Arecibo Observatory

The Arecibo Observatory is the world's largest radio telescope. It's located in the mountains near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, was is about a 90-minute drive from Isabela. The telescope was constructed in 1963 and is used in three primary fields of research: radio astronomy, radar astronomy, and atmospheric science. The site has been used in two movies: Contact, starring Jodie Foster, and Goldeneye, starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. It was also featured in an episode of X Files.

Narrow, steep, and winding mountain roads are punctuated by settlement areas like this one. The road levels out and suddenly you're in a neighborhood.

This house has a different type of window than the one I showed you in the earlier blog. Instead of a series of jalousie-type windows, it has rows of smaller windows. 

Puerto Rico is not a rich country. Staying around the tourist areas belies that fact. But here in the mountains, it's easier to see.

Unlike other radio telescopes that are held vertical on rotating platforms, Arecibo is built into the top of the mountain. So the dish doesn't move. Instead, the array suspended above the dish moves. The dish is 1000 feet in diameter.

The dish is made of three foot by two foot aluminum panels like this one. The mesh-like construction keeps water from accumulating in the dish.

Workers have to wear these snowshoe-like footwear if they have to walk on the dish.

A closer look at the array. The bell-shaped object on the bottom is the Gregorian Dome. 

It was added in 1997. 

In Goldeneye, the support towers that hold up the array that's suspended over the dish were hollow, but they're actually solid concrete.

The observatory is located within a karst mountain region. Karst topography is formed when soluble rocks, such as limestone and gypsum dissolve. The landscape is characterized by underground drainage, caves, and sinkholes. In fact, the dish was actually constructed in the crater of an old sinkhole. The lush vegetation makes it difficult to see the mountains' unusual shapes.

People carved in the leaves of the trees lining the elevated walkway. 

The anchoring point for the cables from one of the towers.

We didn't have a cell phone signal on the way home, so we didn't have GPS to guide us. Our route home was a little different than the trip in. Here's a house offering a better look at the windows.

Here's a horse tied to a fence in front of a house.  This isn't farm land. It's a regular neighborhood.

We stopped at a Walmart about thirty minutes from home. This was the view as you stepped out of the store. How many Walmarts do you know that are oceanfront?

A couple of shots of the ubiquitous African Tulip Tree.

This is the church in downtown Isabela, across from the square. The white SUV is unloading what we believe was a wedding party. The women in the party were wearing tu-tus, so we're not entirely sure what we were actually seeing.

This final shot is the view as you head out of downtown Isabela.