Gathering information along the 300 kilometer long line about the sediment in the Oriental Basin was the original reason for bringing the Texans down to Venezuela. Below was the map that was used for planning the deployment line. The Caribbean coast is at the top and the Amazon jungle at the bottom.
Just a shot of our work area at the hacienda. We had a lot of covered room on the ground floor which is always handy.
The weather didn't always cooperate, but it was only rainy for an hour or so and it would then clear off for a few hours.
Victor Rocabado and I were to continue deploying instruments along the section of the line in the picture below until we reached the Rio Orinoco. Unfortunately, we ran into this small river before we could get to the Orinoco. We weren't able to get around it or through it.
The ECCO line crossed the Rio Orinoco west of Ciudad Bolivar. Unfortunately this is the only evidence I have that we crossed it, and the picture below wasn't even taken by me. This was taken by the other PASSCAL person that was down there, Willie Zamora, when he crossed it during the day. I crossed it later that night, and then again, heading back north, around midnight.
Photo by Willie.
Some people will do anything to use their cell phone. Cell phone coverage in Venezuela seemed pretty good, but we were in some places where you just couldn't get a signal.
Pine trees!? There were pine tree farms in the area south of El Tigre. The one where we were deploying appeared to be run down, but there were others that looked to be in pretty good shape.
I haven't been there, yet, but the area north and west of the Orinoco River reminded me a lot of pictures that I have seen of parts of the plains in Africa.
This was a farm that we stopped at to ask for directions. They seemed to have one of everything in the way of livestock, and a nice sized field that appeared to be in between crops. They were very nice people.
We didn't come across it, but obviously there was at least one large snake in Venezuela, and it had a buddy.
2018-02-08