Day 5
Brian Reed (an American stream biogeochemist living and working at CIEP in Coyhaique) and Ben are working together on a project in the Rio El Alto watershed south of Villa Cerro Castillo and we will drive down to remove some sensors they installed a few months ago. Brian has a little bunk house that he let us use while in Coyhaique and the kids and Cana spent the morning moving slowly, watching Audrey Hepburn movies and hand washing laundry while Ben got ready to go out into the field.
Brian Reed (an American stream biogeochemist living and working at CIEP in Coyhaique) and Ben are working together on a project in the Rio El Alto watershed south of Villa Cerro Castillo and we will drive down to remove some sensors they installed a few months ago. Brian has a little bunk house that he let us use while in Coyhaique and the kids and Cana spent the morning moving slowly, watching Audrey Hepburn movies and hand washing laundry while Ben got ready to go out into the field.
After going to the store and stocking up on our
trusty staples of sausages, carrots, onions, we started the 2 hour journey
south to Rio El Alto, home of don Robinson, doña Blanca, and sons Omar and Nelson and
their menagerie of farm animals. Their home is very reminiscent of older homes in village Alaska: simple, warm and welcoming. One bare light bulb and a VHF radio are powered by solar panels that get just enough energy when the sun is (infrequently) shining. There is always a leg of something in freezer and ribs or trout waiting in the smoke house. The delicious smell of mutton lingers in the house all day long regardless of what is in the oven. No visitor leaves without sharing a round of maté and conversation. We arrived after dark and cooked a fast Mexican-style dinner and baked a little peach cake.
After dinner, Brian and Ben poured over our
Patagonian maps and he gave us all sorts of recommendations of cool places to
go. I kinda had to stop their nerding-out so I could go to bed and get my
beauty sleep...especially since I'll be the subject of about a zillion photos
:)
Day 6
The following morning we rose and all headed into the field. Wells got to ride in the back of a pick up truck going in and out of the field area and was tickled. Rio El Alto is a narrow, east-west trending basin with high plateaus on both the northern and southern sides. Trees only reach up to the base of the plateau and fall colors in full effect. Beyond that, bare glacially scoured volcanic tuffs are mantled with 1-4 mm pumice from the relatively (1991) eruption of Volcán Hudson. Our sensors are examining how the presence and absence of ash and/or vegetation affect hydrologic fluxes. We have had sensors in tributaries and the mainstem, above and below treeline since early February.
We drove up into the basin together but split into groups to collect some ~17 different sensors scattered throughout the basin. I headed up onto the souther plateau and was treated with amazing views on a rare, relatively clear Patagonian day. Here are a few of some of the best images from our day.
Day 6
The following morning we rose and all headed into the field. Wells got to ride in the back of a pick up truck going in and out of the field area and was tickled. Rio El Alto is a narrow, east-west trending basin with high plateaus on both the northern and southern sides. Trees only reach up to the base of the plateau and fall colors in full effect. Beyond that, bare glacially scoured volcanic tuffs are mantled with 1-4 mm pumice from the relatively (1991) eruption of Volcán Hudson. Our sensors are examining how the presence and absence of ash and/or vegetation affect hydrologic fluxes. We have had sensors in tributaries and the mainstem, above and below treeline since early February.
We drove up into the basin together but split into groups to collect some ~17 different sensors scattered throughout the basin. I headed up onto the souther plateau and was treated with amazing views on a rare, relatively clear Patagonian day. Here are a few of some of the best images from our day.
