Sara Turcotte et Nicolas Fortin

Du grand nord, huit valeureux scientifique,

Ont mis le cap vers une contré lointaine,

Visant un développement astronomique,

En collaboration avec une intelectuelle Argentaine,

Il en découle un périlleux voyage,

Enfants qui pleurent, sommeil agité,

Nicolas qui perd pied au passage,

Rendant ainsi ce periple aérien tourmenté,

Petite princesse Sara qui perd ses bagages,

Hydrate la vallée désertique de ses pleurs,

Noyant toutes les couillos dans les parages,

La perte de son précieux sac lui allait droit au coeur,

Au premier jour d'expédition, Nicolas,

Bien qu'aventureux, oublia un élément crucial,

D'un ton rouge homard il devint hélas,

Lorsque la douleur devint brutale,

La route houleuse en direction de léo ++,

Ne fut de tout repos pour le postérieur des voyageurs,

Route qui fut aussi plaisante que s'asseoir sur un cactus,

La vue merveilleuse compensait cependant cette douleur,

Une fois les problèmes techniques résolus,

Nous avons pu éveiller nos sens par un maté,

Boisson aux herbes qui se boit de façon bien farfelue,

Et finalement s'émerveiller devant la voie lactée,

Il s'en suit une bataille acharnée,

Sur la table de ping-pong découverte avec grand plaisir,

Sara nous avoue sa passion cachée,

Des heures à pratiquer les coups qu'elle peut maintenant réussir,

Célina, une charmante señorita,

Nous as enseigner le maniement du télescope,

Devant ces nombreux astres, ce fut la fiesta,

As this journey approches it's end, i finally find the words to describe the breathtaking moments i have experienced so far with my fellow comrads and sqwamarads (for the ladies). For those who know me, this delay is no suprise since i work mostly under pressure. Anyways, better late then never!

Our departure from Sherbrooke took place at the Cegep around 12:30 January 8th. We loaded our bags, not without difficulties, and hit the road for the U.S border. It didn't take long for a certain sqwamarde to regain conscience of the pleasures of working with certain individuals such as myself and my boy Chwarles! Once at the border, we were granted the chance to meet the dog patrol, a man accompanied by a not so playfull dog. I think i wasn't the only one to be rather priocupied by this event but fortunatly our buddy fido didn't stop in front of anybody.

Our next stop was the Burlington airport. All the proceedures were taken care of in a flawless way, next thing i knew i was aboard the plane getting ready for my first flight. What a splendid experience! Short and sweet, my maiden voyage was marked by my facination for the plane: it's acceleration, it's comfort and it's speed. Needless to say, the fact that Charles and Sara were seated right next to me was definitly a plus! The transfers from one plane to another passed by quite rapidely and so did the flights, except for the 8 hour trip from New York to Lima, which was a pain to many of us. I quickly developped a jealousy for Sara's very practical dimensions. Indeed her height made it possible for her to curl into a ball, enabling her to a much more comfortable position to sleep. After many attemps, through different drugs (melatonin and alcohol), Bob Marley and his soothing music managed to help me get some sleep!

We finally arrived at Mendoza January 9th, 33 hours after our departure from Sherbrooke and four planes later, in the blazing heat of Argentina. At this moment i was expecting our trip to be almost over, big mistake, nearly four hours seperated us from our final destination: the Leoncito national park. Needless to say i found my way to the bed with ease and fully appreciated the site's hospitality.

The following day, the 10th of january, i decided to accompany the rest of the group on a hike to one of the montains alongside de observatory. The tourist i am neglected to apply sunscreen, this error will result in a third degre burn (at least). Anyways this first hike was a very nice experience and definitly openned my appetite for the great outdoors. Appetite that was cwenched during the following days.

