May 3, 2006

Catemaco archaeology

So I had four happy well diggers burrowing into Catemaco shores on the "Say No to Gringos" day. 2.5 meters down (9 feet) the water started percolating. I stopped at 3 .5 meters because my suction pump could not fight the water penetrating through primarily gravel layers and I could not convince my soon to be archaeologists to proceed using snorkels. All that for 450 pesos per meter.

In addition, at the 1.2 meter level my well diggers, now known as archaeologists, unearthed a heap of historic artifacts, mostly pottery shards but also some stone objects. And according to them those were minor finds compared to what was found in other wells this troup had dug in beautiful downtown Catemaco.

I wonder what I would find if I turned my itty bitty front yard into an archaeological dig. And I wonder how many treasures have disappeared from most Catemaco construction sites.

My close neighbor, who runs a plant nursery, has a giant heap of pottery shards he collected from trenches he dug. And my partner talks of dozens of mysteriously disappeared finds.

Apparently those who lived here 1000´s of years ago did not have access to those indestructible plastic goodies, Made in China, that are now flooding the beautiful downtown Catemaco stores.