Tuesday, July 31, 2007
dream home
i mean, other than living in a real tree house.... what could be better than a low environmental impact hobbit house???
martian blueberries
the informative space.com put together a list of the top 10 most amazing things discovered by the mars rovers, spirit and opportunity. everyone likes their lists and i think it's great that there's finally one about my favorite robots!
items included on the list are the first meteorite ever found on another planet and the possibility that mars smells like rotten eggs from all the sulfur on its surface!! my personal favorite discovery by the rovers was definitely the blueberries! these are little ball-shaped rocks that were named for looking the blueberries in blueberry muffins.
Scientists aren't completely sure what causes these little rocks to have such spherical shapes and pure contents, but they have a good theory. the BB-sized spheres are mostly made of hematite, an oxide of iron. if the martian spheres are formed similarly to blueberry stones found on earth in utah, then over time, water seeped through cracks, spaces and pores in the martian rock and dirt.... eventually, the water swept the materials (like iron and other minerals) to a different location with different chemistry. the iron flowing with the water reacted differently to the new surroundings and got stuck somewhere. over time more iron stuck, creating a layered spherical ball. weathering of the surrounding area after many many years blew away loose dust and left the erosion-resistant blueberries grouped together... as they were found on mars.
so this would mean.... that there was once flowing water on mars, which definitely deserves a number 1 ranking on the list!!
cool stuff. i havent read much more about these blueberries recently. anyone else seen articles about them dated later than 2004? anyway, neat top 10 list and finally some good press for NASA!
items included on the list are the first meteorite ever found on another planet and the possibility that mars smells like rotten eggs from all the sulfur on its surface!! my personal favorite discovery by the rovers was definitely the blueberries! these are little ball-shaped rocks that were named for looking the blueberries in blueberry muffins.
Scientists aren't completely sure what causes these little rocks to have such spherical shapes and pure contents, but they have a good theory. the BB-sized spheres are mostly made of hematite, an oxide of iron. if the martian spheres are formed similarly to blueberry stones found on earth in utah, then over time, water seeped through cracks, spaces and pores in the martian rock and dirt.... eventually, the water swept the materials (like iron and other minerals) to a different location with different chemistry. the iron flowing with the water reacted differently to the new surroundings and got stuck somewhere. over time more iron stuck, creating a layered spherical ball. weathering of the surrounding area after many many years blew away loose dust and left the erosion-resistant blueberries grouped together... as they were found on mars.
so this would mean.... that there was once flowing water on mars, which definitely deserves a number 1 ranking on the list!!
cool stuff. i havent read much more about these blueberries recently. anyone else seen articles about them dated later than 2004? anyway, neat top 10 list and finally some good press for NASA!
Monday, July 30, 2007
full moon
i sat in amazement at the brightness of the full moon two nights ago as my crisp moonshadow followed me around my neighborhood. it was the last full moon i'll see in chile during this trip. i'll be watching over the next two weeks as the slivers of light fade each night and the full moon dims to new. the dark sky of the nearly new moon this august will accompany the perseid meteor shower... at least for those of you in the north.
Friday, July 27, 2007
peru parte 3: choquequirao
UPDATE: oops, the pictures below are messed up, but i have no time to fix them now. in the mean time, you can see the full set here.
after an unexpected day in lima, a full day in cusco and the long day train trip to machu picchu, eric and i set out on our 5-day trek to the ruins of choquequirao.
i tried to book a trek along the inca trail to end at machu picchu, but there are a limited number of people allowed on the trail in any single day and all the tours were booked three months before july when i originally called!! so i opted to do one of the "alternative treks" that went to choquequirao...the other machu picchu.
we took a shuttle to the tiny valley town of cachora and began the 5 day adventure!
onward... to the steep mountains!
through beautiful valleys...
choquequirao: 32 km (~20 miles) away at an altitude of over 3000 m (9,900 ft).
a gringa ready for anything.
near the top right of this picture you can see some of the ruins of choquequirao...
we hiked down into the valley, across the river, and abruptly climbed up the other side to explore the ruins on day 3 of the trek.
porters from our departure town in the valley and mules carried all our stuff (thankfully!! the trek was hard enough without lugging more than water!).
in sandals!!
happy trekkers at the top of the steepest climb!
mate de coca and a fruit whose name i cannot remember. i drank A LOT of coca tea on this trek and loved every cup of it!
a typical scene with eric...
a local.
on day 3 we explored the ruins. they are much more spread out than at machu picchu so we made some real climbs to get all over the mountain face to see them. it's estimated that only 30% of all the ruins here have been uncovered from the victorious jungle.
there are no roads leading to choquequirao, which is a very good thing in my opinion. part of my amazement of the place is how isolated it is and how hidden. you can barely make out any structure until you are right at the ruins! the river that passes thru the valley leads to the amazon jungle and a 9 day trek from choquequirao takes one to machu picchu.
in the room where mummies are stored...
the tree in the the courtyard.
not so much stylin', but definitely comfortable!
