Mexico City

Wow! I never thought I would love a big city. And especially not the biggest one in the world or close to it...at 25 million + people! I think its the cultural preservation I am in love with. AND I was fortunate to have great personal tour guides who were born and raised here, friends and family of my friends! What a great taste I got of this city...Ana drove us around pointing out this red building she just sold for $52 million dollars (US). First realtor I have known who specializes in selling skyscrapers! This other one is the tallest skyscraper in all of Latin America at 55 floors...Torre Mayor...remember that Mexico City is built on a lake bed and these buildings have to be earthquake resistant, unlike the buildings in New York City that are built on rock. I even rode the metro (subway)...and I can tell you that I was the only white person there...I saw some strange things, but felt very safe with my friend. Had dinner at a landmark restaurant...Cafe de Tacuba..founded 1912. I will most likely be back to this city to do some editing for the documentary and I look forward to it!

Dunas de Yeso (Gypsum Dunes)

A surreal landscape, made of 99% pure white gypsum sand, these dunes are located in the same valley as the fresh water pools of Cuatro Ciénegas. The dunes are formed by sand collecting around some vegetation and then they grow. Some of them are huge! I accidentally left my sandals there, but luckily we went back the next day to do some more filming and Voila! they were there right where I left them. There was a hellashish sandstorm that started as soon as we arrived, getting sand in every conceivable place...not too good for camera equipment you can imagine. We decided to stay after dark and celebrate a good days work! And to look for nocturnal animal life amoung the vegetation....we found spiders....good for our arachnid scientist. Jerónimo being creative with our lights and his time exposure photography!

Cuatro Ciénegas (4 Marshes)

Cuatro Ciénegas is in the midst of the arid Chihuahuan desert, between the 2 biggest mountain ranges of Mexico, to the east the Sierra Madre Oriental and to the west the Sierra Madre Occidental...the humidity that comes from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific are blocked by both ranges which caused the creation of this desert...you would never know these clear water pools were tucked away in the tall grasses.... that contain endemic species (found nowhere else on earth)of fishes, reptiles, amphibians and plants. Most importantly they contain fresh water STROMATOLITES (ancient cyanobacteria that invented photosynthesis), allowing life as we know it on this planet. I have seen prehistoric life with my own eyes. Another scientific treasure of Mexico! Flor de Maria and Jerónimo doing some underwater photography.

Nice Accommodations

We didn´t rough it the whole time....in fact we stayed in some pretty nice places. I would recommend the Hotel Misión Marielena in Cuatro Ciénegas. Nice, quiet, great view, quaint courtyards...as is typical in Mexico...you can never tell from the outside what is inside those walls! A look down the street from the hotel. All 12 of us....whew what a feat it is to get all of us in one place at the same time!!

Logistics

Sometimes the interviews were calculated and the setting was ideal, other times it was very spontaneous. And then there were just plain old laid back discussions and pondering of the evidence. Because of where we were, it was necessary to take along lots of water and extra fuel.

Canteras

We traveled to this location (marked in red) in northern Mexico (only a few miles southeast of Big Bend), as it is an important site for finding fossils because it's on the edge of an ancient sea. In other words, it was the coastline 90 million years ago. Most of the sites we visited were quarries (canteras) where they were already opening up the earth so it made it easy to find things. Now I know where those beautiful rocks I have on my patio floor come from!
Looking closely or turning over a rock can yield an amazing find.Filming the explanation of a find in process. All the Germans spoke Spanish as this documentary will be for Mexico!

Rudist Reefs

That is a rudist reef far in the distance...the white looking bands on top of the mountain. During the warm Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed the continents, reefs were dominated not by corals, but by oddly shaped mollusks called rudists. Rudists dominated the Earth’s shallow tropical seas, where they built massive reefs. Here German Geologist Wolfgang Stinnesbeck points to a rudist fossil embedded in the rock at one of the canteras.

Desert Camping

We had some very remote sites to go to and no hotels close by (or anyone for that matter) so we camped...I was in heaven of course! This site was in a riverbed that, had it rained we would have been washed away, but it was definently the dry season as there was at least 2 inches of fine dust on the surface. At least you didn't have to fuss with sleeping on rocks. So we made camp and as you can see we were camping in style. We all went shopping together before heading to the desert. The Germans only bought meat and beer! and lots of it!... but since 2 of us were vegetarians, we had bought some nice veggies and had great guacamole every night. It was nice to see everyone pitch in and help prepare dinner. We all got to know each other a little bit better around the campfire!
And it wasn't all work!

Dinosaurs

We stopped in Monclova, Mexico to check on an exhibition that Javier helped produce. This exhibition shows many of the dinosaur fossils that were found in the state of Coahuila. They also have created an animated display of what they were like! These dinosaurs lived here over 70 million years ago.
The animations made sounds, moved, and appeared to breathe. Very cool. This is a traveling exhibit and so if you get the chance to see it, GO!

Matrix goes mobile

My job on this expedition was to keep us from getting lost, record the location of the sites, lend a geographical component to the project and later make the maps for the documentary. They call me the MATRIX....I had to go see the movie so I would know what the heck they meant..HA!...for all of you that know me know that I don't watch television or movies very much....so it's funny that I find myself working with a film crew. However, we are doing something cool....making a documentary about scientific treasures in Mexico! Just a few road shots as we travel north....this is an apple orchard that is protected from hail storms with netting. It goes for miles!
This is Pico Orizaba in the distance, the tallest peak in Mexico at 5,636 meters (18,490 feet). This volcano is dormant but not extinct, with the last eruption in 1687. It is snow covered yearround.
Beautiful desert with the Sierra del Carmen mountain range.

On Expedition

I have joined an expedition across this beautiful country of Mexico. We are filming some amazing geological discoveries with Mexican and German scientists. I am currently in Cuatro Cienegas (look at it in Google Earth in 3D..wow!) and on the way to the giant crystal caves of Naica. Due to the conditions I have little access to internet, camping in the desert and short stays in civilization, so the blog will have to wait. Much more later!!!Camping on the edge of a prehistoric reef and what used to be a deep ocean, but now is a desert. Many finds await us. Fossiled shark vertabrae.
Examining a piece of sediment with a geologic loupe (magnifying glass) that contains a prehistoric fish tooth.