Blogs from Cerro Castillo, Aisén, Chile, South America

durch den dunklen morgen und das frühstück regnet es noch und dann zeigt sich endlich mal wieder die sonne. es ist immer noch sehr, sehr windig, vor allem am frontdeck und es fliegen auch weiterhin ein paar schneeflocken. die vorüber ziehenden berge wirken aber nun zunehmend freundlicher, eher wie in “juressic park” in saftigem grün und furchig, als könnte jederzeit gozilla persönlich durch einen der wasserfälle erscheinen. die fjorde hier sind bis zu 1.000 meter tief und zur zeit befinden sich etwa 600 meter salzwasser unter uns… am nachmittag erreichen wir das offene meer mit überragendem wellengang. das schiff ist groß und schwer, man spürt also ziemlich wenig von den meterhohen wellen im inneren der fähre. an deck hebt es uns aber hin und wieder ganz schön aus - wie eine achterbahn! inmitten der stürmischen schaumkronen ... read more

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 ... read more

The past couple of days have been very cool! It has felt like we are really getting into Patagonia now - high mountains, snow, heaps of rivers, glacial meltwater lakes and of course, cold weather : ) Leaving Coyhaique behind, we drove to the little town of Villa Cerro Castillo, based at the foot of the mountain we were planning to hike up to. This village lies on the Carretera Austral: the final southernmost road in Chile, that meanders through mountains and rivers. During winter, this area is completely cut off from the northern parts, due to the snow and rain. Not many people drive this road and public transport is very scarce. Most people cycle or hire a car or hitchike to get to the southernmost village, O Higgins. We opted for the hitching/attempted public ... read more

In Patagonia, in some of its most remote places, the indegenious people of the region the Tehuelches left evidence of their existence there by leaving imprints of their hands in rock walls. The sign at the site read: "We don't know what these paintings meant, nor why did they did it, we only know that this tradition dates back 10,000 years and that it wasn't a hobby or individual inspiration. The hand negative (paiting the silhouette of the hand) or the hand imprint is a sign of the communities that once lived here". ... read more

Z Chile Chico jsme vyrazili odpolednim autobusem, nebo spis malinkatym busikem, smer Puerto Guadal. Male mesto (nebo spis vesnice) u velkeho jezera (2. nejvetsi v Jizni Americe). U mesta jsou fosilie, vodopady a niklovy dul. Odbornici spatne spocitali kolik tam toho niklu je a tak to vypada jako by melo tohle male mestecko byt zanedlouho vetsi a vetsi. Bohuzel je dul zavreny a nove stavby zeji prazdnotou. Prochazka kolem pobrezi a pak do stareho dolu, konci pozde vecer. Spime v opusenem kempu na konci mesta. Dalsi den vyrazime do nedalekeho Tranquilo. Projeli jsme se lodkou po pobrezi a ... (vice na fotkach) z plaze, kde jsme stanovali nas chtela vyhnat mistni policie. Pry se tam nesmi kempovat a ten ohen na plazi se jim taky nejak nezamlouval. Nakonec nas nechali na pokoji a odjeli - machani ... read more