[meteorite-list] Progress or ruination?

[Notkin]

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