Netherlands

 After visiting Amsterdam two times prior only for quick trips, we decided to spend ten days in Amsterdam over New Year 2004. Amsterdam is one of those amazing cities with so much culture. Even in ten days, we only saw such a small portion of the city. However, we got to do a lot more exploring of neighborhoods than had we ever done before. We did the usual - tour the Heineken Brewery, see the Anne Frank Haus, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum.. and of course, the Amsterdam Hard Rock!

During a visit outside the main city centre, we spent the afternoon with locals at the Brouwerij Het Ij located in a windmill. It was such fun drinking with all the Dutch locals. We got so smashed and walked back in the cold to the closest train station. We spent New Years Eve at a party in our hotel lobby and met many people from all over the world. We stated at Hotel La Bohème just a short walk from LeidsePlein. I highly recommend this hotel. It snowed on us on New Years day, which was a nice treat - but it was damn cold!

Texas

 		In June and early July 2004, I spent five weeks with an archaeological field school camping (although we did come back to San Marcos one weekend) on a fairly remote piece of BLM property north of Amarillo, Texas. We were located about 13 miles (via dirt road) from the nearest storm refuge - a helium plant - and about two-miles from potable water. Although we camped along the Canadian River, that river is a muddy mess of sediment. To get water, we had to drive to the local windmill and hope for wind. No wind = no pump = no water. This windmill was also the shower.

Our group excavated an Antelope Creek Phase domicile during these five weeks. The weather in Amarillo is unstable, especially in the summer. The first weeks were hot, windy and very dry. Excavation backfill was constantly blowing across the site and everyone was continuouly covered in sweaty dust. The second set of weeks were humid, windy, and very wet. Torrential rains invited many nights of sleeping in puddles with the windy rain blowing mist through the tent fabric. During one of the storms, our group attempted to flee the area for refuge at the helium plant. This turned into a muddy disaster... but at least I got a shower.

Belize

 		In July 2004, I spent five weeks with an archaeological field school in Belize in the Cayo District working at Cahal Pech in San Ignacio. It was hot, humid and very hard work. I ate mostly peanut butter and avacado sandwiches for lunch and beans and rice for dinner, washed down by a many Belikin Beers, of course. Apart from the locals (mostly Guatemalan refugees), San Ignacio is a town full of archaeologists and backpackers - in the summer at least. Our group excavated a trench across half of the main plaza at Cahal Pech.

On weekend breaks, small excursions were taken. One such weekend we rented a canoe from some locals who, in turn, dropped us off down an out of the way access dotted by fruit trees way up river. With a bottle of rum and some limes and we departed from that spot. It rained on us, we found a butterfly farm and got proceded to drink rum with a squeeze of lime and just talk as we floated peacefully down the river. Other excursions, included a cave tour, a trek into Guatemala to visit Tikal, Mayan ruins within Belize, swimming at the Blue Hole, swimming out at Bullet Tree Falls, and a treck out to Caye Caulker.

Mexico

 During July and August 2005, I lived in Guanajuato, Mexico as part of a my Spanish III and IV foreign language immersion program at Texas State. Guanajuato is an amazing city full of culture and things to do. My host family consisted of a grandfather, his daughter and his two granddaughters. It was quite an experience living with a family from another country. Being a vegetarian was challenging for the mother to create meals for me but she did great. Breakfast was typically beans, eggs and avocado. Lunches were the main meal, served around 2pm, and was a time where the whole family ate together at the table. Dinner was typically pan dolce and milk.

Our group saw many sites around Guanajuato and headed into San Miguel de Allende and Querétaro for visits. Sharon flew down for one weekend and we enjoyed some of the sites around the city. Toward the end of the trip, we headed into México City and went to Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan. One of the more memorable experiences was participating in Dia de la Cueva where so many people hiked up to the top of Cerro de la Bufa. After the climb up, we all climbed back down and our teachers hosted a picnic complete with cervezas and BBQ (well, I didn't eat the BBQ). We sat around and spoke spanish and enjoyed the moment.

Bolivia

 In July and August of 2006, I participated in a geophysical survey at the site of Tiwanaku, Bolivia just a little south of Lake Titicaca. At times it was very cold and most of the time in the morning, the pipes were frozen at the place we were staying. As a result, washing up was not something done on a regular basis. Both magnetometry and GPR were used and we surveyed a large area east of the Akapana. Because we were very remote, at night it would get so dark and cold. One night, we got invited to socialize with the students from McGill University. On our trek back to our lodging, we were walking blind. It was so dark that we couldn't even see the person in front of us, much less the ground we were walking on. Navigation was all by memory and occasionally someone would trip and fall into the scrub. It was nice to be in an environment with no light pollution, the stars in the night sky were amazing.

Over a weekend the survey team took a bus out to Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. We spent our free day hiking around Isla del Sol enjoying the views and the nice cool weather. At night we ate fresh trout at one of the many cocinas lined up along the shore while drinking Huari beer.

rev. 02/09