Puerto Montt, Chile - The Photos

I haven't done much site-seeing here because I've been studying up on some of the sessions I'll be teaching. But I did walk around a little bit yesterday. It was gorgeous and sunny and I enjoyed sitting beside the water soaking up some Vitamin D :)

Ship coming into the Harbour, Puerto Montt, Chile

The fog from yesterday began lifting and I saw a ship coming into the Harbour. (PS my favourite show as a kid was "Theodore the Tugboat" and I still love watching ships in harbours and yes, sometimes I pretend I'm the 'Harbour Master' and make up scenarios in my head :P)

Statue on the 'boardwalk' of the Harbour

This statue seems to be a huge tourist attraction and overlooks the harbour. I like that he's wearing red lipstick too.

View to the East, Puerto Montt, Chile 

You can't really tell in this image, but there are snow-capped mountains in the background.

Graffiti - Puerto Montt

And of course some more graffiti. I think this one says "Refresca tu mente en colores" which I think translates to something like "colour refreshes your mind" - Something to think about :) 

Goodnight!

Puerto Montt, Chile - Morning Fog

I woke up this morning super excited to look out my window and see what Puerto Montt looks like. and this is what I saw: 

Puerto Montt, Chile in a blanket of fog

At some points during the morning I couldn't see this little Island there was so much fog. However
now I'm starting to be able to see ships coming into the harbour and it's starting to clear up. Looks like it'll be a nice day!

Puerto Montt, Chile 

Punta Arenas, Chile - The Photos

Today I was able to walk around for a lot longer than yesterday. The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. I was able to see a lot of the town and captured a few lovely pictures.

Punta Arenas, Chile and the Strait of Magellan 

 Something I love taking photos of in different countries are local or family crests. I usually find them at the bases of statues or on the sides of brick/stone buildings. I found this one in the square across from my hotel :)

Crest on the base of a random Statue 

 When I walked to the top of the hill in the town I found these telephone poles pointing the directions and distances to major cities across the globe. I found it interesting that all the signs were pointing in basically only two directions, NE and NW, that's how far south I was!!

Direction Signs to Major Cities in the World... and a pair of shoes

Close up of Signs

Punta Arenas and a view towards the South Pole

 Being a HUGE Banksy fan (London political graffiti artist and local hoodlum) I love to find interesting works of art in and around the cities I visit. Yes, I do believe graffiti is an art, one I happen to adore. Sometimes graffiti is just 'meaningless' scribbles on a facade, but every so often you'll find a piece of work that carries a strong message. I especially love the Guy Fawkes tribute in the bottom right corner.

Graffiti, Punta Arenas

My hotel was right downtown in Punta Arenas and happened to face a lovely square which housed this statue to Ferdinand Magellan. Punta Arenas itself is on the coast of the Strait of Magellan and you'll find many references to his name and legacy around the town.

Statue of Ferdinand Magellan

 One last pretty picture :)

Port of Punta Arenas

Well that's it! Punta Arenas was a cute, quaint town but I'm happy to now be in Puerto Montt which looks considerably bigger! Can't wait to see what the daylight brings. Good night! 

Stuck in Punta Arenas

Well never a dull moment... I woke up this morning extra early to get ready to board the ship. Got all packed and went downstairs to reception to call the agent to transport me from the hotel to the ship.

Long story short I found out that the ship couldn't port because of bad weather. I called the emergency HAL travel number and they are working out what to do with us (there is another HAL employee here w me and he's been working for the co for ten years! - he knows exactly what to do which is comforting :)

Good news is I get a couple more days in Punta Arenas! I'm astounded by the weather here. Every time I look out the window it's different! (I've attempted to attach some photos here - still figuring out all the ins and outs of blogging)

Stay tuned for what happens next! ;)

In transit to the ship!

I'm currently waiting to board my third and final plane to my destination, Punta Arenas, Chile. I've been awake now for 24 hours and still have a few to go. I'm very much looking forward to my hotel bed!!

Wish I had some funny travel tale to tell you all but unfortunately this was a pretty boring .... No wait! I sat beside an (almost) Olympic wrestler for the USA team! He is now the coach for the USA Olympic team and he was on his way to the Pan/Am games in panama. When I saw him I couldn't decide if I should ask him if he was a boxer or a rugby player (by his ears) I resorted to just asking if he was going to panama for business. He was pretty interesting. Never talked to an athlete before I don't think.

