After meeting again at 6 am at the school, we got on our rented van to drive to Cienaga Cuatro Bocas. This lagoon is located on the eastern side of the Magdalena River about 40-min drive from Barranquilla. In the picture one can get an idea about the size of the river… and spot a little hole in the window
In Cuatro Bocas we got on the motorboat from Chino, one of the local fishermen. We went to the edge of a well-developed mangrove forest about 25 minutes away from the small village.
Today the student group welcomed two new students: Camilo and Leonardo. They are both very charming and super excited to get involved in the coring business. Camila, Andrea and Javier, who joined during Day 1 of coring, gave a short explanation to the new team members. Mauricio, a teacher from Colegio San Jose also came along to get muddy
After gauging the water depth at a few locations, we chose our coring spot. And as we started coring we felt there was nothing stopping us...
This spot turned out to be a winner! We dag out an interesting sediment column with several changes from peat to clay
As people got hungry we decided to have a break. Everyone got their lunch packages out and started sharing right away… offering cookies and chocolate to the rest even before eating themselves. Camilo gave a whole package of Manimoto (sort of Colombian borrelnootjes) to Barend, who didn’t quite know what that meant… or what to do. Barend saved the empty Manimoto package and plans to frame it for his office back in Utrecht.
Gabo, a sound engineer, also joined us today. Together with our cameraman Alex, they conducted interviews of students, Mauricio, and us, Barend and Dunia… All of this while the coring action carried on in the background.
We collected 5.5 meters of mud at this coring spot. Our new team record. In the picture one can see the length of the coring rig once we got it out, with Chino holding the T-piece at the far end of his boat.
It was a great day! From arriving at this beautiful lagoon, through a nice sharing moment at lunch, to the 5.5-m core. Maybe there was only one small glitch: Camila’s wet shoe when getting off the boat, which caused a cheeky laugh in some of the other faces.
Fruit of the day: Zapote Costeño
Today a bright orangy red fruit. A typical one from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Normally used for fruit juices mixed with milk. A true milk shake delight!