Nathan in South America

goodbye Chile, see you soon

2008-11-30T16:25:00.000-08:00

Best pics

2008-11-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a great trip! We got 5 out of the 6 stations working with the 6th one coming in a couple of weeks. We saw

Santiago-city with 1/2 of Chile's population
Punta Arenas- southern most city in world on the Magellan straights
Puerto Natales- gateway to the famous Torre del Paine National Park
Valdivia, Osorno- in the lakes region
La Serena- resort city on the beach

I then went on to Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. In total, it was 10 hotels, 14 flights, and a whopping 18,000 miles! This is about 85% of the circumference of earth. The highlights were the lakes region of Chile, Torre del Paine, the soccer match in Buenos Aires, and Iguazu Falls.

Stay tuned for the next blog when I go to Antartica in Janurary....

Santiago-daty 26

2008-11-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

I went with Marina over to her University. I think I´ve been here 10 times now.

Tonight I fly out at 10pm and get into Miami at 4:30am. I then fly out again at 7 and get to Boston at 10:30am.

tomorrow Ill post the top pics from the trip...

Santiago-day 25

2008-11-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I wish I could be there and eat turkey,mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie with everybody

I met up with Marina today and went over to her apartment in the afternoon. She took me on the same bike ride we did earlier in the trip. We went up to the top of the mountain and had 2 of the apricot drinks with barley. (mote con huesillos) I think Im going to have to open up a cafe with that drink. Delicious! My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Chinese food in Santiago.

Im definitely going to miss the 70 degree weather once I get back to Boston. The weather in beantown shows snow.

Iguazu Falls- day 24

2008-11-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

I wrestled with the idea of visiting Ciudad de Este in Paraguay. It is a spot for cheap electronics so I considered buying a GPS navigator. I spoke with a Peruvian girl and she said that they dont check any IDs going accross the border.

Before I went accross I did a little research online. I learned that as an American I do need a visa. In addition, in just minutes after doing a google search I learned that....

1. One American without a Visa on his passport got detained, got taken downtown, and had to pay the guard triple the visa rate to get released.
2. The city is known as the black market capital of south america with drugs, guns, and plenty of smuggled electronics.
3. Websites warned of robberies walking accross the bridge.

With all this I decided to stay in the safety of Brazil. Good form.

Lots of traveling today again. I took a taxi ride from Brazil to the airport in Argentina. Flew from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires. Took the 2 hour bus ride to the international airport in Buenos Aires. Flew from Buenos Aires to Santiago and finally took a taxi to the hotel. I left around noon and didnt get to my bed until about midnight.

I went on my 11th and 12th flights today and stayed in my 10th hotel room. I also realized Ive been in the Santiago airport 6 times. Im definitely ready to go home and get away from airports, buses, taxis, and custom officers.

Iguazu Falls- day 23

2008-11-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

The Brazil side offers the best panaramic view and the Argentina side offers the chance to get close to the falls. Argentina didnt disappoint. When you get next to some of the falls, the sound is deafening to the point where you cant hear the person next to you. At the same time you get soaked just from the mist that rises up. It really is a unbelievable experience being just feet away from such powerful waterfalls.

our jetboat, at first we went out to take pictures, then we put our cameras away and cruised underneath the falls. Underneath the falls you couldnt see the seat in front of you from the water everywhere.

my peruvian friends

the granddady of them all- devils throat. best waterfall ive seen in my life.

Foz do Igazu/Iguazu Falls, Brazil- day 22

2008-11-26T06:01:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Iguazu Falls and saw them from the Brazilian side. Wow, they are absolutely amazing!!! They are the 2nd widest behind Niagara and 3rd highest behind Victoria and Angel Falls, but when combined makes it incedible. Plus the sheer number of falls-275!

The map of the falls-they are the border between brazil and argentina

Helicopter ride

beautiful!

After the falls I went to Itaipu dam. It is by far the largest power plannt in the world, the equivalent of 4 nuclear power plants! It generates 20% of Brazil´s power and 90% of Paraguay´s power. It is split between Paraguay and Brazil so I got see some of Paraguay today too.

One of the 14 generators. Just one of these bad boys powers all of Paraguay. The other 13 go to Brazil.

