THE WORLD'S LARGEST..............................

You remember that JAMES BOND movie " GOLDEN EYE ".......... Where that handsome dude, Pierce Brosnan, dangles from that steel platform, way up in the sky, and then manages to escape by running across the antenna dish .......................... Well that was all a lie ................ He never did any of that stuff................. That was a stunt double............... Folks here told us Mr. P hates heights ................. But these photos are real, and this is the World's largest radio telescope at ARECIBO, about 80 km north of SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO ................ Built in the 60s at a cost of about 6 million dollars and operated by Cornell University, whose scientists, engineers and technicians send and receive radio waves to and from the ionosphere and to distant galaxies, in a generous effort to make our lives more useful.



We had rented a car to drive to this site which was chosen because the limestone hills had a natural 'sinkhole' depression which would avoid excavation costs for placing the gigantic dish, which, by the way is totally suspended about fifty feet above the ground ........................ Not withstanding that the dish acts as a wonderful shade cover and the plants beneath it flourish like never before ............ A few manage to sneak through the screen ................... The staff told us that initially they used to clean the dish, which normally took a month, and then they discovered that it really made no difference ...............



The platform of enormous weight is suspended and maneuvered by cables attached to three giant concrete towers................. These are of such strength as to be able to withstand earthquakes and hurricane force winds ................ And the giant dish is able to reflect the incoming radiation to several smaller dishes, housed within the geodesic dome attached to the platform................By altering the angle of the secondary dishes, radio beams and the reflected signals can be sent to distant galaxies................... " Is there anybody home?"....................That long pointed thing is the transmitting antenna ........... Each of the circular dishes on that prong thing are a man's height apart ................ "And where is all that kryptonite when you need it?"....................



Just to bring you back to Earth, this is a beautiful flowering ' Crown of thorns' cactus growing in the garden at the viewing platform, which also gives you great views of the pop-up hills of limestone, that make up this part of the country ..................... Notice that the perforated aluminum (called 'aluminium' down-under) panels that make up the reflector dish are just stapled onto the frame ................... No wonder our $3.00 aluminum colander works so well as our WIFI radio antenna ...................Or maybe it's the power of that smile?



Late driving back to ARITA at SALINAS, we drove past this banner hanging on the wall of a cemetery (or should that be 'cementary)...................... Now we know our Spanish may not be much good, but we kind of got this message ...................... " Space is limited, get in early .......... And if you want to go immediately, we'll give you a 50% discount"............For all you others it's $ 55.35/mth till you get here .................,

And, we also noticed that many of the white concrete 'mausoleums' were bigger than the rooms in most houses ........................ So I guess there is still a chance to get that 'bigger room, with a little privacy' that you always dreamt about .................