15
We spent only a few days at the Kaiser’s lodge and managed to acquire
accommodation in the best room of the main building in Izaña. It was on the
first floor, with two doors onto the stairs and two windows. It had two beds,
a small wardrobe, and two bedside tables. There was a communal bathroom
outside. It was perishing cold. Apart from there being no heating, the wind
entered through gaps in the two windows, swept through the room, and whistled through crevices in the badly fitted doors. Without exaggeration, it
seemed to have been designed for the specific purpose of inflicting colds,
pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Since the Observatory Chief spent only a few hours a week in his office, we
used it for our living room and workplace because it had a chimney and we
could keep ourselves warm. On frequent occasions, the door of the office
would suddenly burst open, some inquisitive heads poke in, and a voice
boom, ‘And those are the astrophysicists’. These interruptions would be the
culmination of an improvised tour of Izaña, with one of the simple inhabitants of the Observatory acting as guide, pointing out the four meteorological
instruments in action and, most importantly, the transmitter. We were the
final attraction, a final exotic touch: the astrophysicists. We were on exhibit
like monkeys in a zoo.
Fig. 2.1 A muleteer fetches supplies to Izaña Observatory. In the background is the
building that housed the first site prospection instruments. (Credit: F. Sánchez)
2 Izaña (1961–1963)
We spent only a few days at the Kaiser’s lodge and managed to acquire
accommodation in the best room of the main building in Izaña. It was on the
first floor, with two doors onto the stairs and two windows. It had two beds,
a small wardrobe, and two bedside tables. There was a communal bathroom
outside. It was perishing cold. Apart from there being no heating, the wind
entered through gaps in the two windows, swept through the room, and whistled through crevices in the badly fitted doors. Without exaggeration, it
seemed to have been designed for the specific purpose of inflicting colds,
pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Since the Observatory Chief spent only a few hours a week in his office, we
used it for our living room and workplace because it had a chimney and we
could keep ourselves warm. On frequent occasions, the door of the office
would suddenly burst open, some inquisitive heads poke in, and a voice
boom, ‘And those are the astrophysicists’. These interruptions would be the
culmination of an improvised tour of Izaña, with one of the simple inhabitants of the Observatory acting as guide, pointing out the four meteorological
instruments in action and, most importantly, the transmitter. We were the
final attraction, a final exotic touch: the astrophysicists. We were on exhibit
like monkeys in a zoo.
Fig. 2.1 A muleteer fetches supplies to Izaña Observatory. In the background is the
building that housed the first site prospection instruments. (Credit: F. Sánchez)
2 Izaña (1961–1963)