#VLTJupiter 3: ESO's Residencia

One of the most incredible things about this whole experience has been staying in the Residencia, about 300 m below the mountain peak in the middle of the desert.  This award-winning hotel has been in use since 2002, and will likely be expanded in the future to accommodate all the new users of ELT.  In fact, it was designed to be part of the landscape rather than to obscure it, being built below ground with only the south-facing windows and doors being visible.  From the outside, it's a long red-brown structure that blends in with the surrounding red-brown hills, with a white dome over the roof.  When the bus first pulls up, you end up going down a long ramp to a pair of thick, grey doors.  As soon as you open them, though, the arid desert vanished and you enter the tropics, at the top of a long spiralling ramp that takes you down to the reception desk.

The south facing rooms of the Residencia.

In the centre of this curved walkway is a tropical oasis, with palm trees, colourful flowers, and even birds flying from plant to plant.  Right in the middle is a swimming pool, which I haven't seen used at all during my stay, but which I'm told is there to help the humidity of the building.  Nearby are comfy chairs, a table-tennis table, and table football.  For the musically inclined, there's a fully stocked music room next to a cinema/library room.   A row of offices for visiting astronomers looks out over the pool (I spent several hours sat in those offices getting work done during the day).

The rooms themselves are along a long, elongated stretch of building, with ramps rather than stairs running between floors.  My room faced south, with a door that you could open onto the silence of the desert.  In fact, apart from the footsteps of the odd passing astronomer, it was so silent in the Residencia - bliss when trying to work or get some sleep.  Food is served almost constantly in the canteen, which you scan in and out of - you could get very fat here, with so much on offer.  They even ship food up to the control room at night, so we dined on pizza and cake in the small hours of the morning, washed down with coffee to keep us awake.

The pool and reception area.  Credit:  P. Horálek/ESO

My interest in this building goes beyond just the gorgeous architecture.  I'm a huge James Bond fan, so it's wonderful to be staying in the "Perla de las Dunes", a "Bolivian" hotel and lair of the bad guy in Quantum of Solace.  That version was blown up by Bond in his climatic battle (in Pinewood, at least), but the exterior shots were all filmed here.  Lovely connection between my two loves - Bond and planetary science!  And being visitor number "007" was also quite a perk.

But back to astronomy  - on our first couple of evenings here, it was hard not to spend time outside gazing up at the night sky.  We'd go and sit in the shadow of UT5, the small public telescope near the hotel, blocking out the moonlight.  Again, the silence was perfect, and the stars spectacular.