what is that in the sky?

On Sundays we go to Temuco as I have said before. This Sunday we had to go to several different stores to try and find some chaining pins or something to that effect to replace the stakes that were marking the trench, until they fell out of the ground around them. There aren’t that many places here in Pucon to find such items so we tried our luck in Temuco. There was none to be had by the way. We also went to the mall there to eat. We ate at a place called Frizt, which we have had a few times before. I had some cheese empanadas and French fries. A bit later and Juanita’s my head started to hurt and then my stomach started to hurt. I will spare all the details, I had the worst migraine headache I have ever had in my life. I spent most of the night with my head in the toilet. I was sick enough for us to stay the night at Juanita’s. We had to get up and 5:30 the next morning to make the hour and a half drive back to Pucon to get dressed and leave for the site. By the time we got back we were both not feeling well enough to work that day. We spent most of the day lounging about, eating lightly. If I was picky before about what I eat here, I will be terrible to live with from now on, sorry Jake :) For the past two days I have had fresh fruits and veggies, some bread, and rice and beans. I will NEVER eat Frizt again, and will stay away from empanadas in general for the time being. The verdict is still out on whether I got the headache from the food or not, but I don’t care!

Yesterday marked our first FULL day of work. There was this bright light in the sky when we left yesterday morning and to our great surprise it was the Sun! What a wonderful site to behold! It has been so long since we have seen the Sun we almost forgot what it looked like. The site is located on a cow farm. Yesterday the cows were in the field that holds the fenced in site. The wind was blowing nad boy did it carry that smell of cows to us all day long. Luckily they were moved to a different field today but the smell has lingered somewhat. I never had, and still don’t, desired to be a rancher. On a better note as the day went on the temperature rose and I was able to take a few layers of shirts off. I didn’t have to wear my sweater any longer than an hour yesterday morning. So two of the workers dug the trenches while the other two, Jake, and I, sifted through the dirt. Archeology can be very boring and mind numbing, until you find something interesting and yesterday we didn’t find anything terribly interesting. Most of the items we have found so far have been roof tiles (a lot), charcoal, a few ceramic pieces, some Lithics, and a lot of burnt pieces of bone (most likely animal). Jake sent his workers home about an hour early yesterday while we stayed a bit longer to photograph the site and cover it. We enjoyed a dinner of rice and beans and had an early bedtime. I might add the warm weather went with the sun and I was back to many layers by bedtime.

This morning we headed out to the site with some toasted noses and arms, even though we put on sun block. It was the same routine as yesterday, mind numbing and boring until one of the workers found a piece of a pipe. It was carved out of stone and just the handle remains but it was a really cool find. The rest of the day was filled with more roof tiles (a lot), charcoal, a few ceramic pieces, some Lithics, and a lot of burnt pieces of bone, and you get the idea. We came back to the cabin and enjoyed some sandwiches (all veggie for me) and baked French fries. I also made some peach cobbler for dessert, yummy. Now that the Sun has gone down so has the temperature, but it is supposed to get up to 69 degrees tomorrow and I am giddy! Finally, the warm weather is peeking out and it might be here to stay! Hope all is well at home and will send photos hopefully on Sunday.

Mandy and Jake