My first topo study,pt 3

Friday, Nov 14

Today we got out of that thick part of the pine forest. We got onto the open mountainside, with merely scattered pine trees. I'm finally able to take some good and long shots, quality shots of 200 meters or so, sometimes. But I have to follow the curve of the mountain, so I can't take shots as long as I would like.

My morale fell a notch today. My job is starting to feel like work. The honeymoon is over, I have my routine set in stone, and I just keep on trucking.

Place theodolite on tripod. Level theodolite. Spot previous stake, set back shot. Take left shot, take right shot, send the kid with the rod forward, take forward shots on both sides of any ditches or creeks, have a new stake placed on final forward shot. Fold up tripod, pack my notebook and pens into my backpack, advance with tripod on my shoulder to new stake. Rinse and repeat.

I feel like I'd be done already if I'd gotten anything of consequence done on my first 2 days, and if I didn't have to do those pesky side shots at every stake. Grumble grumble.

I finally took a bath today, after work! It was glorious. Yay bucket baths using river water.

And I got nice, chewy, glutin-tastic wheat flour tortillas for dinner. Second time so far. I love 'em so much more than typical corn tortillas. So I made some nice baleadas using the refried beans, cheese, and tortillas.

I get asked a lot of questions each night now that kids at my dinner house have realized they can talk to me. Even though they get shooed away after a few minutes by their parents who seem to think the kids are bothering me. Even if I say "the kids aren't bothering me, it's ok" the kids still get shooed away. Same thing happens with dogs.

I got some really gross food for lunch. I took the foil off my plate while sitting on a log in the woods, and I had rice, beans, and some sort of meat... it was like wads of fat. I bravely tried to take a bite.... but couldn't gnaw a piece into a small chunk. Not my cup of tea. So I asked my workers if they wanted some meat, if they'd maybe trade some of their eggs. Got myself more eggs, got rid of the mystery meatfat. Win. I felt like I was in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

We didn't get a ride down the mountain again, so we walked again. It's a long walk.

One fun moment: the kids working with me, whenever there was a lull, like while I was setting up the theodolite and taking the backshot and adding more lines to my notebook, these kids would climb a tree and harvest little yellow berries called nances. They're good. Pop 'em in, chew, spit out pit. Pretty sour, kinda sweet. Very popular. They'd give me a handful if they had a particularly successful harvest. So I'd stack 'em on the tiny shelf of the tripod next to the theodolite, and snack on 'em while I took my forward shots. I felt pretty pleased with myself about that. Not entirely sure why.


Saturday, Nov 15

Today was outright unsatisfactory. I got a different crew today. The experienced guy who had been my forward scout wasn't on the duty roster, so some other guy took over for him. He seemed incapable of acting independently for awhile, just did very literally what I told him to do. Maybe I'm being unfair.

We got to a section that was rough to get past, and I had to make a decision that would set the course for the rest of the project. A series of 3 deep gullies, followed by an old road with a steep bank on it's side of solid rock, then downhill, more gullies and rocks. After scouting myself for what seemed like 2 hours with a machete, and the 3 kids doing nothing, and the guy being really not helpful, I finally told him straight up I'd welcome advice. Told him I want to avoid gullies and rocks, etc etc. Finally we agree that it'll be best to go high, to get above most of the gullies, or at least to a spot where they aren't as deep. Hard to describe accurately. But it was frustrating.

Main complaint was, after explaining the plan to my two machete guys and sending them on their way and I went to my theodolite to start taking shots, I finish up, pack up, and move my theodolite to the next stake, and I see the two guys sitting there, doing nothing. They were just out of sight behind a small rise while I was working. I was like wtf. I got mad, scolded them. "You have your instructions, what are you doing sitting around?"

Still second-guess myself. Was I too hard on them? Was there actually work for them to do (yes, there was) ?

Other annoyance was the kids throwing rocks at each other, while trying to hold the rod steady for me. You can't hold the rod level AND throw rocks and dodge incoming rocks, kids. Work with me. I don't need to babysit you.

We left about a half hour before I wanted to because it looked like rain, and I was tired and grumpy.

I'm ready to be done. Once again, no free ride down the mountain. We walked.