Sunday, October 30, 2005
October 29-30, 2005: The Museum at Quetena and A Practice Ascent of Licancabur
This update spans two fast paced days: October 29-30. It contains several high points and lots of fascinating experiences in between those high points.
Summary
We began our three hour drive across the Altiplano [means highland -- alto is spanish for "high", and plano is spanish for "plain/plateau"] to a small village called Quetena.
Other than our drive across the border from Chile to our Bolivian home base, the refuge, this was my first real glimpse of Bolivia and local culture outside of our specific location around the Refuge.
Our drive took us past a great deal of interesting natural terrain. I am also very fascinated by cities and the ways that people live. This drive and our final destination gave me a glimpse into another way of life.
The roads on the Altiplano are rocky and dusty. You can get an idea of what this is like in the following photograph and movie:
[Video: Driving Across the Altiplano]
Our drive also took us through many different kind of terrain. Each hill and valley contained different kinds of plant life.
Grass-like little clumps:
Mossy streams that the road passed straight through:
Not to mention animal life...
Photo by Andy Hock
After a while we would slow down to pass through small villages. The buildings there appeared to be made of adobe and the inhabitants wore traditional clothing with some North American influences. One thing that struck me is how small the doorways were on the buildings of some of the villages we sped past.
Photo by Andy Hock
We then arrived at Quetena:
We went inside the museum. This museum opening and our participation in it was a bigger media event than I expected!
Bolivian reporters and media people were everywhere. Suddenly we were the center of attention. People were photographing us rather than us photographing them.
Photo by Andy Hock
The content of the museum dealt with the science and natural history of the region. One room was devoted to the Mars Underwater/High Lakes science that we were conducting and contained many familiar images. It was pretty surreal to drive through Bolivia and then arrive at a place and see images of the Mars Exploration Rovers on the wall! I even saw a clipping of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute Zoë rover. We recently created an interface to enable scientists to engage in science exploration through Zoë at our lab in Pittsburgh. We also created a museum exhibit at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago for this rover.
A ceremony consisting of traditional Bolivian dance and costumes also took place as part of this celebration:
Photo by Andy Hock
Some of the displays were very creative. Here is a photograph of a physical 3D model of Laguna Verde that was built into a table in the eating area. Laguna Verde appears in many of the photographs on this site.
This display was built into the table where a sumptuous meal was served consisting of llama, potatoes and very spicy sauce.
Photo by Andy Hock
Photo by Andy Hock
After the ceremony and meal we got back into the land cruisers. It was dark outside and so luckily the drivers were extremely familiar with the road and drove us through the Altiplano safely.
The drive was long and dark but fun. Clay and I sat and talked and joked with Macario and our guide. We all listened to a mixed tape on the land rover tape deck that started out with Bolivian music and then evolved to 80's American pop. We made it home and then headed straight to bed to get some rest before our Licancabur trek the next day.
Oct 30: Licancabur Reconaissance Trek and Practice Run
It seems that a big variable impacting this expedition during this year is the severity of the cold weather in this region. There is more ice, more snow, and more brutal winds. This also means more potential danger. More danger means more caution is required. As Ross our expedition physician says: "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Our breakfast meeting converged on this as a central topic: How long should we stay at the Summit of Licancabur? Where should we locate the base camp? How should we deviate from our original science plan?
Many strong suggestions were fielded and we finally settled on a plan for the day to venture part way up Licancabur with two purposes in mind:
And then began our trek:
Part way up the mountain we again saw the Inca ruins that I photographed for the October 28 update to this website. This time we are on the opposite side of the ruins from our October 28 ascent of Juriques. Once again the question appeared in my mind: What was the climate like here in the time of the Incas? I noted that the Lagunas receded each year. How long has this trend been happening? Could the conditions here have been more hospitable in ancient times?
The trek was technically easier than our ascent of Jureques on October 28, but for some reason this ascent wore me out more. I think that this was because I had piled on too many layers of clothing in reaction to the brutal winds on Juregues, and I was trying out my frame backpack in preparation for a our larger ascent in a few days up Licancabur. The good news was that the conditions and weather were hospitable.
We are in a desert. However, part way up the mountain, Macario, our guide, told us to listen carefully: In the distance one could hear water flowing. As we went further up the mountain we could see the Licancabur version of a stream.
This movie presents the gurgling sound:
[Video: Licancabur Stream Gurgling]
Finally we reached our stopping point. We stopped and ate food and prepared for our descent:
The shadows during our descent were beautiful and the winds started to pick up.
Quote of the day:
The quote of the day may only be funny to those that were present while the quote was uttered, but the quote does provide some insight to the psychological impact of working with a group of people in this kind of isolation!
The context for the quote is that we use hand held radios for communication during ascents up mountains. A lot of the time the conversations are filled with static and barely decipherable. This static has been the source of many jokes.
Today four of us were driving across the Altiplano in the land rover and everyone in the vehicle was making fake radio transmissions while holding up their hand radios:
"Peter lost his cccccsshhssshhhhhhhhscheeewww [static noise], please send a a cccshhheeewweeshhhhheeee so that we can ccsshhhheewwweshhhseeeehshhhh"
For some reason this quote had everyone laughing for the next five minutes! When you are with a group of people for this long, jokes become very self referential to the group!
Summary
- On October 29 we went to a town called Quetena to attend a ceremony to mark the opening of a new museum with a room dedicated to the research we are doing at the high lakes of Licancabur.
