Sunday, August 28, 2022

Day 33. Mexico 2022. Meeting my old friend Raúl in Chihuahua

I landed in Chihuahua at 1 am, rushed to my hotel for a few hours of precious sleep, and was back to the airport at 7 am to rent a car and to meet my old friend Raúl, with whom I went to the university in Mexico, both graduating as Geological Engineers in 1976. I am glad to see that after so many years we can easily fall into conversation, or into that secret language of geologists when we go down the highway and see interesting rock formations. I have dabbed in many areas of geology, but after a short stint as quad mapping Raúl started working in hydrogeology and has remained a hydrogeologist ever since (for about 40 years). Since I have shifted my main focus in this direction over the last 10 years we have a lot in common to talk about.

Today, however, after picking him up at the airport we headed north of the city, to the Sierra de Majalca, to visit the are where I did my MSc research work in uranium mineralization 44 years ago. I am sorry to say that I don’t remember much about the site, but we found our way into the San Marcos Caldera, and had a short walk to warm up for our future adventures. I will have to keep an eye on Raúl, because he broke his ankle a year ago and has not healed properly, so he limps and could easily twist the weak ankle (with potentially disastrous consequences).

Afterward we drove up to the crest of the Sierra de Majalca, to a very pretty forest area with rural cabins that, like the cabins in the Sierra, were built by lucky families 75 years ago and now are precious family heirlooms that are passed down the generations with little chance they will ever come up for sale.

Tomorrow we have an exciting program, but you will have to wait until the next installment to know what this adventure will entail.

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