Buenos Aires- day 21

2008-11-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

This morning I hit the last few hot spots in Buenos Aires. I walked through the Sunday market in San Telmo and then went to mass at the Basilica. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was built around 1700. Inside a nice old Argentian lady sat next to me and was explaining in Spanish all the parts of mass including the sign of the cross, going up for communion, and the collection (she even gave me pesos to put in the basket). I didn´t understand most of what she said, but Im guessing she thought I was just a protestant tourist.

During the sign of peace, they gesture with a kiss on the cheek , common in south america, and not a handshake.

After church, I went to the ´cemterio de la Recoleta´ near by. Very impressive gravesites.

These are pictures from the burial site of Argentina´s famous first lady Eva Peron, also known as ´Evita.´

After that I went to the National Museum of Fine Arts which has over 10000 works of art including picasso, monet, manet, and van gogh. This is the flower which opens and closes everyday outside the museum.

Then this afternoon I flew to Iguazu Falls! It turns out that my hotel is in Foz do Igu on the Brazil side so Im trying to ramp up in my Portuguese. I also had to change more currency so I now have dollars, Chilean pesos, Argentinan pesos, and Brazilian reals in my wallet. My dinner was great- buffet, an additional steak, 2 mango drinks(delicious as expected) and a beer for $7! cant wait to see the falls tomorrow...

Buenos Aires-day 20

2008-11-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

The one thing that Argentinians love is soccer. To experience this passion to the fullest I walked over to the La Boca neighborhood where their most famous team plays. This neighborhood was the city´s first port and has colored buildings started by the first Italian immigrants.

Pictures from the Boca Juniors Stadium Tour- Boca has a very devout following-there were close to 100 people on the tour alone. So many people the tour guided needed a megaphone.

Interesting fact- Coca Cola had to change their advertising to black and white because Boca didnt want their arch rivals, River Plate, colors in the stadium.

Then tonight I saw a match between 2 teams in the city. It was an amazing experience! Both sides were chanting the whole game with so much energy. The chants were actually very musical putting many American chants to shame. The most impressive part... all this was done sober since alcohol is not served in the stadium.

Security meausres (a selected few)

1. 20 foot fences- in picture

2. Barbed wire -in picture

3. Police

4. Riot Police

5. and 30 minutes after the game to let the visitors leave the grounds

¿is this a prison?

Buenos Aires-day 19

2008-11-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires...wow, quite the city! The city with 12 million people is the 10th biggest in the world and has tons of culture. For lunch I ate BBQ and saw Tango dancing-2 staples in the city. I ended up walking about 80 blocks today, but it was well worth it since I saw a big chunk of the city.

San Telmo neighborhood- famous for the tango dancing

Pink House - President´s house, painted pink in the 1800s to unite the red and white politcal parties

English Tower- gift from England to celebrate the 100th year of independence

Obelisco

House of Congress

On the way I ran into an outdoor orchestra concert and even a paint party! My white shirt almost paid dearly. A student explained to me that the party is his school´s celebration for the end of high school as the students go onto the university.

Tonight some people at the hostel and I had drinks. We had the US, France, Australia, New Zealand, England, Denmark, and Brazil all represented. It was good for me that the only universal language was English.

Buenos Aires-day 18

2008-11-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

After doing a few errands in the morning, I made the trek to Buenos Aires. It was tough figuring out each leg of my journey since everything is new and I know very little Spanish. It consisted of a 10 block walk, 15 stop subway ride, 30 minute busride to the airport, 2 hour flight, 2 hour bus ride to downtown Buenos Aires, and a 5 block walk to the hostel. The hostel was labeled with a small 1´ by 3´sign in an alley making it very tough to find.

After 10 hours, I made it!!! Im especially happy I got by taking a city bus to Buenos Aires for $0.50 vs. the $45 taxi ride.

The best part of today was flying over the Andes. What an amazing view!

La Serena - day 17

2008-11-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

After driving back to Santiago, we had to say goodbye to Thanasis and Kathryn who both went back to UCLA. For me, the work part of the trip is over and Im starting the vacation even though Im getting pretty tired of traveling.

I spent the night with Marina who has a top floor apartment in downtown Santiago. It was challenging talking to her Mom. Her Mom knows Russian and a little German and Spanish and I know English with a little German/Spanish. When you combine the 3, you have our conversation.

La Serena-day 16

2008-11-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

We finished our fifth installation so we have 5 down, 1 to go. It was a little weird since we were stared at by a stuffed kangaroo, stuffed opossum and many cages of lizards in the biology department.

