Field Trip Review

After two weeks in the field I´m happy to be back in Comodoro and to have two days free to relax. Tomas and his team already left to the Check Republic. They have a long travel back and I wish them a safe trip (and a good Currywurst at the airport of Frankfurt). The last two weeks were really exhaustive. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the time we had and I hope to repeat the collaboration next year.
What I can now officially say is that it was a successful trip. Though, the start was difficult the last 1 ½ weeks made up for every problem we had. Be it a delayed package or a not working credit card we solved everything (though sometimes last minute) and could move forward. It was great to work in a team which pushed each other and worked together. We had great moments in the field and grew together during the two weeks. I really like the guys from the Czech Republic now.
Especially Tomas who took his mentor role very seriously and explained me often geomorphological phenomenon’s beside the traditional landslide stuff. He gave me room to develop my own theories and created an atmosphere where I felt taken seriously. Though not everything was right I suggested he did caught on some ideas and supported them. That was really important for me! In the end I felt more included and part of the team. I really hope to have the opportunity to visit Ostrava. He told me a lot about it and I want to see the bears and the mountains and the old industrial zones. Of course I invited him to Potsdam as well and either way we will keep contact during the next month.
Let´s talk a bit about the area as well. Again it stunned me how beautiful the landscape is. It´s never boring to look out of the window of the car. The landslides (especially the earthflows) are amazing to witness. Though I´m not a big fan of walking 15 km a day the hope to find something new, a part of the big puzzle, spurred me on. Around the next corner could be a well incised peat bog or a new outcrop which inhibits sights of the landslide tectonics. There are so many things I would like to do. First, I would like to visit the northern side of the Meseta de Lago Buenos Aires. I know that it will be a national park from the 1st of May. But we have good contacts now to the authorities and they welcome us and support our work. I would like to know more about the internal landslide structures and make a traverse section of one of the major rotational landslides. That could be a possibility for the next field trip.
What mesmerizes me about this area is the variability of landforms. It have a huge potential for discovering textbook-like geomorphological features. Be it glacial geomorphology (moraines, glacier lakes), coastal geomorphology (shorelines, dunes & bars) or landslide geomorphology (hummocks etc.). It´s so much I have learned here, which I certainly can use for me future research as well.
Speaking of which…. As this field trip was quite successful I´m looking really optimistic into the future. Knowing myself (and Murphy´s Law) there will be things happen I don´t expect. Certainly… But I also can cope with that. Argentina has taught me a lot about being flexible and making decisions based on realistic assessment. But sometimes you can´t manage something. Sometimes Murphy´s Law has the upper hand and then it´s important to come up with another plan. Even in the most difficult situations, we solved it. But I have to admit that I couldn´t solve problems on my own. I was and I will be always depended on other people. I´m grateful for the help I had, especially from my supervisor Diego and my friend Mili (who came to the airport to give me the package). I´m grateful that I have people around me I can trust and call in situations of hardships. I really hope I can give their generosity back at some point.