Hm, it's been a while, hasn't it? Let's see if I can pick up where I last left off and remember everything that has happened since.
Digging went by particularly slowly this week. Dragging ourseleves out of bed was a serious challenge. It probably had to do with lack of sleep considering most of us were up throughout the night many times. Wednesday night I awoke to someone banging around in our bathroom at 3am. If I haven't mentioned this before, the washroom
has the noisiest doors I have ever heard. There is no option but to slam them and once closed you must crank a metal knob to lock it which is equally loud. Someone was clearly having issues with the door that night because it kept closing and reopening several times. In the morning when we were all eating breakfast, Fernando emerged from Rex's bunk room and surprised us all. Later from my incredible deductiable skills I discovered he had crashed at our residency after breaking up with his girlfriend the night before. He was the mysterious person slamming doors the night before. That day ended up being insanely hot and sunny so sitting in the sun digging turned out to be fairly strenuous. I am also covered in weird mosquito-like bites though I'm not sure what they are. They are fairly swollen and have been there a few days now so I haven't a clue what insect has sunk his teeth into me but it is an unpleasent presence. Ontop of the bites our site is infested with caterpiars. These hairy creatures are everywhere. The road leading up to the museum is a different colour due to the amount of bug guts that have been smeared across it. These caterpillars, pretty coloured as they are, are irritants to human skin. They cause very itchy horrible rashes. Jo, our dig site archaeologist, has made it our mission to kill them when seen near any of us. I felt kind of bad slaughtering them until I got a nasty rash on my arm. This week we also had something new in the lab. We were given bags of bones (when I say bones I mean fragments of bones) and had to identify each one and record it. Not only identify but record the side of the body (so right ulna, left 4th rib, etc) but also gender and age it. Unbelievably difficult. There is a great human bones book she has which I may scavange off amazon when I get home later and then further educate myself. I managed to name a few which I was proud of. Yesterday was our last dig day. We got off the bus and sat on benches waiting for our team leaders when Fernando stepped out and approached Manolo, the museum cat, and reached for him. The way he approached him was strange and I only realized he was trying to stealth the cat once he grabbed him successfully by the scruff (just so you know this cat is like 19 years old) and walked him over to me and plopped him down on my lap and said "Manolo kill you!". I have no idea why he did that but it was hilarious. I also got a deserved slap on the arm later from him for yelling "holy shit". Fernando makes us all laugh because he's kind of crazy. Later that morning my team lifted a human skull from the ground. It was one of the most exciting experiences. I was on my hands and knees in the grave scraping around the head and removing arms and ribs to clear away the area for block lifting the head. There were shells and bugs inside the large fractured opening on the top of the skull. It was pretty surreal. Don't worry, I have photos. It was the perfect way to end our final completition of a grave. After returning for lunch we toured all the sites around the museum including an excavated military camp and the other dig site, the Roman City, who the other half of our group had been working on. We got to explain our own tombs to the rest of the group, take some photos and say our goodbyes to our dig. Pulling out of the museum parking lot was sort of sad. I looked back as we drove away and let it sink in that I have officially completed a life's dream. It's hard to believe it's already over. I have done something no one else will do. No one else will excavate the same tomb I did. They will never uncover the Same person or remove the same bones. Or have the same discoveries we made put in a museum. It was a truly unique experience. The chances of me coming back to this island are zero to none. I will probably never see Jo, Cristina or Fernando again. Nor will I ever visit the Ecomuseum of Cavalleria again. I have decided I want to do more. I am excited to see the other opportunities life presents me and the new places I will travel along with the new discoveries and people. It's sad but thrilling.
Last night after we finished lunch and shopping we went out as a group for our last dinner all together. Nina leaves later this afternoon while te rest of us are here till Monday or Tuesday. We got all dressed up and ate at a very good and fairly inexpensive restaurant. We then headed to or cave bar and listened to jazz till about 1am before we all headed back to cash in. It was a great ending to a great trip. I am ready to go home and sleep in my own bed and see the people I miss but I am not ready to leave. Parting is such sweet sorrow, I guess.
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