Anyway. Now I'll sip my coffee and try to stay awake or another hour before I pass out on the plane.
Ciao!

Quick Update!

I'm about to go to bed, but I just wanted to say that we have reached bedrock in W2. Our square keeps getting smaller and smaller! There is a little pocket now beside the reservoir wall that isn't bedrock and we will be digging that out tomorrow (we are literally down to 1x2 feet to dig!!).

I keep forgetting my camera but I have it packed for tomorrow :)

if all else fails I will post pics when I get back home.

PS - our pottery is STILL Early Bronze Age! - that means that I have discovered the oldest architecture on the tell to date! :) super exciting to uncover something that hasn't seen the light of day for 4500 years or more...  

Day 2

Two of my workers, Soon and Mariana. You can see the wall of the reservoir at the left side of the picture. We will be excavating the bottom portion (where Soon is, wearing the purple shirt). 

Well, once again the internet is not allowing me to post pictures.

I promise, as soon as I can I will get a visual to you!!

My Square:
We have discovered a wall running North-South in Square W2 in the NE Quadrant. This was a very unexpected discovery and it seems as though this wall pre-dates the wall of the reservoir. On Friday, my team and I removed the East balk of the SE Quadrant from Square W5 to see the connection between the reservoir wall and the wall found in W2. It seems that the smaller wall was cut when the reservoir was built, however we did not have enough time to expose more of the smaller wall, so this is speculation at this point. We will know more on Monday.

The pottery which we are finding in my square is mostly all Early Bronze Age pottery. This is dating to the time of Abraham. We are thinking this might be due to what is called 'Reversed Stratigraphy' - that is when the reservoir was built, the builders filled in the surrounding architecture with dirt. When you fill in a hole from a pile of dirt what ends up happening is the stuff that was on the top of the pile ends up at the bottom of the hole and vice versa. Since we are finding EB pottery at the top of the square, we are thinking this might be the explanation. But - time will tell!!

The Field:
Most of the rest of the field is still just digging away. However, it looks as though Square W11 has found the continuation of the reservoir wall, running to the North East.

I will keep you updated! and (hopefully) get pictures up soon - 

Saludos!

Day two of digging! I apologize for the lack of pictures today, the wireless seems to be quite slow in the evenings. I will try tomorrow in the early afternoon.

The Digging:
I am supervising the excavation in Field W, Square 2. We have the responsibility of dating the cistern! A very exciting and meticulous job. So far we have trimmed and cleaned our north balk and sifted through a sealed locus underneath an architectural installation in the northern balk of square 2.

We will be digging a trench about 2 meters by 1 meter beside the wall of the cistern. We will follow the wall all the way down to the bottom and collect pottery from the base of the wall. Pottery is important because the fashion and style of pottery is different from every time period throughout history. It is the number one way that we are able to evaluate the dating of a site. The pottery we collect at the bottom or base of the wall will give us the date of the cistern. We are hoping that the date will be 10th century BC and will be looking for Late Bronze Age pottery.

The Field:
As for the rest of the field... We have opened 5 other squares in an L shape around the existing squares from last summer. Following the channel from Field G, we have found the continuation of it in square W11, unfortunately this continuation is only one corner of the square and will have to be followed more in continuing years. The other squares are uneventful at the moment. They have the daunting task of digging through 4 meters of packed dirt and boulders to reach the bottom of the cistern. Dr. Gregor is confident we will achieve this in such a short period of time.... I think we need to dig faster... !! At the end of day two, most of the squares have dug about 0.5 meters.


Okay, pictures and more info to come! stay tuned!!   

Greetings!

A new season of digging is about to commence in a couple of days. Most of the group has already arrived. This morning they got on a bus headed to the Amman Citadel for the first part of the day. I decided to stay behind and spend my birthday poolside, sipping a coke and soaking up the sun :)

It looks like we have a great group this year, a few returning veterans and a number of fresh new faces ready to brave the sun, dirt and dust! (I'm sure the novelty will quickly wear off for them as soon as the heat of the desert scorches their skin and their sore muscles make it difficult to sleep at night, but I won't burst their bubble just yet).. lol

The wireless at the hotel is much improved this year than last so I will hopefully be bringing you daily updates.

Now off to the pool :)

Erika

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!!