Earthwatch, the so-called rest day

In the middle of the expedition, we had a day where we did not do any work. Despite this, it was a fairly tiring day, mostly because we spent alot of time in the vans.

We went on a road trip to Orce, where we were supposed to work originally. This was approximately a 3 hour drive in each direction, so you can picture 18 people in two vans cheek by jowl...

Orce sits in a desert basin that was once a lakebed. It is an absolutely beautiful piece of land. It was also unforgivingly hot the day we were there, which probably didn't make life any easier.

Our first stop was in the town of Orce itself, where there is a small museum, which, among other things, contains the "man of Orce" skull fragment.

Views of the Orce museum


We then toured a number of sites that the scientists had previously worked at, but are presently unable to get permission to work at. A principal stumbling block appears to be political in nature -- an official in charge of the permit-granting process has apparently been playing favorites in recent years, essentially pulling these sites away from this group of researchers. The government in Andalusía has apparently been single-party for sometime, which has led to a variety of problems that are somewhat predictable under those circumstances.
Vente Micene, site where Orce skull fragment was found



In the middle of the tour of sites we stopped off at a local swimming hole for a swim, and lunch. The swimming hole is not actually a swimming pool, it is a spring-fed pond that's been surrounded by concrete. The water was cold, but the fish didn't seem to mind, and neither did those of us that went in, given the heat.

Swimming and other fun.


After touring the archaeological sites, we also toured the caves in which we would have stayed. This would have been really neat, except that there wasn't a pool right nearby (as at the house where we did stay).


Views in and around the cave residences


The day ended (except for the drive home toward dinner) with a visit to the Castel de Velez Blanco, a pseudo-fortification guarding one of the passes into the Orce valley.