Turns out we actually get five days off, instead of the four we all thought. Thankfully Jim told us this morning, or we all would've been sitting there at 5:30 Monday morning. There's a large group of people that left already for South Padre island with plans to get as drunk as possible tonight, crash eight people into a hotel room, and then drink as much as they could on the beach the next day, before driving back. Needless to say, that didn't quite sound like my thing. There's a smaller group of us going to the island friday, to get massages, have lunch, hang out on the beach, and then head back that evening. So it should be fun. Sometime this weekend we're going to check out the "Torture through the ages" exhibit, which could prove interesting.
I found a card reader at the store tonight, so I've uploaded photos to flickr, so check those out. I'm going to veg a bit, and then possibly head to the pool. Hope everyone is doing well!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Surreal
So today, we vacummed dirt up from the ground. Seriously, that's the weirdest thing ever. One of the groups found a hearth about 120 cm down, and it needed to be cleaned up a bit for the pictures and such. It is nice to be actually finding things, makes me feel more like an archaeologist, instead of just a bucket monkey.
Tomorrow, apparently we're going to have our local guy come out with a backhoe and attempt to dig 1X1 meters 10cm deep each with it, which we'll then screen. It should speed it up considerably, since the ground is quite hard in places, and we're less than 1/20th done. It's a 10X10 meter site, and we're going to be digging down to two and a half meters. So far we have 2X10 dug down to one meter.
There's one girl in particular that's been getting on my nerves, but I've been just doing my best to ignore her, which everyone else seems to be doing as well. Everyone else is cool, and we're getting along really well. Freakiest thing though, one girl, Katherine, reminds me so much of my mom, who's name is also Katherine. Turns out she's from the same town my mom grew up in, Melbourne, Florida, and they even went to the same high school. Crazy world.
Two more days of digging, then I get four days off. A group of us are planning on driving to South Padre Island to get a massage and hang out on the beach. Because I really need more sun right now. (You should see my watch tan line) It should be fun though, and nice and relaxing.
Tomorrow, apparently we're going to have our local guy come out with a backhoe and attempt to dig 1X1 meters 10cm deep each with it, which we'll then screen. It should speed it up considerably, since the ground is quite hard in places, and we're less than 1/20th done. It's a 10X10 meter site, and we're going to be digging down to two and a half meters. So far we have 2X10 dug down to one meter.
There's one girl in particular that's been getting on my nerves, but I've been just doing my best to ignore her, which everyone else seems to be doing as well. Everyone else is cool, and we're getting along really well. Freakiest thing though, one girl, Katherine, reminds me so much of my mom, who's name is also Katherine. Turns out she's from the same town my mom grew up in, Melbourne, Florida, and they even went to the same high school. Crazy world.
Two more days of digging, then I get four days off. A group of us are planning on driving to South Padre Island to get a massage and hang out on the beach. Because I really need more sun right now. (You should see my watch tan line) It should be fun though, and nice and relaxing.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
So it's been an interesting experience so far. I can't really say I'm enjoying it, since so far, everyday around 1:30 PM I consider just laying down and sobbing until they take the shovel from me and return me to the a/c, but I haven't. Yet. I think I am acclimating to the heat a bit, and the group is working together quite well, as we learn each other's limits, who's better at certain tasks and such.
The first site we've been working on is near the town of Los Ebanos, basically in someone's backyard, although no one lives in the house. The whole town, while very small, seems to be just dying. The few small stores they used to have are all shuttered, and a lot of houses seem abandoned. We eat our lunches everyday at the nearby border crossing, which has the country's only remaining hand-drawn ferry. We seem to be quite a spectacle, as many of the cars waiting to cross openly gape at the strange, very dirty, tired group of mostly white people who are sitting outside the border patrol agency building, eating lunch. Talk about subverting cliches.
View Larger Map
We wound up digging the site down to two meters, and found basically nothing. A few flakes at the surface, a whole lot of nothing but snail shells for the next meter and a half, and then three or four flake and core fragments, but nothing that was substantial enough to warrant us continuing the hole. Plus, once it was that deep, it was getting harder and harder to get into and out of, even with a step-ladder. I did take some pictures, although I managed to forget my camera cord, so I can't get them on to my computer. I'm hoping I can make it to Target or Wal-Mart (since they're across the street from each other) in the next few days to buy a card reader, so that I can upload some pics.
We'll be heading to a new site tomorrow, which is further away. I'm hoping to snap a before picture or two, just to see how much dirt we move. The site we've been on is 4X4 meters, while the next will be 10X10. So it's going to be huge.
Night all!
The first site we've been working on is near the town of Los Ebanos, basically in someone's backyard, although no one lives in the house. The whole town, while very small, seems to be just dying. The few small stores they used to have are all shuttered, and a lot of houses seem abandoned. We eat our lunches everyday at the nearby border crossing, which has the country's only remaining hand-drawn ferry. We seem to be quite a spectacle, as many of the cars waiting to cross openly gape at the strange, very dirty, tired group of mostly white people who are sitting outside the border patrol agency building, eating lunch. Talk about subverting cliches.
View Larger Map
We wound up digging the site down to two meters, and found basically nothing. A few flakes at the surface, a whole lot of nothing but snail shells for the next meter and a half, and then three or four flake and core fragments, but nothing that was substantial enough to warrant us continuing the hole. Plus, once it was that deep, it was getting harder and harder to get into and out of, even with a step-ladder. I did take some pictures, although I managed to forget my camera cord, so I can't get them on to my computer. I'm hoping I can make it to Target or Wal-Mart (since they're across the street from each other) in the next few days to buy a card reader, so that I can upload some pics.
We'll be heading to a new site tomorrow, which is further away. I'm hoping to snap a before picture or two, just to see how much dirt we move. The site we've been on is 4X4 meters, while the next will be 10X10. So it's going to be huge.
Night all!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Made it to Mission
Made it safely to Mission, and have checked into my hotel. It's actually quite nice and spacey. I've got a separate bedroom, living room and bath, with the kitchen area being in the connecting hallway. No stove, but a decent sized fridge, microwave and sink. It's nice too, to be able to actually unpack my things and put them in the drawers, which I've been wandering about doing. Probably going to try to get to sleep early tonight, since I only slept four hours last night, and tomorrow is definitely going to be interesting.
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