Doce y polvo (12 and dust)

Who knew an artic wind could blow all the way south to the southernmost state in Mexico? But blow it did...and blow and blow and blow--a straight noreaster that blew cold air and dust all over us, so much so that we couldn't even feel the heat of the sun, a sun that normally has us sweating buckets by 12pm. It was only by 2pm that it was warm enough that the sweater I wore was more for comfort than simply just my only protection against frigid air.

Thank god that I could borrow el suéter de la Juana Cubana (her nickname at the site). Without it I would have been that much more cold and miserable. In addition to the artic wind there was a ton of earth and grit kicked up everytime it blew--I think I spent most of my time hunched over protecting my face from the constant dust. The title, btw, is a joke I told while Minerva and I were attempting to map a unit. See, in mapping a unit you measure points from the hilos (strings) and then on the map which represents a unit divided into however many centimeters you plot out the feature. Well, the wind kept kicking up and my measuring tape would fly everywhere and at one point I had just measured 12 centimeters to the north and I turned to measure from the west when all of a sudden the wind blew a ton of dust in my face and I gave her the measurement as"doce y polvo" (12 and dust) which she just thought was hilarious.

Yet, even though I had half the dirt in the state of Oaxaca in my eyes and ears by the end of the day--so much so that I had little tiny spots all over my field of vision and the side of my right eyes was cloudy--I would still so rather be out here in the field, hot or cold, sweaty and dusty, than stuck in a office in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. Especially in the summertime, which always felt like a thousand wasted moments, a thousand little deaths. Why am I here, why am I in front of the computer...when it is warm outside and I should be outdoors, enjoying the freedom? Being bored at the office was draining and felt like I was wasting my time....being bored in the field meanwhile, is just a matter of waiting for the next exiciting thing to happen. Not that is this for everyone, and not that being in an office sucks for everyone as well. But...being shut-in is just so unnatural! I feel like I am making up definitely for all that time I spent in my youth in front of the TV watching Nikaloadian instead of being outdoors.

Anyway, both pictures in this post are of me covering up to protect against the dust, the second being when I remembered that I had facemasks in my bookbag and then could therefore move the bandana back to my cold cold head.