. But, since they have nearly 20 holidays a year, we still get a lot even if half lie on weekends (some always do — like Easter). But don’t feel too bad for me since I still get a four day weekend. How? Well the 19th is Glories of the Army day, which is about the coolest name for Armed Services Day. Then the 20th is some holiday that is only really celebrated in La Serena. Since apparently we can’t take off for that reason, it has also become AURA-O Director’s Day which we can get off work for. AURA is the semi-governmental organization that manages things here for Gemini and the US observatory.

Tune in next time for: rabbits, flowers and fence talk. Whoo hooo!

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Sunday, a sunny day!

Posted by Lisa on September 12th, 2005 — Posted in Travel

I meant to post this yesterday, so i’m writing it as if I did. Today, we were feeling some effects from the hurricane. The waves are gigantic. We all brought our beach chairs to the beach and were ready to sit out and relax in the sun. Unfortunately the wind was so strong that it was whipping sand at us, and the surf was roaring. We were all too afraid to go in for fear of the rip tides and all. Joel and Al did try to brave the waves, but alas, they weren’t able to last either. So instead, we went and relaxed by the pool all day. I’d say the temp was around 80 and it was partly cloudy. With the tall dunes and the fence around the property, the wind was basically blocked. We all got a ton of color. Hurricane wise, we were getting scared that we might face another evacuation, but it seems Ophelia may not force us to leave. We’ll see. Jan and Al made us an awesome dinner and afterward we all hung out and relaxed and enjoyed Joel’s keg contraption. Happy days!

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