and that i actually *am* learning things, let´s start
this email with an interactive quiz. (or if you don´t
like quizzes, skip to the ´regular´ (ha!) email
following the answers.)
QUESTIONS:
1) true or false? - the south american andes were
formed when 2 of Earth´s plates collided and mutually
pushed each other up.
2) was tyrannousaurus rex a carnivore?
3) true or false? - the name ´patagonia´ comes from
the large footprints that white people found when they
arrived in the south, and means ´land of the
big-foot´.
4) are there more fossil discoveries of herbivorous
dinosaurs or carnivorous?
5) when it´s raining and your raincoat´s wet, is it
best to bring it inside your tent, or hang it outside?
ANSWERS:
1) false. yes, the pacific and atlantic plates
collided, but only the former was pushed up while the
atlantic plate slid under. the himalayas, on the other
hand, is the result of a collision where both plates
went up.
2) yes, but not in the commercialised sense of a
hunting predator; t-rex is believed by paleontologists
to be a scavenger.
3) true, so the legend goes.
4) the large majority come from herbivorous dinosaurs,
but there are various theories on why. one museum
curator told me that possibly the diet affected the
bone composition, but i´m more of the opinion that
herbivores greatly outnumber(ed) the carnivores, and
so it makes statistical sense that we´d find more of
them. plus, (and this is based on current-day fauna,)
almost all herbivores are group/herd-animals as
compared to the few carnivorous species that hunt in
packs, so once you find remains of one herbivore,
you´re bound to find more in the same region.
5) trick question. if you hang it outside, it´ll get
wet in the rain (duh). if you bring it inside, the
evaporation will make the tent humid and it won´t dry
completely. the trick is to leave it outside, but
*under* the tent´s fly, so that the moisture can
escape, while you stay dry inside the tent itself.
AND ON TO MY USUAL RAMBLING:
after 4 months of camping in relative peace and
natural beauty, it was a little disconcerting to be
back in buenos aires. despite not being a huge fan of
cities however, i´m thoroughly enjoying what this
place has to offer in terms of cultural activities:
theatres, museums, art galleries, fairs, and plenty of
plazas and gardens to pause, chill out, and breathe
in the polluted city air... no, seriously, i *do* like
this city, and only occasionally feel claustrophobic.
if only residents would clean up after their dogs..
you gotta love the way foreign languages are used to
lend an exotic air to shops. in sarmiento, there was a
nightclub called ´kiss-me club´, and in trevelin, a
restaurant simply called ´eat´. here, there´s a
takeaway establishment grandiously named ´the palace
of the fried potato´.
i went to a Dali exhibition today, and there was
section restricted to people over 16 years of age due
to sexual references (a few modest nudes).. surprising
since almost every magazine stand you pass here has
porn magazines and dvds entitled ´titty fun´ or ´anal
party´ on display.
i was taking a break, reading in a garden the other
day, and stopped to observe a long trail of ants hard
at work transporting bits of dried leaf litter to
their nest. then i saw a wee one struggling with a
2cm-long leaf *that was still green*. i felt so sorry
for him - the poor little bugger was going to make the
2-metre trek back to the ant-hole, only to have the
others laugh at him: ´you´re meant to bring home
*dried* leaves, you dickhead!
