odelay,

i'm having trouble starting the map as G_SATELLITE_TYPE using
map.setMapType(G_SATELLITE_TYPE)... it displays a gray area and doesn't
show the controls i add later (after the setMapType). The gray i
believe is because the coords i'm trying to display don't have detailed
maps in the zoom level i'm displaying (1)... that's why i wanted to
"start" and Satellite mode.

Best wishes,

edit:

i already tried declaring the map type in the contructor of the GMap
instance ... with no luck... same gray map with no controls.
All goes well if i start with a default type map, add the controls, and
finally click the 'satellite' button.

There's an error in the either the code or documentations. Use this
instead:
map.setMapType(_SATELLITE_TYP­E)
Note the lack of 'G'

thank you very much :) works fine now

You could also do this:
sat = map.getMapTypes()[1];
map.setMapType(sat);

Indeed, the documentation is wrong and lists map types with extra 'G'.
Still, this do not work:
 var map = new GMap(document.getElementById("map"), _SATELLITE_TYP­);