We had to stop excavating in our unit today which was very sad. The walls would not hold up which is the difficulty of dealing with loose sand. By the end of the day we just had two walls that made a perfect v in the middle kind of like and inside out triangle. The worst part is we had finally gotten down low enough to where we could make walls but the sand from the top kept falling inside. We had just come down on a surface that kind of looked like a floor but it doesn't seem to carry into the other units so we may never know. Tomorrow is kind of up in the air because they also had to close out unit 2. That means that some people will have to stay home and work in the lab tomorrow or they may send some people to do surface collections. I hope I get to continue excavations on unit 3 because I would really like to find something soon. I will post some pictures of the unit when I get back to the US there is limited wifi and it is often very slow.

This week we started excavations in the field. We are about 80 cm into our unit. We are working with Dr. Walen and we haven't found much if anything yet. Most of what is in our unit is just sand. Unit 3, which is right next to our unit, they found two perfectly intact pots with a whole perfectly preserved gourd underneath it. That was extremely exciting because we had to remove the pots from the wall before the wall collapsed because the sand does not hold it's shape. I do enjoy excavating but I do not really like pulling buckets which is the consensus for most of the group. The dinners at El Huarango is very good. This week we had a dish called milanesa which is fried chicken breast with rice and avocado which most of us really enjoyed and I don't really care for meat. This week we should be switching and working with the graves which will be more exciting. The internet is hard to come by but I will post pictures of excavations when I get a chance.

This week we started field work in Nasca. The first day was good because we just surveyed the site and did a short mapping activity. The rest of the week we worked on contrasting 2m by 2m units and mapping the units. Honestly by Friday we were all tired of mapping but it does take a lt of practice to get it right. Yesterday we did transects and collected a lot of bones. The site is very pretty. It is located in Las Trancas valley and the site itself is a sand dune. The valley below is very green and we have to drive through a large farm to et to the site.

Saturday is lab day. The first thing I did this morning was clean pottery. After lunch I went to help Stevie analyze bones. I liked that much better. We had to look at the bones and identify what bones they were. The site has been looted extensively so context from a historical context is not as important. The sand is a challenge but after we stopped mapping I started enjoying myself much more. This week we will start excavations 

Recently we spent two days in Ica. The hotel we stayed at was very nice. The first day we just decompressed and hung out. The second day we went to the museum. They had very cool displays especially the bioanthro displays.

This is a picture from outside the museum. I did not care for Ica as much as Lima even though there were less people in Ica. They don't see very many tourists in Ica so it is not exactly as safe as Lima. The second day we went to Huacachina which is an oasis in the middle of large sand dunes it looks super cool. 

It was fun to look at and you could paddle boat or ride down on the sand dunes of a surf board. The next day we took a bus ride to Nasca. Nasca is a smaller town and the people are super nice. Our house is really nice and clean. Each of us has our own bathrooms in the rooms and we are paired in groups of two. This had been an pleasant experience so far and tomorrow we are going into the field. I will add more photos when I get a chance the internet is in and out.

Here are two pictures from the roof of the group house in Nasca. The view of the mountains around the town are amazing.

Today was not as good as the other days. A few of us are feeling sick with cramps and diarrhea. I think it was the sushi restaurant that we are at last night but the fish was completely cooked. Either way it has not been a good expience. However, today we did get to see some really cool things. We went to the catacombs at the Convento de San Francisco. There were tons of bones that had been rearranged by archaeologists into neat patterns. There were also impressive works of art and the cathedral was full of items imported from South and Central America. Outside of the church there was a large number of birds that would fly in a circle and then land back where they were.

We also went to the Plaza de Armas which was very pretty in the city center. There were a lot of Spanish colonial buildings and a lot of them were being restored or were already restored. We even got to see part of the changing of the guards outside of the palace where the president lives. The castle was huge and very beautiful and there were men with big guns outside. It was an interesting experience. Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Ica and I am not sure when I will be able to update this blog but until next time.

Today we went to the archaeology and anthropology museum which was pretty cool. We ate lunch at a restaurant for 8 soles which is under 4 USD. It included two courses and a drink and was very tasty. I had the fried cheese appetizer and chicken with a tomatoe sauce and rice as the main dish. The drink was called refresco and was a seet fruit juice that was also really good. After lunch we went to an archaeological site the is typically only open hits day through Sunday. We got our own private tour. Nuestra guía solamente hablaba en español y era bien interesante para mí porque quiero aprender más español. Dr Kellner translated and added more information to what the guide said which made it very interesting. It was cool to visit our first official site in Peru. It was also interesting because throughout the years people built around the site and people were even still living there. It was also interesting because they preserved even the parts of the history that were destructive like an auto shop from the 70's. Today was one of my favorite days so far. Until next time.

The first picture is the view of Lima from the top of pyramid A, the second and third pictures are of the view from the enterence of Mateo Solado, the final picture is a picture of Lima at night from our hotel room.

This morning we went on a tour of the city. We went the El Parque Kennedy which is where we went to dinner last night. Then we went from miraglores which is the financial district to Barance which is the art district. There we a lot of cool colonial style buildings that were really pretty.

The first two pictures are from Baranco and the third is from Mira Flores. Tomorrow we will go on a bus your to the museum. We rode the bus today on the way back and it was an interesting experience. It it was different than the busses in the US and there were a lot of people on the bus. They stopped where we asked which was nice. Until next time.

Tha plane was the best experience ever! It was super nice and we even got dinner and a snack. They showed us the flight plan throughout the trip and there were 200 movies to choose from and games as well.

It took a long time to get through customs and get out of the airport. They even checked my bag for fruit. Who would bring perishables in their bag that would not end well. At first I was struggling because my phone was not working but I finally got the SIM card unlocked so I can talk to people again. We are staying at the Loki Hostel it is pretty nice but the water in our room had not been working. They said we can shower on the second floor today. Everyone else joined us today but before they got here we went exploring and the ocean is gorgeous with lots of different people and a nice park.

More adventures tomorrow. Until next time.