Highlights included:
Driving over the Andes shortly after our arrival to Santiago,
6.0 Earthquake,
Dinner theatre entertainment featuring Tango dance performers,
Lunch Time entertainment at our hotel featuring youth group dance performers,
A Winery Tour,
Casleo Observatory Tour,
A Rafting trip,
National Park Tour, in the shadow of Acacongua,
A Partial Solar Eclipse,
3 nights of Southern Sky observing,
Flying over the Andes to return to Santiago for our connecting flights.

More on our visit:
On September 14th, 2006, 19 members of the Rose City Astronomers (RCA), including myself & my wife Joni, departed for Argentina.  It is there that we joined members of GAMA, the Mendoza Argentina Astronomical Association, for a joint  Southern Sky observation.  The trip was organized by Margaret Campbell of Portland, Oregon & members of GAMA..

From the moment we got off the plane in Santiago, Chile, we could tell that we were in for a very special time as we were warmly greeted by Leo, Eduardo and Amedeo.  The bus ride from the Santiago Airport over the Andes afforded us spectacular views as the bus negotiated switch backs to a 9,000 foot elevation. 

Long lines and a broken down bus at the Chile/Argentina check point made for a 7 hour delay to our arrival in Mendoza and a postponement of our "Welcome Dinner" until the next day, in which our dinner would then became our "Welcome Lunch." O

n September 16th, day 3 of our trip, as we finally got some serious sleep, many of us including me were awaken by it 6.0 Earthquake, or as they call it, a Seismo, short for Seismographic.  It was centered 25 miles away. It did not feel too threatening and there was no reported damage.  Amedeo claims the Earthquake was planned to give us a the cultural experience. 

That morning we attended our "Welcome Lunch".  We were warmly greeted with applause by our GAMA hosts as we filed in. Leo, Eduardo and others gave welcoming speeches calling our arrival a "dream come true".  I listened in a state of "stunned flattery".  I looked at how formally dressed they were and then looked down at my "Cathedral Park Jazz Festival" T-shirt and wondered if they could actually be referring to me. 

This welcome lunch was the beginning of the gift giving.  It started with a professional quality observing guide to the Southern Sky, produced by Leo.  A later gift would be a commemorative ceramic plate, custom made for each visitor. 

Not enough can be said about our host's generosity, kind treatment and preparation.  There is already a friendly competition developing amongst the Portland group to be hosts of GAMA members should they come to the US.

The trip to Argentina impressed upon me how much of the sky we cannot see from the Pacific Northwest.  I was fortunate to have a recently completed 10 inch Traveling Dobsonian to take on this trip.  The scope traveled very well and there were no problems with security.  Pictures of the assembled scope helped explain what I was carrying on the plane. 

The compact Mirror box houses the primary mirror and cage.  At 24 pounds, this was the carry on portion of the Telescope.  The Telescope’s total traveling weight is about  32 pounds.  The Alt-bearings and flat rocker stored nicely in the check on suitcase.  Truss poles were checked on separately in an architect’s case.  The ground board is a 16.5 inch wooden disc with a removable ABS plastic disc used as the azimuth bearing surface.  As planned, only the plastic was taken to reduce bulk and weight.  A coffee table was graciously was graciously loaned to me by the Hotel to act as a flat surface.

The 10 inch performed very well.  Objects such as Eta Carina, Omega Centuri, the Tarantula Nebula, 47 Tuc, the Jewel Box Cluster, Silver Coin Galaxy, Fornax Cluster were among the nearly 50 objects observed over 3 nights.  Many of the objects were located by Graziano, Leo and Carlos.  Bob McGown was a frequent operator of the scope, especially when I took "warm room" (warm bus) breaks.

For the fun of it I decided to aim the 10 inch at the Veil Nebula.  I called my new friends over to have a look.  We looked at it using a 24mm Panoptic with a UHC filter.  This gave us 42x and a 1.3 degree field of view.  I use the UHC on occasion because it doesn't block as much light as an OIII.   I was delighted to hear that this was the first time they have ever seen the Veil and the first time to use a UHC filter.  I was delighted because I was finally able to do something for them after all they had done for me.