Goodbye to Europe!

Hello Everyone! This will probably be my last post because we are winding down and this next week will be very hectic. Plus I am getting ready to come home so it will be very nerve racking getting all my stuff together and going through the hassle of customs. This last weekend was my most favorite by far because we want to Madrid. The city is very beautiful but also very hot. It was 95 when we got there on Saturday. We got to go to the Prado which is a very famous art museum with lots of great paintings even some from the masters like Rafael. It was very cool. I really do not have any good pictures because of the museum light settings but I did buy Jill a very good book with lost of pictures so you can always check that out. Well I guess this is it I will see you all in a week and a half. Pray for my safe return. Chris Jones...............................Out!

I Had a Great Weekend!

Hello once again to my faithful adventure followers. This past weekend was a real treat. My group went to a section of Portugal called Alentejo which is located more inland. While there i got to see many great things. First off you see a picture of me standing next to a giant worship rock used by the ancient people of this region it is really amazing to ponder how people moved a stone this big without the use of cranes it must have been backbreaking (no pun intended). Then there are two pictures of the "Capela de Ossus" or chapel of bones in english the pictures I took really do not do it justice. It is a cahpel lined entirely with human bones which was creepy but cool. And the last picture is the ruins of a Roman temple which to me is still awsome even though it is in ruins. Well this next weekend is going to be just as busy because we are going to Madrid in Spain which I am very excited about. I will post a little later this week so stay tuned. I will let you all know how my dig is going then. Chris Jones..........Out.

Awsome find

How is everything going in the states guys? We made a great discovery today. In between a set of human remains we found a giant stone idol which dates back to around 6000 years ago. Too bad it was not made gold and carved into a monkey for that matter (that joke was for my brother and Mark). The director Rui said that it is the first one he has ever uncovered and hes been digging up burial mounds in Portugal for years. He was really excited and so was I. I am learning a tremendous amount over here and hopefully I might be able to lead one of my own digs one day. Maybe. I posted three pictures this time two are from a moorish castle we went to this weekend and the third is me standing at the western most edge of Eastern Europe. It was cool because I was closer to Jill than I have been in a week and a half but I was also sad becasue I amd still 3000+ miles away from her. Oh well I guess I will get back to the flat and get some rest. I hope to post again in a few days. Buenos Notes.

Getting into it!

Hey everybody!! Today was really exciting because we started to remove dirt off of the top of the chamber. We already found portions of a skull and the top of the vertebra. It was way cool. I personally didn´t do any digging todaybecausee I set up the grid and took elevation measurements using a set reference point and a level. I´ve done this type of work before only with much more advanced equipment and a GPS locator. This type of stuff really interests me and I think that it is what I want to study in Graduate school if I decide to go on. I will show you a picture of me using the level and you can see for yourselves. The creI i work with is really nice except for two things: They´re all women and all liberals. This thing in London had them all upset and blaming the US for the bombings but of course I in my infinite wisdom set them straight. Actually I ticked them off. They want to live in a free world and enjoy all the freedom that the US provides but not pay anything for it. Enough of that because they still like me on the whole. Well tomorrow is supposed to be a bunch of digging in the morning and then a lecture in the afternoon so I better get off and get prepared. Please pray for me that I return safely and that I can still uphold my Christian conservative beliefs. Next post will be probably Sunday. Same bat time same bat channel. The pictures I have uploaded are of the 16th century monastery in Lisbon, me using the level, and two different sides of the Dolemn which are slabs that surround the burial chamber where we are digging. Kinda looks like Stonehenge only not so grand.

I´m Here

Well as I promised I´m here and I made it safely. I got into Lisbon around 1pm and was pretty tired. I´m sad that I will miss the 4th of July bash but thats just the way it is when youre a world traveler like I am. Today was really lax and all we did was go to a geological museum to look at the types of artifacts we would be digging up it was pretty cool but I´m ready to dig and tomorrow I´ll get my chance because we´re starting first thing. The one cool thing that I did get to see today was a 16th century monastery which was way cool. I didn´t really have time to get pics ready for this post but definately on the next one which will be probably Thursday. Until then buenes notes!

Off to Adventure

Hello everyone! This is my first blog spot for my trip to Portugal. First off I would like to thank everyone once again for helping and supporting me on this endeavor. Just for everyone's info I'll be going down to Atlanta on Friday with Jill and her parents, and then my plane leaves at 7am on Saturday morning. My next blog will probably not be posted until Monday when I am actually in country. So this post serves two purposes, one as a test to see how it will work and two to get everyone acquainted with the site. Hope you log on frequently and check out what I'm up to. I'll try to log every day but that depends on connectivity and access. See you all in five weeks.