-Many thanks to Angela Osterman of Georgia State University for all the digital pictures!

This is La Serena, a coastal town where the CTIO offices are.  No trip to CTIO is complete without spending a little time here.


La Recova, a marketplace in La Serena


More of La Recova


More of La Recova, this is where my lack of Spanish skills became startlingly apparent.


This is the view of La Serena to the Pacific ocean from the AURA compound (CTIO's offices).


Up on Tololo, our dining hall and dorm rooms offered a beautiful view of the Andes further east.


Looking down on the clouds as they pour over the foothills.


The summit from the dorms, the Blanco 4-meter is on the left, and the 1-meter is the largest of the domes visible on the right.


On Tololo, looking toward Cerro Pachon.  The two domes are the SOAR 4-meter (left) and the Gemini South 8-meter (right).


Angela and I took a trip over to Pachon to see Gemini close up.  Impressive!


The Gemini dome.


Looking back at Tololo from Pachon.  You can see the 4-meter well, but the smaller telescopes are a little harder to see.


While on Tololo, I made a friend of one of the mountain foxes.  His name is Jorge el Zorro (original, eh?).


He usually hung out with us outside the cafeteria, but on this day he came up to the summit with us.


Jorge and I in front of the 1-meter dome.


Looking off toward La Serena, and the Pacific.