After the installation we drove to the center to go shopping for a little. Then we had a fantastic dinner on the beach in which I had fish and a traditional Alto del Carmen drink with coke.

view of the beach from our hotel room

La Serena-day 15

2008-11-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today we made the long drive from Santiago to La Serena. It is about 300 miles away and it took us about 6 hours. We took Marina's 1990 Toyota truck or as we affectionately called it 'el trucko.' It is definitely a no frills truck. No AC, no radio, the passenger front seat is permantly reclined, nothing automatic, and no insulation so the inside was defening from the engine and car noises. It is truly a tank. The same day we got hit by a taxi on the side and there was only scratches while the taxi had a dent.

The drive reminded me of the drive from Vegas to LA. Leaving Santiago there were still trees, but they gradually turned to cacti and the grass browned driving north.

Valdivia-day 14

2008-11-16T19:37:00.001-08:00

We all caught a lot of z´s sleeping in to 11am. After a late breakfast, we drove back to Valdivia and decided to go on a river boat cruise. It was a clear day in the mid 70s so a perfect day on the water. We saw many kinds of birds and even seals!

Afterwards we looked around the outdoor markets before going back to the airport to fly back to Santiago.

When we got back to the hotel, we were greeted by an American woman yelling at the receptionist. She told him in a very condescending tone, ¨My room is horrible and I want a new room since I´m staying 5 nights, thats cinco diaz.¨ Apparently she didnt realized that if he was talking in English the whole time, he probably new what 5 nights means. Its people like her that disgrace America abroad.

captains crew

rio valdivia

sunset over the chilean coast

Osorno-day 13

2008-11-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hola amigos! We have now both sites in the lakes region up and running-check, check. After burying the sensor we took off for Puyehue National Park which is straight east towards the Andes and Argentina. At 3pm, we were still driving and all getting hungry. Finally, we saw a turn off for a restaurant and decided to take it. After following the winding road an 1/2 mile to a very inconspicuous looking building, we entered. It turned out to be gem! a little oasis in the woods.

The view looked out to the snow capped mountains with dense forest everywhere. Inside the log cabin restaurant contained superb finishings. Plus the food was more than delicious and to top it off, they played Neil Diamond! It reminded me of our family vacation through the redwoods or the neil concert with Fritz in Boston. And they played not just 1 song, but the whole CD! Pretty sweet to find neil live and well in the Andes. food, view, and neil- is this reality???

The waitor told us good paths for hiking so we took off for the Gol Gol River in the park. We wandered around in the prairies and woods along the stream. We stopped to see the rapids and waterfalls too. Then as we were walking we ran into a herd of cows!!! Always something new in chille...

job well done at the site

Mt. Valdivia - i should come down here to ski sometime

View outside of restaurant

Ribs and potatoes

this is what i want my future cabin to look like

cows, cows, and cows

Gol gol river- too bad we didnt have time for rafting

Osorno- day 12

2008-11-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

We earned our pay today working 13 hours getting the new real time system up. A big snag for us was the internet. Wireless was the only option and its not very reliable. So we came up with solution of running a wire through the building, into the bathroom, and accross to the other building. Fortunately for tall Chileans, this is only a temporary solution since we´re having an internet company put in a ground cable.

At lunch today with Dr. Ramirez and a few students we realized we were all from different countries. We had the U.S., Chile, Japan, Greece, Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, and Japan all represented.

Also, I found out later from Dr. Ramirez that my morning tea today was coca tea that cocaine comes from. fortuntately for me and my job in the air force, it only has a low concentration of 0.2%.

our internet

new system

Osorno- day 11

2008-11-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

In the morning we finished the installation in Valdivia. It took a while to move data from an old computer to a new one because of the technology gap, but eventually we figured it out. We then buried the sensor and cable and left for Osorno to University of Los Lagos.

Osorno is about 100km south of Valdivia. We saw many cows during the drive since this area is the wisconsin of chile, a big dairy producer. It is interesting seeing the diversity of animals. In patagonia from punta arenas to puerto natales in the south we saw lambs and in Torres del Paine it was mostly llamas and ostrich like birds called gauncos.

moo

the buried sensor

watering the grass we dug out and replanted

Valdivia-day 10

2008-11-13T13:55:00.001-08:00

Hola! We worked a long day from about 8am to 8pm. At first, we dug out the old magnetometer sensor and cord. We then dug a trench at the new site for the cable. We also made good progress with the computer, network, and hardware installation. Thanasis was the champ today spending hours in the roof to route the magnetometer cable through. He had to carefully watch his step to not fall through and at the same time battle the heat, tight space, and dead mice.

