[meteorite-list] Progress or ruination?

From: Notkin <geoking_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:07:06 -0700
Message-ID: <44FDE88B-57A4-4AD0-9D50-06C43893D6F5_at_notkin.net>

Steve's post about the absence of "Keep Chile Clean" signs took me
right back to that long but thrilling drive from Santiago in southern
Chile all the way up the Pan American highway to Antofagasta -- the
gateway to the Atacama.

That was during our 1997 expedition to Vaca Muerta, La Pampa, and
Imilac. We were a three-person team, well prepared with plenty of
supplies, jerry cans full of extra gas and water and so on. I guess we
all expected it would be possible to buy firewood on the way, or maybe
find dead tree branches for our desert campfires, but really there are
NO trees out there. Or bugs, cactus, reptiles or even the tiniest
plant. No wonder NASA tested Mars robots in the Atacama. It is
spectacular, but also the most barren place imaginable. Well, except
for Mars I guess.

So, there we were, pounding up the Pan American highway, dodging
ferocious Chilean truck and bus drivers (you'd think the shrines to
dead motorists every fifty feet would get them to slow down, but they
just go faster), bemoaning the fact that we didn't have any firewood.
And then we started noticing the non-stop debris trail on both sides
of the highway: busted crates, boxes, fence posts, bits of . . . well
we really couldn't guess what most of the wood had once been part of.
It really was endless.

At some point either Steve or I exclaimed: "Hey we should just pull
over and start picking up some of this scrap wood off the highway!" We
stopped numerous times and piled so much wood into the back of our
truck that we looked like refugees during the Retreat from Moscow. So,
we did our bit to clean up the P.A. highway, got some free campfire
fuel, and all that scrap wood did a great job of hiding our valuable
metal detectors from gawkers. All in all it worked out pretty well.

We even left some bonus firewood at the Imilac campsite for Michael
Cottingham who was due to show up a few weeks after us and he never
did write to say thanks : )


Here are a few photos from that trip:

http://www.aerolite.org/expeditions/pampa.htm

http://www.aerolite.org/expeditions/imilac-sign.htm

http://www.aerolite.org/expeditions/chile-finds.htm


I must say, I do miss the pisco! That was one of the best parts, as
I'm sure Steve will testify : )


Regards,

Geoff N.

www.aerolite.org
Received on Fri 09 Jan 2009 01:07:06 PM PST