Its been a busy week in Mexico. This week we attended a local birthday party with a live band and about 60 people. A fun experience. Danced a little, drank a little, and had lots of laughs. We also got to attempt to herd some cattle that had gotten out of their grazing area. These cows graze around the site, so we see them everyday. Laura and I went for a day hike down the coast to have a look at a large sea cave. It was really dark in there, so we couldn't see much but the garbage left by the locals. We could hear the bats, though. The walk along the beach was beautiful. We walked through some low brush on the ways back, supposedly a short cut. Lots of interesting cacti, a snake and spiders. I got about 2 metres away from a sea lion. I thought he was beached, so I approached him, but he just got up and walked back into the ocean (sea lions cant be beached...oops). Yesterday was rescue Americans day. It is the Memorial Day long weekend, so the beach is crowded with people. On the drive back to the house we helped some people get their quad started, pushed some surfers car out of the sand and then rescued some other people by driving them into town because their kids had their car keys. At the site we put in more shoring to be safe, as we are now going below 6 metres. We have been going through sterile stuff, not many bones or shells, but I did find a clear white quartzite point in the screen yesterday. This weekend is the Baja 500 road race, so the week has been filled with practicing Baja Buggies, motorcycles and miscellaneous other vehicles driving by the site kicking up dust. The race this week should be fun...along with the party that we have been invited to.

It has a busy week at the site. The cave keeps expanding back and down. We are about 6 metres down and found some interesting things. We found a horse tooth, which is strange, as they became extinct by 11,000 years ago in North America. I found a projectile point and next to it there was an occupation floor with grinding stones and stone tools. We are getting to a sterile layer,so it won't be too exciting for the next little while. Have a great week!

Hi. This one is going to be short. Work has been steady. We are going deeper into the rock shelter. We have found more whale bones and some larger terrestrial animal bones. Sam found a bone point, which is really neat. It is about the diameter of a pencil and 10 centimeters long, ground to a point on both ends. The weather has been phenomenal. We see dolphins go by all of the time. They guys that I work with were in a mini soccer tournament this weekend and came in second. It was a good chance to meet some of the locals, but my Spanish needs improving, so I couldn't really have a decent conversation. Hope everyone is doing well.

I am back in Ensenada today after a week of work. We have secured the site with sand bags holding the walls from the previous years. The pit looks like a mini amphitheatre with sand bags for seats. The area that we are digging is under the rock, so when we are digging we are in the shade all day. We have been finding basic tools, like scrapers and retouched flakes, but nothing beautiful. The raw material of the area is mostly a green or black volcanic, so the people there didn't have much to work with. We are digging in a shell midden, so we are finding lots of mussel shells, along with clams and abalone. We have one day of the week off to relax, and one day a week to stay home and do lab work. So the days off are spent lounging on the beach, reading, going in the ocean, going for hikes or just sleeping. The day that we stay home we have to measure the artifacts and number them. Quite mundane work, but you learn a lot. We also get to clean the house and cook dinner. The house that we are staying at is right on the beach and the room that I am in looks right onto the ocean, so I go to sleep to the sound of the ocean. Thank you to everyone who has written me an e-mail. I will update either next monday or in two weeks!

Hello! So I am safe in Mexico. I left Edmonton on Sunday, April 25 for the long drive down. The crew and I drove straight to Las Vegas. As a side trip we went to the Valley of Fire and viewed some awesome pictographs. In Las Vegas we stayed at the Circus Circus. As Las Vegas is not my favorite place, I just walked around a bit with Laura and went to bed early. From there we headed into Arizona, stayed the night in Lake Havasu. Pretty uneventful, but bloody hot. We then drove through Joshua Tree National Park, which was phenomenally beautiful. We stayed the night in San Clemente, a small town near the ocean, just north of San Diego. We then headed to the Padre Trail Inn where we met up with Ruth and Alan. The next day we were off to Baja. Arrived in the afternoon, after getting lost in Tijuana (one very unattractive city). The house we are staying at is about 10 minutes south of a small town called Erendira, on an isolated stretch of beach where there are about a dozen other houses built by Americans. The site is about another 10 minutes south of the house. We started work the next day. The site had been totally looted for the wood that we had used to shore the previous seasons there (this will be by third season working there). So the site was really unstable, as where we will be digging this year is about 5 metres below ground level and under a rockshelter. It has taken us two days to clean it up and make it safe for working. Today is our day off when we drive to Ensenada (about an hour and a half north of where we are staying) and check e-mail and do grocery shopping. So I will be adding to my adventures every two weeks!