Ah, the mysterious Ika stones

Much as it surprises me, Wikipedia has it pretty much right concerning the Ika stones. But who needs facts when you have belief? Just for fun, scan this article for its amusing faith-based struggle with coherent thought.

Irma Gutierrez de Aparcana, creator of Ika stonesNow, meet Irma Gutierrez de Aparcana, age 78, here demonstrating how she has been making the Ika stones for the last 61 years.

Irma Gutierrez de Aparcana, creator of Ika stones

Here’s the stone she just spent a few minutes on, apparently a dinosaur, scratching with a piece of hacksaw blade.

Irma Gutierrez de Aparcana, creator of Ika stones

Here’s what the finished product might look like. Stones might portray humans riding dinosaurs, or complicated medical procedures (inspired by medical journals provided by Dr. Javier Cabrera, who originally promoted these “ancient wonders.” Or they might have telescopes or microscopes, “proving” that they were in use millions of years ago. Oh, yeah, the dark parts are done with shoe polish.

Not convinced? Ya gotta believe!

Irma estimates that she used to do up to twenty stones per day. 61 years. You do the math.

Disclosure: historical anomalies do exist, and I find them fascinating. Ancient superior (and lost) technology existed, as I’ll demonstrate in the next few days. But the Ika stones ain’t part of that!

Elongated skulls

Museum with elongated skulls. Want a better look? Sure! Your tour guide puts on rubber gloves, opens the case, and takes them out to the front porch where the light is better. The closest is a normal human skull ( maybe 500 years old) for comparison:
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An MD on the tour discusses anomalies in the sutures of the elongated skulls:
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Tour guide Brien Foerster shows a skull he found and donated to the little museum in Paracas, Peru:
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Our first meal in Peru

rsz_p1040484

No, I do not intend to go all Instagramy, but for the benefit of my seafood-deprived friends in Uruguay. On the left, shrimp, octopus, potato thingies, squid, tuna, razor clams, and scallops. Chimichurri and a delightful picante sauce. On the right, Cesar salad with corn-battered prawns. All exquisitely prepared. A bit under USD 30.

The country kitchen, or lack thereof

I still haven't made the kitchen cabinets

June 2014: It’s been six months now that the kitchen of our little country place has looked like this. After building a few little pieces of cabinetry, I froze on the kitchen. First, it was bloody hot, and woodworking is not great fun when you’re sweating and sawdust sticks to you. Then the awful rains, and then … well, no real excuses.

The other day I had a breakthrough of sorts. I realized that I’d been trying to start with the largest, most critical component, which would maybe present no problems if I had experience. But I don’t. “Warming up” with the smaller, less critical pieces makes a lot more sense.

Update: it’s been 2-1/2 years now, and it still looks like this. I think maybe It’s not going to happen?

Giant ants

espacio-ciencia

Espacio Ciencia is an interactive science museum next to the Portones shopping center in Montevideo. I had never noticed it before yesterday, when we made one of our “OK,we really need to go” trips to Montevideo. Because driving to and in Montevideo is not something I think anyone likes. But going by bus is worse.

Long ago I dreamed of making giant ants, and placing them in the trees of our property in North Carolina. Warms my heart to see someone else went through with it!

Dog gone.

From Syd this afternoon:

Was not there today.  The tent was there, looking worse for wear.  Definitely had not had a human sleeping in it last night, but perhaps a dog.  The chain was still there.  The bowl was also gone.

doggone

So, I guess the adage to “leave the campsite cleaner than you found it” also hasn’t permeated the Uruguayan psyche, but this appears to be an encouraging development.

Why do people do this?

abandoned-dog

My routine now includes afternoon walks with my goofy dog and Syd and his five dogs in who-know-who-owns-it 170 hectares/500 acres of scrub in Villa Argentina north.

Yesterday, we heard barking in the middle of it. Where barking shouldn’t be. We changed our return path to pass by again, but heard no more barking.

Today, we heard the barking again, and bushwhacked to find a scared, barking dog, chained to a tree. But with a little plastic bag of dog food. But also with a large bowl, presumably for water, overturned.

With six dogs in tow, we made little progress in connecting. Syd returned to leave it water.

Being Easter week, probably best if it stays there: our favorite vet in the campo is fully booked with pets until Monday.

Previously, Syd discovered the remains of a dog similarly chained, and left to die (it could have chewed through a rope). But there’s evidence of some care here. But still a chain. I’m not racing to judgment.

We’ll do what we can.