Hotel?! You're asking yourselfs? Have they struck gold? No, not that, but the Defender quit on us... But all in due order. I'll pretend I wrote every entry at the end of each day.
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Thursday, 22. February 2018
However, before that we meet a Swiss couple, let's just call them Ueli and Steffi because I've forgotten their names. The two have bought a car in Chile! Yes, if the seller is willing he'll sign for your RUT... Now I know how to get hold of a car if I need one. Either I contact the guy who sold them the car or via "Suzi Santiago" a guy who does it professionally for $200,000.- However, used car prices in Chile are astronomical. For a 25 year old Toyota Ranger which had quite an accident, the clearance between parts varies widely and water comes through the wind shield, they payed about €5000.-!!!
Today we were lucky and the Defender started right away. In the last weeks it had more and more problems. It started with the Defender engine going into safe mode when accelerating hard. Above 2000m the engine started to studder in instead. At one point Tobi disconnected the intake manifold pressure sensor and the problems were gone. Instead it was smoking much more and didn't provide full power. Who cares, it was running...
So, let's get out of Calama. On the way out of town we found a small repair shop where we'd be able to change the clutch and bearings once the parts get to Calama. We're off towards the south.
A drive through the Atacama may also look like this...
On the coast we were passing through Tocopilla, a little harbor town, which lives from the mining industry.
Then we drove further south towards Antofagasta, passing ruins on the way...
All this to camp on the beach south of Cobija. There we saw how locals bury their trash in holes on the beach... Jep, trash is an issue here. In the cities you can see a first timid blossoming of recycling and in small villages they burn or bury their trash in the garden. Have I already mentioned that there are no sewage treatment plants and that even in big cities you have to throw your toilet paper in a bin because they have septic tanks? No, well, that's how it is here. Needs some getting used to...
In any case, we found an almost wind still spot on the beach.
And on the rocks near the water we saw loads of critters... Does anybody know them? Ok, one's a crab but the others?
These funny "fish" hang around the rocks and when they see you the let go and drop into the water :)
And loads of trash around us, the white stuff. However, it was too late to look for a nicer spot :|
But the sunset was really pretty :)
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Friday, 23. February 2018
In Antofagasta we tried in vain to get a new inlet manifold pressure sensor. There doesn't seem to be even one of these in all of Chile, bummer...
And because Antofagasta is a really ugly town we quickly went shopping and then made our way south towards the next camping spot on the beach.
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Saturday, 24. February 2018
On the way back we came by a small copper mine and decided to make a quick stop and take a look around. And this is what everybody here is looking for, copper. Or in this case coppersulphate. However, there wasn't much of it around because there was no work going on and this stuff seems to be contaminated.
However, as we were very early we had to wait on a parking lot outside of the gates. So we set up the awning and had lunch. Until, well, until a gust of wind neatly folded the awning onto the roof of the Defender! Can a day get any worse? Yes, the wind also blew my cap away! I'd almost given up on finding it again when I went for a last look and luckily found it again :)
After a short introductory video about the VLT and the new, still under construction, E-ELT (European - Extremely Large Telescope) which is being build on the adacent Cerro Armazones we finally went to the cars to drive up to the telescopes.
In contrast to the ALMA, where you can only visit the control centre, you get really close to the action here :D
The big round thing on top it mirror M2. Below it you can see mirror M1 from below. Directly below the mirror, which has a diameter of 8.20m and weighs 23 metric tons are 150 hydaulic pistons used to change the surface of the mirror to compensate for disturbances caused by water in the air. At the bottom you can see one of three optical measurement units. The other two are to the left and right of the mirror. Using mirror M3 the light is then redirected to one of the three measuring devices.
The reflecting surface you see here is a 80nm (nanometer) thick layer of Aluminum. A hair is about 600 times as thick!
And just when you think that this is it, there's no light at the end of the tunnel, there it is :) In this case in the form of a rather big light, a huge guy from northern Germany :D Christian, the chief of security at the ESO. He was willing to accompanie us to Antofagasta in case the Defender wouldn't manage on its own.
The neighbors on this beach were much cleanlier when it comes to trash :)
On the way back we came by a small copper mine and decided to make a quick stop and take a look around. And this is what everybody here is looking for, copper. Or in this case coppersulphate. However, there wasn't much of it around because there was no work going on and this stuff seems to be contaminated.
