Earthquake Swarm!
Mood:  blue
Topic: Chile

WOW!

That was quite a string of aftershocks!  All of them very nearby.  We
went to the window to see the window washers across the street lowering themselves.  A moment late we were running down the stairs under evacuation warning.  I was last out, as usual, just after an announcement that an inspection had declared the building sound.  There were some local power outages; cell phone service was lost or overloaded.  The new President was sworn in.

Every building had a crowd of people outside.  Although loudspeakers
announced our building to be safe we decided to be safer and went to
Subway for lunch.  As it was early, there was no line.  We got back to
the building at about 1:30; one elevator was thankfully restored.  There
was a long line at Subway.

The string continued, on the coast west of Rancagua, with a total of twelve in the next six hours or so, all of them all nearby and fairly strong, none of them leaving any doubt in anyone's mind that pachamama wasn't serious.  I left the building after the tenth and came to my apartment as it is easier to go down 4 flights than 19!  I knew commissioning ALMA would be exciting (several multiline images now) but I had not included this dimension of excitement. 

 

LAN is a terrible airline
Mood:  irritated

Last Friday, 5 March, my wife and I left for the airport.  I was to fly to the ASAC meeting in Tokyo on a long-existing set of tickets, she was to go home after a difficult rescheduling of her Delta flight scheduled 27 Feb evening.

LAN bumped me from the first leg of the flight and there were no options to connect.  Part of the story is told in an earlier blog entry--after several LAN reps had said they would reschedule me or bus me back to Santiago and disappeared,  I just took a taxi back to the apartment, where I phoned LAN.  They offered a flight the next morning but a call to UAL revealed that there was no connection which could get me to Tokyo.  The LAN agent then asked me to phone back later, after the confusion died down, for compensation.

So I phoned LAN today.  I was told that I could rebook my ticket by 31 March.  If I flew by then there would be no change fee.  If I flew before 30 Nov I would pay the fare difference.  But if I did not schedule a flight by 31 March I would lose the money I had paid.

I think this is an absolute disgrace.  I don't know my schedule so far in advance, and I've already booked my turno flight to Calama for 8 days later in this month so it isn't likely I'll be squeezing in a weekend trip to BA.  I'm sure the airline lost a lot of money during the whole quake episode but I don't like the insult of being denied a seat after 7 hours at the airport followed by their proposal to just keep my money as compensation.
 

 

Back to normal? Not quite...
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Chile

Awoke to another small tremor this morning--throughout the day there were ones off Valparaiso, felt easily here in Santiago about 80 miles ESE of that port city.  The aftershocks are down to about once every other hour now.  The most evident result to us is that we still only have one working elevator of five in our 19 story building, and it is a sometime thing going only to floor 15.  The photo shows the building; the glass stripes are the elevator shafts (left one works sometimes); in the foreground is the Spanish Embassy. At least there is an operator.  That makes running out for lunch inconvenient.   The stairwell is fairly boring--the only features of note are the hairline quake cracks there, which Alison keeps mental note of.  I'm too busy watching my clumsy feet.  Last night attendance at the ASAC meeting by video in Japan kept us aloft until midnite, at which time the lift was most definitely not running.

This is the first ALMA Science Advisory Committee meeting I've missed in 13 years.  When my first flight was canceled and I was bumped from the second there just wasn't a good way to get there though others did.  The telescope is back up, as the new crews were able to reach the site over the weekend to run it.  The weather looks on the mend also.  We have two interferometers running in parallel, the OSF one mostly to debug new antennas and the software and the AOS to commission systems.  At the AOS the compact ACA config pads were supposed to get the antennas up there (100-200m baselines now, clearly not great in Bolivian winter conditions) but the quake has delayed the move to 15m baselines which would have been more useful this time of year.  That is now scheduled for a week from now or so. 

Another lovely day in Santiago.   In the break before the ASAC telecon Kartik and Rao invisted us over for dinner.  We had masala dosas, crepes with a filling of flavored potatoe and a chutney from Karnataka in south India.  Kartik provided some Bollywood blockbusters for background. I brought a bottle of 2008 Veramonte merlot from the Casablanca Valley from the local grocer which I thought went very well.  Alison, Mark and I had a great time. Kartik and Rao cook up the dinner in the background.  One good thing about the current apartment design is that it allows the guests and cooks to interact.

 

Apartment Living
Topic: Chile

This was the first weekend in the new apartment though I've been here a week.  Good internet--downloaded 2.5 GB of EVLA data though not speedily.  A desk.  The kitchen us open which helps as the last one was the size of the walkin closet and closed.  But it has the most impossibly small fridge I have ever seen outside the most basic dorm room.  My hotel had about three times the refrigerated space I think.  It doesn't even come up to the level of the sink.  The previous apartment came stocked with some food to get one through the first nigh; not this one.  Good thing as it would not fit.  The frozen meats don't really freeze in the tiny freezer compartment designed only for ice cubes.

