Preparing the site for excavation

Today the co-directors got up bright and early and took three local guys out to the site of Sinsimbla. Their mission: to chop down all the overgrown vegetation and prepare the site for excavations, which will begin on Monday morning.

Since it has been so wonderfully dry the last few days, we are able to drive our trusty black truck most of the way out to the site. We parked in a shady spot under a big tree next to the tidiest little farm in all of Honduras:



From there it is about a 5-10 minute walk to the site itself (wending through brush along a cute little Hobbit-path -- alternatively, this path might *possibly* have been made by cows...)



Birds nest in the nearby trees and, happily, the fields seem to be relatively free of ticks this year! All around the site farmers are making milpa (planting corn) and irrigating their rice fields. Its quite pastoral and lovely.

Here are a few shots of the site before the brush was chopped down (see if you can identify the stone mounds through all that greenery!):




This really big hill of trees is actually a massive pyramid - pretty cool:



Here's what things at Sinsimbla look like now that the brush has been removed:



You can get a sense of how big the pyramid is by looking for the tiny white dot for scale -- that's Bill. Furthermore, what's been cleared is only the first of two levels to this structure. Its huge!

Hope you've enjoyed our latest update. We look forward to posting more about our adventures after our students arrive tomorrow!

Abrazos!