After work we had dinner outside by the river and realized 2 pitchers of Kunstmann bier never tasted better. (popular beer from german influence in area)

Interesting tidbit...the Chilean government workers were on strike today over a less than expected wage hike. offices closed everywhere. we almost got stuck at the old worksite on an island because the protestors took the bridge. Good to see the natives are exercising their right to protest after many years under a dictatorship.

digging out the sensor at the old site

the magnetometer cord going from outside to the computer room

thansis threading the needle in the roof

feasting on salmon and beer

Valdivia- day 9

2008-11-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we flew to Santiago and then to Valdivia. Valdivia is in wine country and very wooded. It reminds me a lot of northern MN or the suburbs in Boston with the forest and lakes. Here is a view from our hotel. The weather is beautiful. Tonight we had many ¨fruits of the sea¨(literal translation of seafood) for dinner with our local contact, Christian Lazo Ramirez.

Map

2008-11-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Here is another map of all the sites.
Los Cerrillos -check
Punta Arenas - check
Puerto Natales- check

Next stops, Valdivia and Osorno in the lakes region. flying out tomorrow.

Punta Arenas/Puerto Natales- day 8

2008-11-10T19:37:00.001-08:00

We went to the magnetometer site in Punta Arenas and realized we couldn´t find the computer in Puerto Natales. Our goal was to be able to pull data from Puerto Natales using the Punta Arenas computer. There was no way to get the VNC remote desktop settings and FTP set up without going there. So Ricardo, the local Chilean, Thanasious, and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive back to Puerto Natales. After a few hours of tweaking we transferred data successfully and set up the remote desktop.

these are pics from a fancy hotel on the way for only $75/night

Punta Arenas-day 7

2008-11-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

We headed back to Punta Arenas today. In the morning we chased around a tire shop which was very difficult on a Sunday in Chile. We eventually found one that was a guy´s house with a huge pile of tiles in the front yard. It was called El Gringo, so we figured we came to the right place! All of us were looking forward to ditching the rental car after a dead battery, flat tire, and constant shaking from the wind driving everywhere.

at night we had drinks with a bunch of antartica sailors who shared stories from the high seas

trying to jump start it going down the hill

El GRINGO!

next to cerro de la cruz, the signs showing all the distances to major worldwide cities

Torres del Paine- day 6

2008-11-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

We finished the installation at the university in the morning and then drove to Torres del Paine. The drive was about 140km away, but slow going with the pot hill filled roads. Then to top it off as soon as we got to the park we got a flat tire that we had to change in cold, rainy, and windy weather. After we finally changed it, we entered the park.

The park was spectacular! It is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. It combines the mountains of the Rockies, clear blue water like the Carribean, and wildlife of Yellowstone. Words much less pictures do this place justice. For the day we had there, we felt blessed to see it. It was a sight of a lifetime.

Puerto Natales-day 5

2008-11-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

We drove from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. Our van was pretty old so it constantly shaked the whole way there. The landscape was gorgeous. At first the drive was flat, but Puerto Natales was mountainous.

Driving to Puerto Natales...

View from our worksite in Puerto Natales. We installed the magnetometer at Universidad of Magallanes. It is a very small university for about 50 students.

This afternoon we are planning on going to the world famous park, Torres del Paine. Tourists from around the world come here to see the glaciers, waterfalls, and mountains. We´re hoping the rain lets up so we make the trip up there.

Punta Arenas- day 4

2008-11-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a travel day for us. We took a flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt and then from there to Punta Arenas. Punta Arenas is a charming, southern most, city in Chile and is a staging point for trips to Antartica (see maps). It is located on the Straight of Magellan in the Patagonia region. They call the region ¨el fin del mundo¨ or ¨the end of the earth¨ which is fitting for this remote place.

There was a remarkable change in temperature. In Santiago we were drenched with sweat and now Punta Arenas feels like the midwest or Boston. The temperature was 40 degrees today and we had to break out our cold weather clothing. Its weird to fly 20 hours and be back to the same temperature i left.

We´re staying in a nice hotel that was much more expensive than expected. The rooms are about $200/night for good rooms ,but small.

closer look at punta arenas

View from Punta Arenas across the straight of Magellan

Our hotel- Hotel Finis Terrae

Santiago-day 3

2008-11-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Today was the best day yet.