 In the bedroom a limbo is required to squeeze between the TV stand and the bed.  I slept on the window side to unencumber Ida Lee's route to the banos.  No room for a chair.  I hate watching TV in bed.  Kartik had a solution for the Oscars--turn it around and sit on the verandah. That works fine at night.  Of course the noise from Apoquindo, the main artery only a few score feet away is pretty deafening (so one cannot leave the door open at night; there is no AC in this apartment).  By day the porch is pleasant enough were it not for the view of a garbage pit and portapotties it affords.  One might go to the pool but there is no pool. 

There is a hot tub but like laundry, that is an added expense ($4/dip). 

Stuck in Tent City
Mood:  down
Topic: Chile
LAN bumped me from the first leg of the flight and there were no options to connect (well they offered to fly me to Cordoba where I could get a bus to BA)...I remain in SCL.

The situation at the airport was very confusing because it was evolving and still is I think.  Found the correct line after 15 minutes of searching.  There was a very long hot wait and then a burst of action. A LAN rep told us that the main tent was too crowded and we would need to follow her to get our boarding passes so we followed her to a secure area normally requiring a boarding pass to enter.  She vanished after a short while.  We ended up being isolated.  The boarding passes were all issued to those who did not follow the LAN rep (only those who arrived later, or who had gone into the tent earlier).  A new LAN rep revealed our fate and offered to fly us to Cordoba.  She took names and ID numbers and vanished.  Never saw her again.  A new LAN rep offered to rebook me the next day.  She vanished and we never saw her again.

We asked about Delta boarding and were told to wait for an announcement expected ca 6:30pm but were told we were in the correct place (still the secure but outside area).  Then we saw a line materialize--these people had Delta boarding passes!  A security person checked the manifest, saw Ida Lee's name and said he would get a boarding pass.  He never was seen again.  A second security person, who overheard our plight, examined her passport and offered to get a pass.  He vanished with the passport but Ida Lee chased him down.  He shouted at her for following and threw the passport back at her.  Still Delta folks with boarding passes streamed by.  Finally we found a senior Delta agent who left and actually did return with a boarding pass and off Ida Lee went.  She was able to leave on time by the skin of her teeth.  Delta was also not so overwhelmed as LAN of course.  She has arrived in the US now.

I was completely drained by the whole 8 hr experience.  I just took a taxi back to the apartment so I'll work from Santiago and join the meeting by whatever arrangements Koh-Ichiro has enabled.

Earthquake shakes
Topic: Chile
Ida Lee is here.  We're 180 km NW of Santiago in Zapallar on the coast. The quake hit just after 3:30am and we knew it was a big one.  It grew and grew and we ran outside with other guests until it seemed safe to come in again.  We ran out once more for a major aftershock, and there were many minor shakes (another just minutes ago).  Everything here is on steep hillsides over the Pacific--had nightmares of just sliding down the hill in the bed!  Lights are still out but water is OK (even hot water) but the hotel has a generator.  We understand the country is in a 'state of catastrophe'.  I don't know how the internet is working but the TV and radio and newspapers were not though we just got a TV station on (wish I could understand it).  We are told the airport is closed for 24 hours at least and that the planes have been flown over the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina.  Ida Lee was to fly out tonight.  Both major routes back to Santiago are reportedly closed--the northern route 5 on which we came by landslides, and the southern route 68 through Vina del Mar also by landslides.  Folks in Santiago I have reached say they are fine but shaken.  Delta confirms no flight for Ida tonight we will stay here--the hotel is very nice and has a generator and internet somehow.

One car full of Americans just got on the road, saying they had a few cases of beer and intended to make their flight tomorrow.  I think we'll just hold still for now.

Just talked to Kartik, who said it was much scarier in Santiago--both big plate sliding glass doors in his apt shattered (we are one floor up from him when we're home).  There were no emergency lights in the stairwell but he is OK though shaken.  I guess he sent a more coherent message out.

Clear skies and stable ground!

February
Topic: Chile

                Crowne Plaza Hotel Hotel Front Desk: 56-2-6381042
                136 AVE. B O'HIGGINS P.O. BOX 488-CORREO 21
                SANTIAGO, 00000 CHILE
20 Feb  8:00pm Dinner with Grotz family--I propose meeting in the bar for a pisco sour, followed by a stroll down Pio Nono in Bellavista, close to the Crowne Plaza, to dinner at El Meson Nerudiano
                http://www.elmesonnerudiano.cl/ for dinner and music.  Follow spanish links, english ones are partial
21 Feb         Could visit downtown--best things are the Precolumbian museum, the Market, shopping in Bellavista
                The Chinese warrior exhibit is at La Moneda: http://tinyurl.com/yabalhm 
22 Feb         Could visit our area in Las Condes and Los Domenicos craft market http://tinyurl.com/ye4cmos
                Both a straight shot on the metro from Baquedano near the Crowne.
23 Feb  5:00pm Kathy Grotz leaves Valparaiso on the cruise

Figure on left shows way to dinner on 20th.  On right shows downtown.  Below shows to Los Domenicos (my apartment with an asterisk).

