Archaeology Fieldwork in Nicaragua and CopanBy living, I call myself a traveler, by aspiration, a writer, but by trade, I always refer to myself as an archaeologist. I learned the profession on the Manabi Coast of Ecuador in 2000, and I have been doing professional fieldwork whenever I needed to make up a little bean [...]
By living, I call myself a traveler, by aspiration, a writer, but by trade, I always refer to myself as an archaeologist. I learned the profession on the Manabi Coast of Ecuador in 2000, and I have been doing professional fieldwork whenever I needed to make up a little bean money ever since. It is a real traveler’s profession, as it is difficult, no impossible!, to find work that keeps you sedentary. Travel is the muse of all archaeologists. This is the main quality about the profession that I love: I can sign on to a job, travel to the site, work for a month or so, and then travel on with money in my pocket. It is fun outdoor work, keeps me traveling, and generally only requires short commitments. Archaeologists also tend to be rather odd, solitary, misanthropes. I fit in well in this profession.
Well, I decided to come back to Latin America and try my hand at some Meso-American archaeology. A project with a grad student from the University of Buffalo in Nicaragua fell right down in front of me and I was quick to pounce on it. So in a week I will be going up to the Nicaraguan side of Ostional to work on a site near the Pacific coast. I know nothing more about this project, other than I have to step off the bus in Rivas on the ninth of February. A free bed was offered to me- hopefully food comes with it- and this is all I need. I will be able to catche my precious travel funds for a little while as I try to find advertisers for the Vagabond Journey.com site hehehe.
I think that I will be working on this project in Nicaragua for around a month before traveling up through Honduras for what seems to be a really great job at Copan. For the past two weeks Mira and I have been making arrangements with a university professor in Heredia, Costa Rica to get us on a project in Honduras. We had no idea that we would be offered work on Copan, one of the largest and most famous archaeology sites in Central America- nay,the entire world! What is even more interesting is that we will be working under the legendary archaeologist, Dr.Seiichi Nakamura and his Japanese team. I am excited. I am seriously, honestly, in the midsts of a jumping up and down type of excitement. This is the kind of project that I only dream about in the best of my Indiana Jones fantasies.
I also love being around Japanese people.
All smiles.
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Barva, Costa Rica
February 5, 2008
Photographs from Archaeology sites
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About the Author: VBJ
I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. VBJ has written 3723 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.
VBJ is currently in: New York City
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