In the morning we went to finish calibrating the site at the Cosmic Rays Observatory. Then Kathryn and I went shopping were I picked up the usual for me, soccer jerseys! I got one from a team in southern chile and another in santiago.

In the afternoon, Marina convinced us to go on a bike ride. All of us were dead tired from the election the night before, but Kathryn and I decided to go while Thansios and Eftyhia went back to take a nap. The bike ride turned out to be absolutely amazing!!! We rode through downtown, along the river, and climbed a hill to see a breathtaking view of the city and Andes Mountains. It took us a slow climb of about a hour and a half, but it was well worth it. At the top it was incredibly peaceful in sharp contrast to the city.

you be the judge...

statue of virgin mary

the traditional Chilean drink we had at the top- cooked apricots, barley, and water-delicious!

Finally, to cap it all off we ate at a wonderful seafood restaurant. We had 2 bottles of Chilean white wine, equadorian shrimp (yay jen), mussels, and greek salad for apetizers. I had a king fish filet for dinner and Creme Brulee for dessert. wow!

Santiago- days 1 and 2

2008-11-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we took off from Boston, stopped in Atlanta, and landed in Santiago 13 hours later. It was difficult to sleep on the red eye flight, but the dinner was suprisingly good. To top it off, I even had a complimentary Leinenkugels ´Sunset Wheat.´ Reminds me of the good ole days getting a juicy burger at Soberman´s with Matt Steele, Kunal, Greg and my other Marquette buddies.

Ocean sunset outside of boston

Clouds over Chile

We arrived at 8am all very tired. We met up and rented a car and then drove to the hotel. Nice hotel in heart of Santiago. Our room was triple and the biggest hotel room Ive ever seen.

The team:

Dr. Eftyhia Zesta, project lead

Dr. Thansios Boudouridis, UCLA

Kathryn Rowe, UCLA,

Nathan Sterner, AFRL

Marina Stepanova, Chilean adviser

picture of ping pong at USACH, University of Santiago de Chile, definitely a laid back college atmosphere here-seems like there is more sleeping in the grass and ping pong here then studying

Then we went to the site to do the upgrade.

To pack up the old magnetometer system we had to...

1. Dig out sensor- tough work in the near summer heat

2. Disassemble computer and electronics

Then to put in new one...

1. Rebury sensor
2. Place GPS sensor- surprising difficult to mount on a tin roof

3. Install and calibrate new sensor

Then after finishing the work, we got hot dogs and 3 kinds of Chilean beer to watch the election. We finally turned it off around 3:30am after the major races were over. Congratulations to my Dad for a job well done!

Project Overview

2008-11-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

Short Project Description (technical stuff) : An array of latitudinally spaced magnetometers will be deployed at low latitudes along the coast of Chile. The array will include a total of 11 sites extending from the northern coast of Chile to the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The array will provide the scientific community with much needed low latitude data from the South American continent by bridging the gap between existing chains of stations. The data are used to study the processes by which energy from the solar wind is transferred to the inner magnetosphere and generates pulsations and transient variations on the ground at low latitudes.

Ultimately, this research will be used by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL, my work) to predict what conditions cause satellite communication to go down. Any disruption or degradation of the signal effects ground troops and pilots because they lose valuable information from the satellites, including GPS, intelligence, and weather. My branch is trying to get to the point where we can predict space weather to the degree we can predict atmospheric weather.

The project is a collaborative effort between UCLA, AFRL, and a number of Chilean universities.

Overview

2008-11-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody,

Welcome to my first blog ever. I will post a few pics and interesting tidbits about the trip. I procrastinated a little getting it started, but with encouragement from my roommate Rebecca and co-worker Kathryn, I decided to start one.

Here´s the schedule for the month...

10 cities, 14 flight legs, 1 great trip

2Nov to 6Nov - Santiago
6Nov to 7Nov -Punta Arenas
7Nov to 9Nov- Puerto Natales
9Nov to 10Nov- Punta Arenas
10Nov to 12Nov -Osorno
12Nov to 16Nov -Valdivia
16Nov to 17Nov- Santiago
17Nov to 19Nov - La Serena

19Nov to 23Nov -Buenos Aires, Argentina
23Nov to 26Nov -Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil
26Nov to 28Nov- Mendoza, Argentina
28Nov - back to Boston