[meteorite-list] The Fall of Aguas Zarcas - One Year ago (and the Buzz has not worn off)

From: Kevin Kichinka <marsrox_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 11:32:07 -0600
Message-ID: <CANDn_7EQO+7MTkad6XirzVWcpKimW=yRoabL7KdpTTE5+G2r+g_at_mail.gmail.com>

Team Meteorite:

Measured by volume or number, Costa Rica will win every Scarlet Macaw
competition.

But she will linger in last place when it comes to recovered meteorites.
More seem to fall in Morocco in one day, than the sole kilo of stone that
fell here in 1857.

That is, until a few minutes past nine o'clock at night one year ago today,
when around 25-30kg was added to the goodie bag.

Enjoying 'home court advantage', I was the first foreign hunter on site and
later wrote about my astounding experience for the July, 2019 edition of
the Meteorite Times, Paul Harris and Jim Tobins' essential, bi-monthly
on-line magazine.

While we all cool our jets under self-inflicted house arrest, if you
haven't read this feature or realize its worth a second viewing- I'll
suggest it will completely remove your mind from the horrors the world
presently faces, replaced with a few chuckles, instants of fresh
comprehension, and moments of awe.

Read it here:

*https://www.meteorite-times.com/fall-of-aguas-zarcas-cm2/
<https://www.meteorite-times.com/fall-of-aguas-zarcas-cm2/>*

In December past, I returned with Blaine and Blake Reed to clean up what
ever was still laying around.

In my follow-up feature in the Met Times, the first science on the met is
previewed, courtesy of Buckyball World champion Greg Shanos.

I share the details of a fun trade of pre-rain AZ CM2 to Blaine for
specimens of Bolivian fall Aiquile, PAL Sericho and the DIO NWA 5484, a
visual twin to Mars life suspect ALH84001.

The 'Meteorite Man' Robert Haag submits a fantastic travelogue of his ten
days in-country, along with some deeper profundities that any
fan-of-the-man will delight in - LOL!!!.

All of this is embedded inside a story of a life in Costa Rica, told under
the guise of meteorite hunting.

Make sure to click on the links....you will not regret the detours.

The feature begins and ends with two of the most breath-taking photos of a
falling meteorite in flight ever published.

Read it here:

*https://www.meteorite-times.com/high-noon-in-aguas-zarcas-where-the-reed-bros-ride-again/
<https://www.meteorite-times.com/high-noon-in-aguas-zarcas-where-the-reed-bros-ride-again/>*

*************************************************************************************************************
Lastly.

Forever thoughts, memories and strength to all of my friends and
acquaintances here, in our time of universal distress.

I've 'been with you' for twenty-five years now. You've been with me as I've
written here and for JSchiff's 'Meteorite', about the Mars' meteorites
we hold in esteem, along with researchers who took us 'inside the rock' to
its elemental core, and together with museum curators in London, Paris and
Chicago that allowed us to see their secret treasures.

I wrote a daily blog back to the m-list during two expeditions to Bolivia,
when the internet was our new toy. Writing from a town next to the Salar de
Uyuni, the salt flats where I though a black rock ought to stand out, a
single skinny cable next to a 19th century train track carried my words to
you.

Imagine Bolivia, a place where few chose to become tourists, where Butch
Cassidy and the Kid called Sundance went to 'get away from it all'. A place
where 'you were there' when a team of your friends recovered the country's
first authenticated meteorite.

And I'll always smile when I think about the prize fight that was a court
battle with JPL web-master Ron Ballke, as we argued the evidence (or lack
thereof) in regards to a dog "left like ashes in a moment" by the Nakhla
meteorite in Egypt.

You the court ruled, 'Long live the dead dog'.

*Ojala,* that we may together continue these adventures.

Please do not 'travel off the trail' of common sense, instead steadfastly
cling to the route of uncommon sense. Take all precautions to shield
yourself from these clouds of molecular terror threatening our lives and
and everything important.

It seems that we are in a race where the finish line is not known, and we
have become unwilling participants in a marathon where the course is thick
with land mines.

The mountain is high. But one's every careful step is one step closer to
the yet unseen summit, because it does exist.

Some will slip from a careless step and fall into a dark infinity, an
indescribable infinity without a tomorrow.

Endure and survive.

Now join me..... On to Aguas Zarcas!

Kevin Kichinka
Nine Degree N x 50km south of the AZ strewn field
Costa Rica
"The Art of Collecting Meteorites" available on Amazon

MARSROX at gmail.com
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Received on Thu 23 Apr 2020 01:32:07 PM PDT