nature always wins. one of the best parts of this trek was seeing structures as they were when explorers found them (i imagine after they were tipped off by farmers...). they clean off the stones and rebuild the walls, hoping to emulate the original work. it's amazing that they find these buried treasures at all after the jungle lives its life for hundreds of years!
the llama terraces... in my opinion, the coolest thing the incas made!!! the contrast is created using two types of rocks. the gray stones are stacked in an un-typical vertical fashion with gigantic chunks of white granite stone creating the llamas. the granite was presumably dragged up the mountain from the river!
notice the diagonal "short-cut steps" built into the walls so you dont have to walk all the way down to the end to get to the next terrace!
our fearless leader.
group shot.
less dense and more spread out than machu picchu, but ultimately bigger.... here's the view from the look out field that felt like a helicopter pad!!
pieces of incan pottery... people found them and left them stacked along one wall for the rest of us to see and share.
steep terraces used to farm maize and many different types of potatoes.
so steep... based on the doorways and roof heights of the structures i saw, the incans were on average a decent bit shorter than i am and i had a super hard time climbing up the horrendously steep stairs between the terraces!
our fantastic team of porters, cooks and our guide, alex!
there are probably hundreds of travel groups in cusco, peru, but i definitely recommend the the Q'ente tour operator!
its a fascinating experience to climb around and explore the secret world of the incas. their creative and brilliant engineering techniques flourished since they had no pressing need to develop weapons for self-defense. i felt like an awe-struck kid walking around the ancient playgrounds of machu picchu and choquequirao, discovering all the ingenious little details that the incas built into their homes and farming structures. it's endlessly amazing what people can do!
(see full set of pictures here)
after an unexpected day in lima, a full day in cusco and the long day train trip to machu picchu, eric and i set out on our 5-day trek to the ruins of choquequirao.
i tried to book a trek along the inca trail to end at machu picchu, but there are a limited number of people allowed on the trail in any single day and all the tours were booked three months before july when i originally called!! so i opted to do one of the "alternative treks" that went to choquequirao...the other machu picchu.
we took a shuttle to the tiny valley town of cachora and began the 5 day adventure!
onward... to the steep mountains!
through beautiful valleys...
choquequirao: 32 km (~20 miles) away at an altitude of over 3000 m (9,900 ft).
a gringa ready for anything.
near the top right of this picture you can see some of the ruins of choquequirao...
we hiked down into the valley, across the river, and abruptly climbed up the other side to explore the ruins on day 3 of the trek.
porters from our departure town in the valley and mules carried all our stuff (thankfully!! the trek was hard enough without lugging more than water!).
in sandals!!
happy trekkers at the top of the steepest climb!
mate de coca and a fruit whose name i cannot remember. i drank A LOT of coca tea on this trek and loved every cup of it!
a typical scene with eric...
a local.
on day 3 we explored the ruins. they are much more spread out than at machu picchu so we made some real climbs to get all over the mountain face to see them. it's estimated that only 30% of all the ruins here have been uncovered from the victorious jungle.
there are no roads leading to choquequirao, which is a very good thing in my opinion. part of my amazement of the place is how isolated it is and how hidden. you can barely make out any structure until you are right at the ruins! the river that passes thru the valley leads to the amazon jungle and a 9 day trek from choquequirao takes one to machu picchu.
in the room where mummies are stored...
the tree in the the courtyard.
not so much stylin', but definitely comfortable!
nature always wins. one of the best parts of this trek was seeing structures as they were when explorers found them (i imagine after they were tipped off by farmers...). they clean off the stones and rebuild the walls, hoping to emulate the original work. it's amazing that they find these buried treasures at all after the jungle lives its life for hundreds of years!
the llama terraces... in my opinion, the coolest thing the incas made!!! the contrast is created using two types of rocks. the gray stones are stacked in an un-typical vertical fashion with gigantic chunks of white granite stone creating the llamas. the granite was presumably dragged up the mountain from the river!
notice the diagonal "short-cut steps" built into the walls so you dont have to walk all the way down to the end to get to the next terrace!
our fearless leader.
group shot.
less dense and more spread out than machu picchu, but ultimately bigger.... here's the view from the look out field that felt like a helicopter pad!!
pieces of incan pottery... people found them and left them stacked along one wall for the rest of us to see and share.
steep terraces used to farm maize and many different types of potatoes.
so steep... based on the doorways and roof heights of the structures i saw, the incans were on average a decent bit shorter than i am and i had a super hard time climbing up the horrendously steep stairs between the terraces!
our fantastic team of porters, cooks and our guide, alex!
there are probably hundreds of travel groups in cusco, peru, but i definitely recommend the the Q'ente tour operator!
its a fascinating experience to climb around and explore the secret world of the incas. their creative and brilliant engineering techniques flourished since they had no pressing need to develop weapons for self-defense. i felt like an awe-struck kid walking around the ancient playgrounds of machu picchu and choquequirao, discovering all the ingenious little details that the incas built into their homes and farming structures. it's endlessly amazing what people can do!
(see full set of pictures here)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
