Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
THREE
The Scene
of an Ancient Catastrophe
Auca Mahuevo
During the last week of October in 1997, Suzi Zetkus and Luis flew
from New York to Buenos Aires to buy the rest of the supplies we
needed and to rent a van for transporting the gear and crew into the
field. Lowell and the rest of the crew flew down during the first week
in November, and we met several students and scientists from uni-
versities and museums in Argentina who would also be part of our
expedition. After completing the shopping for the last items on our list
of supplies, we were ready to begin the seven-hundred-mile drive to
Auca Mahuida.
Our expedition left Buenos Aires on the afternoon of November 6.
We traveled in two vehicles, an aging pickup truck that belonged to
Luis's sister, which carried most of the field gear, and a more luxurious
and air-conditioned van, which carried most of the crew members. For
hours, we drove through a region of flat plains usually called the
Pampas, the agricultural heartland of Argentina. We stopped at about
nine o'clock in the evening when we arrived at the small rural town of
Pehuajo, about one-third of the way to Auca Mahuida. Marked by a
colossal statue of a standing tortoise, borrowed from a famous Argen-
tine song narrating the adventures of the audacious
Manuelita,
Pehuajo enjoys the laid-back spirit of its reptilian denizen. The vehi-
cles were running well, which is always a relief, and we were pleased to
have gotten off to a good start. After checking into a small hotel for the
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