Heading home- Patagonia

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I continued to be on survey until the 16th. The last day of survey we went out to put in a few shovel tests to check the depth of a few of the promising but questionable sites. It was a hot day and a few people were rubbed the wrong way by procedures. Mostly it was just a communication problem, as we speak little Spanish and the Chileans here speak little English. It makes it hard. Matt N (There are three Matts, did I mention that?) found some really nice lithic material wandering around close to the vans while we waited for the third team to finish their test units. One pretty little white chalcedony projectile point. Started excavation on the 16th. We opened a new 1mx1m unit the day I got there. We have to dig through a thick later of very dry sheep and cow "ca-ca" before we reach a layer of volcanic ash a couple of inches thick. After that comes more reasonable soils and a few artifacts. It's hot, dusty work but I still absolutely adore it. My note taking took a serious dive about here, as it became harder to remember to make the triplicate copies of notes that it would have required. I've been keeping two versions of field notes because I had to hand one version in and I wanted a version for myself, so that I could look over it again before I head back, which I plan on doing next year. Anyway, once I started excavation, keeping the unit notes, my own notes, and my notes to turn in became a little much on top of actually digging, so I let my own notes slide a little. I only dug for a two and a half days before we lined the units and filled them in again to protect them until we come back next year and take out all of the back fill again. Yay.

This is a list of my favorite memories from the last few weeks:

Sitting up above Lago Verde watching the sun and wind move across the surface of the lake while my pants dry out in the sun and I eat my pate and cheese sandwich for lunch.

Waking up early and stretching outside, bundled up against the morning chill and listening to Cam Penner's Flesh & Bone while the pink light of sunrise lit up the spires of Cerro Castillo. Hot tea and oatmeal in the warmth of the stove, listening to Stocky and Matt spar in the Duke's accent before 630am.

A nice wine buzz, listening to old country songs and staring at the stars, which are surreal out there with no lights to get in the way. I thought about my grandfather a lot looking at those southern hemisphere stars.

Jogging buckets of dirt up a hill with my shirt tied around my face to keep the fine dust of stirred up crap out of my respiratory system. Is it odd to enjoy that?

The huge red-headed woodpecker playing peek-a-boo behind a tree draped in green lichen. Listening to a wren sing from inside a wild rosebush the size of a small horse.

Having my pants covered in burrs from my butt down because our descent had been primarily sliding oof of short drops covered with vegetation. We got down pretty dang quick.

Strolling out of the woods without much of an idea where I was going to find the rest of the group and seeing Matt and Adam standing in the middle of the field staring at the ground.

Reaching the top of the ridge following a quick scouting ascent up a goat path and turning around to look down at Laguna Fontana. So many fish were rising that it looked like it was raining. I could see all the way down the valley to the base of Cerro Castillo, where our camp was. In a place like that I can love the burn and the sweat that comes from a workout like that. Love it.

Pictures are posted on Facebook. For some reason, I have a really hard time posting photos here, but I might give it a try. I think they've changed the setup some.

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