Bolivian Winter
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Chile
I worked on my computer program to analyze data from the site today--boy it has been a while since I programmed much.  And apparently my compiler vanished when I had a new disk put in--somehow.  I had to work over the internet to my desktop computer in Cville to compile and run the program.  I'm still trying to find a dispassionate way to define the 'Bolivian Winter' during which the weather at the ALMA site is less good than during the rest of the year.  I think I have a good handle on it.  The Director proposed shutting down during two months every summer.  I think that would seriously compromise the science output of the instrument.  Besides, it doesn't save much money (people still draw salaries) and the cutback on observing time could well suggest to funding agencies that they cut back funds proportionally.  That would end up losing money, science and morale.  In the photo, the building in the center right distance is my apartment tower as seen from the office.

I had lunch with Simon Radford, who headed up to the site today to work on his QUIET experiment.  It's always good to see old friends, but especially welcome here.  He had worked with Andrew Lange, the well-known Caltech physicist who killed himself last week.  No clues as to why...

Last night in Santiago for a while--up to the site tomorrow afternoon. I printed out my boarding pass and I'll pack some stuff tonight.  This evening there is a nice cool breeze.  I got all suited up and went down to the pool to find it locked--dunno why.  Disappointing.

Guess I'll finish up my week-old chicken.  For some reason, the maid took the remainder of my loaf of bread this morning.  Oh well, easy come easy go.  Maybe I should have left her a tip.  I did have toast this am instead of cereal so I have that left tomorrow, as well as a banana.

Chirimoya Alegre
Mood:  a-ok

Morning in Santiago...uniformed maids dog-walking, gardners sweeping aside the night-fallend leaves, sun and dry cool air.  Enjoying a breakfast of chirimoya alegre, toast and yogurt on my balcony while watching the Roddick-Gonzalez match in the Australian Open and working on Chajnantor site data.

Walked over and had a nice dinner with Richard and Alison and several new folks chez Richard.  A very interesting group of folks.  Eric, who is French and worked on a Venus mission which has expired now, grew up in Senegal Africa where his folks still live.  His Dad has a company there but is 70 and though he doesn't want to leave--all their friends are there--his Mom wants to go  back to France, where Eric's two brothers live. Daniel's Dad and Mom decided (after a week) they like Chile so much they will move here from Spain.  Daniel is not so sure about that!  Nick and Dena moved here from Holland, they were there with their three kids of single digit ages.  He's English, she Indonesian.  Asada and his wife from Japan, Richard of course and his wife Beverly (American).  Lance, the other American, opted to watch the football game with friends.  It was all very interesting.  Altogether, five continents represented!

Back to the fray tomorrow.  Looking forward to Simon Radford's visit... 

A Milestone Day
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Chile

I looked in at the DV webcam and seems like it was just rain there and that they have a lot of the walkway on the pier in.

Today marked the beginning of the commissioning phase of ALMA.  We had a good discussion on how to run the commissioning phase and do it  best this am.  At 2pm Richard had a huge white cake, a 'Tres Leches' (three milks) cake in addition to a yummy chocolate raspberry cake. Diabetes is a sure thing now.  Anyway we cut the cake here in synchrony with cutting of another cake at the site with much fanfare.  It was really
exciting to be able to take part in it.  Real participation starts next week of course when I go to the site.  I have night shift so we won't overlap a lot I guess.  I don't know what to expect.

Kartik came back today so I'm going to walk down to his hotel and look for dinner with him.  Ran into Stu, Lars-Ake and Eric at TGIF; Stu and Lars-Ake joined me at the bar in the Plaza to wait.  Had a Kunstmann Pale Ale (pronounced pally ally) draft--very good.  Kartik arrived and after a quick deconstruction of the day (Kartik had framed the earlier discussion before flying back down) we headed up Isodora to Tiramisu.  There we ran into new ALMA colleague Daniel Fulla, there with his visiting Dad, Juan.  They were on the list so we jumped the line and went to a table for pizza and drinks and yet more discussion on the instrument and the personalities that guide it.  It was past midnite when I made it back to the apartment--not really tired owing to the interest of the talk but I soon drifted off.

  Last night some truck's backup beep kept going off all night.  I had left my noise cancelling earphones at work.  I didn't need them tonite!!!