On my first night of observation, i was posted on a potential construction area for the Cherenkov telescope array. We refered to this site as Leo++. The observation took place without any major issues. At one point we had to adjust the spectrometer's orientation since it was a little offset according to the village we had to take account of. Once the setup was installed and operationnal, Beatrice, our local contact, introduced Martin, Sara and I to mathé. Mathé is the typical bevrage in Argentina. It has some caracteristics similar to coffee but with the taste of tea. Without this awakening potion, i strongly doubt i could have made it through the night. This night was also my very first chance to amaze myself before the beauty of our galaxy and the other celestial masses decorating our sky. Unfortunatly such views cannot be found everywhere due to the growing pollution of the night sky. In addition to this reality, the magellan clouds can only be seen from the southern hemisphere so I consider myself as lucky to have contemplated them. The only downside to this observation was the trip to get there. The long and bumpy road was a pain to all of us! By the time we got back to camp, breakfast was about to be served (a mere two hours), so Sara and i decided to skip this opportunity to sleep in order to see the sunrise! The sight was worth it, no doubt there. It was a truly awesome moment. The "breakfast" on the other hand, was rather disapointing. We took place in the kitchen after two hours to discover that the only thing there was to consume was a small glass of juice... Needless to say we did not make this error again! This being said i am a great fan of there gastronomy. The meals have always been of superbe taste although sometimes a little too cheesy for my taste! I particularily appreciated de Asado, there typical plate served on sundays, what a delight! This barbecued meat ranks in my favorites for sure.

The following day, the group and I where given a tour of the casleo telescope. Innogurated in the sixties if i am not mistaken, this telescope's mirror mesures 2,15 meters in diameter. We were introduced to the different structures and rooms necessary to the operation of the instrument. I must point out that Andoni's traduction was very professionnal and appreciated! To my suprise i got the chance to see the installation in action since one of the technicians, Pablo, took control of the telescope in addition to the rotating dome. Charles and I took the initiative to thank him for it is not a common proceedure for visits.

That same evening, Celina offered some of us some time with the "portable" telescope. A 15 000$ instrument mounted on a robotic mount similar to the one we used for our soectrometer in some way. After some minor ajustments, which we took care of ourselves, this robotic mount proposed a tour of the most interesting objects. I got to see the moon with suprising clearness, i even observed it's relief. I scoped in on orion, jupiter, twin stars and many other constelltions. My favorite sight was definitly the moon due to it's incredible resolution.

The exploration of the surrounding mountains occupied most of the following days. Searching for some animals and insects, i found a black widow, a lizard, some "couiles" (french term) an alpaga look alike in addition to a baby camel spider (if i am not mistaken). I was rather impressed with the two arachnides because of their reputation and popularity. I must admit that the black widow did not survive our incounter... Indeed peer pressure and personnal hatred for the specie urged me to drop a reasonnably large rock on the poor little thing. I regretted it though and the other one's i found latter on were spared. As for the "couilles", they were this trips running gag. More then ounce references to this creature resulted in general hilarity in the group. Good times!

My team's second and last observation took place directly on the site where we were settled, the Leoncito national park. This time we had no technical difficulties. With Joffrey's help we managed to install the spectrometer and program the observation routine. We prioritized most important coordinates according to the quantity of data we had so far. I recall it was rather cold that night, i woundered the land looking for some more "friends". Turns out i spotted a small mammal resembling a fox but with bigger ears and a sandish color.

The summum of this trip is without a doubt the hike to the top of Destiny Mountain, the tallest and furthest summit we climbed. To get there we had to overcome a lenghty desert which gave the impression of being infinite in intense sunlight. Sara, Joffrey, Charles, Canella (a very affectionnate pouch) and I ventured out the 15th determined to achieve our goal. It was partially cloudy so the walk across the desert was easier to bare. Once at the bottom of the mountain i decided to seperate from the group in order to take a more challenging route. To my suprise, Canella decided to come with me! It was an incredible feeling to climb with this dog because of the cooperation between us. In a certain way the young labrador hinted me on the easiest routes, waiting for me to reach her and so on. On the other side i would make her drink and help her up when the paths made it difficult to continu her ascension. Due to some complications, it ended up that Joffrey and me climbed alone while Sara and Choley headed back to the observatory. Although the hike was long since every time we got to the "top" a new summit could be identified... As me and Joff would say: "we've never been so close to the top, we can't stop now!". This being said we continued following the alpaga's trail to the one and only summit where we marked our territory, like any man would!

As we leave the national park for Mendoza after 3 days of "vacation" i am starting to feel the pressure of this whole voyage, the responsablility of analysing the data and publishing some valid results for this project of great importance.