Well leave it to us to wait until 2 hours before we leave the country to report on it. Better late than never I guess! Jo and I have found Chile to be a bit too comfortable and suspect we may enjoy spending more time here in the future. Below is the view we have to put up with while mapping rocks in the Andes.

The people we work with are fantastic and we had lots of fun at camp. Our manager threw a Navidad barbeque for the gang so we had a local, and certainly free range, goat cooked up. No offense to the Mongolians we worked with, but this was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than any sheep. Here's a good shot of Jo and the boys:

And one of camp:

For the last week or so we've been back in La Serena. We had a chance on Saturday to do a little Christmas shopping and wander the streets:

Sunday we hit the beach. We decided to take a short road trip about 30 min. south to the smaller fishing village of Tolgoy. Now, when you go to the beach, do you bring a towel or blanket to sit on? Well not us. We brought pillowcases. Yeah, that's right, pillowcases. Don't ask. Now to top it off, the only sunscreen we had was the magnesium oxide; you remember, that stuff from the 80s you'd put on your lips that makes you look you stuck your head in a bowl of flour because it's so white? Yeah that. Well I tend to burn so I had no choice since Chile is sin ozone layer. We call this one mime on a pillowcase:

Joanna O'nassis in her Sunday best, soaking up the rays.

Keeping hydrated:

More pics from camp, La Serena, and the beach are up on the flickr site.

We're both excited to see friends and family over the holidays. Hoping to get some turns in on the slopes too! Feliz Navidad.....

We're Back!

But not for long! Here is summary of important items:

1. We've finished up work in Alaska - our last assigment at Kasaan was fantastic and new pics are up on the Flikr site, just click the "our pics" link at right to view.

2. We took October off from work to visit family and friends in Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Oregon, and Colorado. It was a wonderful visit. We spent a fair bit of time trudging through snow in Michigan making Halloween costumes while in Kansas.

3. Our very good friends Spencer and Amy are now newlyweds and they threw a fantastic wedding in southern Wisconsin, photos will very shortly be up on the Flikr site. We all wish them congrats!

4. We have a new "permanent" job and have just arrived in Chile. Our office is located in the beautiful coastal town of La Serena though our field work and camp will be in the Andes. We will be in Colorado and New Mexico over the holidays, then back down south for the rest of winter and spring in either Chile or Mexico before heading back up to Alaska. Below is a pic of our lovely terrace overlooking the city and coast.



5. I just discovered several comments that were made sometime ago were not posted as they had not been moderated. I apologize as I didn't realize this needed to be done! When we get back from the field in a couple - 3 weeks we'll be sure to check this and hopefully add another update.

Ketchikan to Kasaan

We're in a hurry as I write this. Yesterday Joanna, myself, and another consulting geologist flew to Ketchikan. In about 1 hour we'll be taking the state ferry over to Hollis on Prince of Wales Island. From Hollis we'll be driving to the historic village of Kasaan. This area was host to the very first mining claim ever filed in the Territory of Alaska back in the 1850's or 1860's. Jo and I will be living in a double wide trailer right on the Kasaan Bay and choppering up to the prospect site to do a bit of mapping. We won't have access to the internet unless we drive to get groceries in Craig or Klawock. This is probably the last post until we head back to Ancorage sometime in mid-September. One of the nicest totem parks in Southeast Alaska is near the village of Kasaan so expect to see some photos when we get back!

Hawai'i - continued

Well, unfortunately I was unable to upload all the pics I wanted for the last post. The internet and our schedule just didn't agree. And I didn't have time to detail our drive to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. We'll definately have to go back as hiking with crutches didn't work out too well. At any rate, we were able to see steam vents, the Kiluea Crater, rift zones, endless lava flows, and steam plumes rising out of the sea where fresh lava spills into the ocean. You can check out the rest on the flickr.com site by clicking the "our pics" link on the right of this page.