Back in the Saddle Again

Okay, it's been a while since I posted last. So here I am by popular demand. Things have been pretty busy around here since I got back from my trip. I'm working with a team of four students this summer (3 undergrads and 1 grad) to work on several projects: the dynamics of binary asteroid pairs, optimal orbits around Jupiter's moon Europa, and spacecraft trajectory design in general. Also, I gave the introductory talk yesterday for a newly formed research group, the Nonlinear Astrodynamics Group of Caltech & JPL. I'd also like to begin studying galactic dynamics. Check out this wicked cool animation of a simulation of two galaxies colliding made by people at UC San Diego.

About the trip, let's see... the last place I posted was Bilbao. I also went to San Sebastian for a few days, a big surfing spot on the Atlantic. San Sebastian seemed to be a vacation spot for Spaniards; I didn't notice many northern Europeans. It was fun to walk and bike around the city. It was kinda lonely, but there were some adventures.

During my few days there, I went a few times to a cafe next to a boulevard perfect for people watching. I would sit there and read or write some prose. One time as I was enjoying the cool of dusk and the passing crowds, electrified with anticaption of the night's excitement, a woman dressed in garb you might expect in Haight/Ashbury came up to me and offered some pot. When she found out I was from near Los Angeles, she offered more dangerous drugs and asked if I was una estrella (a star, like in the movies). Then she sat down and started talking to me at feverish pace, as if making a hurried confession. She was rambling on about "un barco, un barco grande," trying hard to get me to understand. Others at the outdoor cafe turned and glanced, so maybe she was cursing quite a bit. She was hard to follow, but she was trying to tell me something about the boat that spilled oil around the Spanish coast last year, the Prestige. The incident seemed to horrify her. I don't know why she thought that the Prestige incident was important to tell me, but she did. As she seemed a bit out of it, I was glad to find out that some sober friends of hers were around. One of them who spoke a bit more English came around and took her, saying, "Very sorry. She is a bit off." As one who sees every incident pregnant with significance, I wonder what that encounter meant...

Another time I went out to try some sidra (bitter cider) and pintxos (Basque tapas). It gave me the idea of having a tapas party sometime! First I need to learn to
cook Basque cuisine. I had some delicious ham spread on bread, among other things, and camarones a la plancha (a shrimp dish). By the way, does anyone know of any tapas bars in the LA area?

My last night there, I thought I would check out one of the bars, just for a little while. Or so I thought it would be. I ended up meeting a Norwegian medical student on an extended vacation. He was about a month into his two month sojourn when I met with him. Like me, he was traveling alone through many countries where he hardly knew the language. He spoke English very well, and we talked for a good while, about Norway, Spain, war, life, religion, health, and such. We talked about how it's kinda rough traveling alone, especially when you've got a girlfriend. He's got a girlfriend, but she was on some other trip (to Cuba). Anyway, it was nice to find somebody to hang out with. I found some people from my hostel and we wandered back, tripping through the delightfully winding, narrow streets of San Sebastian, as if in a dream.

Later, I'll talk about Paris... Hasta luego.