- On October 30 we went part way up Licancabur in order to take a look at the environmental conditions. Reports and our own observations indicate that the temperatures there are much colder than in previous years. Reports from our Bolivian contacts indicate that the lake is iced over, and that there is snow on the slopes. This will alter the expedition plans.
We began our three hour drive across the Altiplano [means highland -- alto is spanish for "high", and plano is spanish for "plain/plateau"] to a small village called Quetena.
Other than our drive across the border from Chile to our Bolivian home base, the refuge, this was my first real glimpse of Bolivia and local culture outside of our specific location around the Refuge.
Our drive took us past a great deal of interesting natural terrain. I am also very fascinated by cities and the ways that people live. This drive and our final destination gave me a glimpse into another way of life.
The roads on the Altiplano are rocky and dusty. You can get an idea of what this is like in the following photograph and movie:
[Video: Driving Across the Altiplano]
Our drive also took us through many different kind of terrain. Each hill and valley contained different kinds of plant life.
Grass-like little clumps:
Mossy streams that the road passed straight through:
Not to mention animal life...
Photo by Andy Hock
After a while we would slow down to pass through small villages. The buildings there appeared to be made of adobe and the inhabitants wore traditional clothing with some North American influences. One thing that struck me is how small the doorways were on the buildings of some of the villages we sped past.
Photo by Andy Hock
We then arrived at Quetena:
We went inside the museum. This museum opening and our participation in it was a bigger media event than I expected!
Bolivian reporters and media people were everywhere. Suddenly we were the center of attention. People were photographing us rather than us photographing them.
Photo by Andy Hock
The content of the museum dealt with the science and natural history of the region. One room was devoted to the Mars Underwater/High Lakes science that we were conducting and contained many familiar images. It was pretty surreal to drive through Bolivia and then arrive at a place and see images of the Mars Exploration Rovers on the wall! I even saw a clipping of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute Zoë rover. We recently created an interface to enable scientists to engage in science exploration through Zoë at our lab in Pittsburgh. We also created a museum exhibit at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago for this rover.
A ceremony consisting of traditional Bolivian dance and costumes also took place as part of this celebration:
Photo by Andy Hock
Some of the displays were very creative. Here is a photograph of a physical 3D model of Laguna Verde that was built into a table in the eating area. Laguna Verde appears in many of the photographs on this site.
This display was built into the table where a sumptuous meal was served consisting of llama, potatoes and very spicy sauce.
Photo by Andy Hock
Photo by Andy Hock
After the ceremony and meal we got back into the land cruisers. It was dark outside and so luckily the drivers were extremely familiar with the road and drove us through the Altiplano safely.
The drive was long and dark but fun. Clay and I sat and talked and joked with Macario and our guide. We all listened to a mixed tape on the land rover tape deck that started out with Bolivian music and then evolved to 80's American pop. We made it home and then headed straight to bed to get some rest before our Licancabur trek the next day.
Oct 30: Licancabur Reconaissance Trek and Practice Run
It seems that a big variable impacting this expedition during this year is the severity of the cold weather in this region. There is more ice, more snow, and more brutal winds. This also means more potential danger. More danger means more caution is required. As Ross our expedition physician says: "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Our breakfast meeting converged on this as a central topic: How long should we stay at the Summit of Licancabur? Where should we locate the base camp? How should we deviate from our original science plan?
Many strong suggestions were fielded and we finally settled on a plan for the day to venture part way up Licancabur with two purposes in mind:
- Observe the conditions there.
- Give the team a chance to get familiar with the slopes.
And then began our trek:
Part way up the mountain we again saw the Inca ruins that I photographed for the October 28 update to this website. This time we are on the opposite side of the ruins from our October 28 ascent of Juriques. Once again the question appeared in my mind: What was the climate like here in the time of the Incas? I noted that the Lagunas receded each year. How long has this trend been happening? Could the conditions here have been more hospitable in ancient times?
The trek was technically easier than our ascent of Jureques on October 28, but for some reason this ascent wore me out more. I think that this was because I had piled on too many layers of clothing in reaction to the brutal winds on Juregues, and I was trying out my frame backpack in preparation for a our larger ascent in a few days up Licancabur. The good news was that the conditions and weather were hospitable.
We are in a desert. However, part way up the mountain, Macario, our guide, told us to listen carefully: In the distance one could hear water flowing. As we went further up the mountain we could see the Licancabur version of a stream.
This movie presents the gurgling sound:
[Video: Licancabur Stream Gurgling]
Finally we reached our stopping point. We stopped and ate food and prepared for our descent:
The shadows during our descent were beautiful and the winds started to pick up.
Quote of the day:
The quote of the day may only be funny to those that were present while the quote was uttered, but the quote does provide some insight to the psychological impact of working with a group of people in this kind of isolation!
The context for the quote is that we use hand held radios for communication during ascents up mountains. A lot of the time the conversations are filled with static and barely decipherable. This static has been the source of many jokes.
Today four of us were driving across the Altiplano in the land rover and everyone in the vehicle was making fake radio transmissions while holding up their hand radios:
"Peter lost his cccccsshhssshhhhhhhhscheeewww [static noise], please send a a cccshhheeewweeshhhhheeee so that we can ccsshhhheewwweshhhseeeehshhhh"
For some reason this quote had everyone laughing for the next five minutes! When you are with a group of people for this long, jokes become very self referential to the group!
