May 11, 2007-  Return to Mexico

Storm Clouds blow in over the Sierra de Tamaulipas as Marcus Gary and John Kerr arrive at Rancho la Azufrosa.  The igneous peak of Granadilas can be seen in the background.

5 AM, Austin, Texas; Marcus Gary and John Kerr start on the road headed for Sistema Zacatón, Mexico.  Years of preparation have come to one final expedition for the DEPTHX project.  Gary and Kerr are the advance team headed down to Rancho la Azufosa to prepare the site and the robot for exploring El Zacaton, Poza Verde, and Caracol.  We crossed the border into Mexico at our favorite crossing Los Indios around 11:30 after a few stops for supplies.  The Mexican customs officials stopped John, and proceed to sift through the piles of stuff in his truck.  Finally, after 20 minutes, the supervisor came out and recognized John from when our team crossed the border with the DEPTHX probe in January (read about it), smiled and let him pass.  We were on the road again!

As we neared Aldama, Storm clouds and moderate rain came down from the Sierra de Tamaulipas, slowing our journey a bit.  We topped off our trucks with diesel and bounced down the dirt road to the ranch.  As we neared the little village of El Nacimiento, a rainbow graced our view, hopefully signifying good luck for the project.  We pulled into the ranch about 5 PM, and began unloading the 100's of pounds of food we brought to feed the large crowd that will be cycling through over the next two weeks.  (see spreadsheet of who's coming).
 

A rainbow crosses the sky over Rancho la Azufrosa as we approach Sistema Zacatón.  Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come.

As we began unpacking and moving equipment around the field shop, we encountered a litter of 6 day old puppies, with eyes barely open, and continuously nursing on their mother.  The dog had her puppies under some of our shipping crates, and we had to move them around a little to get to our stuff.  They seemed to take the move well, and got right back to nursing.  Following some good conversation with Alejandro, the landowner, we turned in after a long day of driving.  It is good to be back in Mexico.

6 day old puppies nurse on their mother, who made a home of the DEPTHX field shop.  We will undoubtedly see their growth over the next 2 weeks.