Stargazing nearby Mauna Kea - Observation du ciel pres de Mauna Kea

1st of April

 It rained on us for the second time in a row while we were sleeping. So, once again we started the day packing our wet tent. And as yesterday, we've been awaken by drops of water on our skin. Not fun to realize that we did not purchase a well-conceived tent. It has a double protection that sticks to the first one in some places, and when it rains, it gets watery and it is a disaster. We took our breakfast into the best cafe of Volcano Village. Ben and I had a breakfast with fried rice, two meats and some scrambled eggs. We met two Hawaiians in that local place, an American traveller and a man from Aleutian Islands which I learnt are actually part of Alaska. I've always wondered whether people do travel there, and the answer is no obviously... If only that destination was trendy... But no. So, I decided this will be one of my next trip. There is barely any animals, mammals in particular in those islands. People there are mostly fishermen, and it is just later on that men introduced deers, moose and wolves. There are volcanoes on these islands, so it is definitely worth visiting. You get there by ferry boat or plane from Anchorage. The Aleutian we met is currently transitions from a traditional fisherman role to a translator role, as yes the society evolves.
Then we talked to an Hawaiian, probably the cafe owner, that explained to us the core of the Hawaiian culture: love. They call it the Aloha culture, the art of welcoming people. Hawaii can be an isolated archipelago, they remain connected to the World by welcoming it on their beautiful island. Hawaiian are happy and curious about others. After finishing our tasty breakfast, we left for Hilo.
Nothing to report in Hilo except we met some interesting characters at our hostel there and that village has a great market with fresh fruits, local delicacies as stam (sushi with slice of ham in the middle). That same day, at dusk, we went for a stargazing night on Mauna Kea. Ben met with a former Nasa employee who participated to the Apollo missions and they discussed astrophysics together. I could not understand any word of it anyway, but it looked really interesting somehow. 

Ce matin de 1er Avril, il a encore plu pendant la nuit. Qui a dit qu'il ne pleuvait pas a Hawaii? Nous avons pris un bon breakfast bien merite a Volcano Village (j'imagine les gens qui se sont installes ici il y a plusieurs siècles...'Bon, il va falloir trouver un nom a ce village!' "Chef! Y a un enorme volcan qui ne demande qu'a nous peter au visage! Si on appelait ce village...le village du volcan? Volcano village?"... En tout cas ils ne se sont pas foules...)
Lors du breakfast, nous avons bien parle avec les locaux, qui nous en ont appris sur la culture Hawaienne.
Nous sommes ensuite arrives a Hilo, une ville pas tres belle, mais qui nous a servi de base pour explorer le Mauna Kea, et son site d'observatoires les meilleurs au monde. Le soir meme, nous avons fait les 50mins de trajet vers le centre d'information, a temps pour le coucher du soleil. A la nuit tombee, nous avons pu regarder les etoiles avec des merveilles de telescopes, parmi les meilleurs joujous des astronomers amateurs, j'ai nomme le Meade LX200GPS (en 16 pouces, s'il vous plait!) et bien sur des Celestrons. J'ai evidemment discute astronomie avec Clifford, un retraite de la marine Americaine et ferru d'astronomie qui m'a raconte plein d'histoires sur le programme Apollo, auquel il a participe, en passant par le boson de Higgs (pour lequel il etait au courant 6 mois avant l'annonce officielle!). A ce moment la, je me suis mis en recherche d'agnes qui etait partie se prendre un cafe il y avait de ca une demie heure...
Apres les observations de Jupiter, Venus et la Lune, et avant la revision des classiques comme M42, M13 et consoeurs, et face a la queue grandissante face aux telescopes, nous avons decide de repartir vers Hilo...