Then we finally reached our destination :D The ESO (European Southern Observatory) aka VLT (Very Large Teleskope)!!! After we weren't able to visit the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) near San Pedro because of a 2 month waiting list!!! it worked out really quickly at the ESO, jipy :D
In contrast to the ALMA with its radio antennas the VLT is a optical unit. To build it the top of Cerro Paranal was leveled. I'll spare you the technical details, you can read them under (http://www.eso.org/public/germany/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/).
In contrast to the ALMA with its radio antennas the VLT is a optical unit. To build it the top of Cerro Paranal was leveled. I'll spare you the technical details, you can read them under (http://www.eso.org/public/germany/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/).
However, as we were very early we had to wait on a parking lot outside of the gates. So we set up the awning and had lunch. Until, well, until a gust of wind neatly folded the awning onto the roof of the Defender! Can a day get any worse? Yes, the wind also blew my cap away! I'd almost given up on finding it again when I went for a last look and luckily found it again :)
After a short introductory video about the VLT and the new, still under construction, E-ELT (European - Extremely Large Telescope) which is being build on the adacent Cerro Armazones we finally went to the cars to drive up to the telescopes.
In contrast to the ALMA, where you can only visit the control centre, you get really close to the action here :D
The big round thing on top it mirror M2. Below it you can see mirror M1 from below. Directly below the mirror, which has a diameter of 8.20m and weighs 23 metric tons are 150 hydaulic pistons used to change the surface of the mirror to compensate for disturbances caused by water in the air. At the bottom you can see one of three optical measurement units. The other two are to the left and right of the mirror. Using mirror M3 the light is then redirected to one of the three measuring devices.
The reflecting surface you see here is a 80nm (nanometer) thick layer of Aluminum. A hair is about 600 times as thick!
Awesome to see something like this. Unfortunately only I saw the mirror. Tobi and his Defender had something private going on because the Defender quit on us! Have I already mentioned that Tobi loves Defenders? No? He's got not one but four of them!!! Not only that, he can disassemble and reassemble them blindly. Good thing also because now we have a chance of getting away from here :)
So there we were, Saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere and the Defender was only running on 4 of his 5 zylinders. That was already more than on the way up where he quit on us because there seemed to be air in the fuel system.
So there we were, Saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere and the Defender was only running on 4 of his 5 zylinders. That was already more than on the way up where he quit on us because there seemed to be air in the fuel system.
And just when you think that this is it, there's no light at the end of the tunnel, there it is :) In this case in the form of a rather big light, a huge guy from northern Germany :D Christian, the chief of security at the ESO. He was willing to accompanie us to Antofagasta in case the Defender wouldn't manage on its own.
Yes, this is a picture all to familiar to Defender drivers, cough... Christian then towed us the remaining 120km back to Antofagasta, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Such a day can get to you, especially Tobi. I've looked up scorpios to see what there is to know about them and bingo. There he's driving half a Defender in spare parts around with him (I think he's got everything short of the engine and a transmission with him) and the two parts that break are not in the box with the spare parts...
After such a day we didn't feel like camping at the gas station in the city which wanted to charge us $20,000.-! The other parking spot at the beach was too loud and unsecure for us. So shortly after 10:00 p.m. we checked into a hotel.
After such a day we didn't feel like camping at the gas station in the city which wanted to charge us $20,000.-! The other parking spot at the beach was too loud and unsecure for us. So shortly after 10:00 p.m. we checked into a hotel.
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Sunday, 25. February 2018
So here we'll be for the next few days...
After Tobi contacted a friend from Switzerland and we followed up on some issues we're almost certain that it's the unit injector system of zylinder 3 which has quit on us. Seems to be a typical problem of tuned Defender engines.
With a little luck the parts will be sent out tomorrow and then arrive within a week or so here at the hotel...
Hopefully we're better off than the two tramps o_O
Until then we're getting some R&R, even Tobi who had feared that the zylinder head was cracked :)
After Tobi contacted a friend from Switzerland and we followed up on some issues we're almost certain that it's the unit injector system of zylinder 3 which has quit on us. Seems to be a typical problem of tuned Defender engines.
With a little luck the parts will be sent out tomorrow and then arrive within a week or so here at the hotel...
Hopefully we're better off than the two tramps o_O
Until then we're getting some R&R, even Tobi who had feared that the zylinder head was cracked :)
