Hey happy shiny people,
This week marks my last week here in uharte, and digging here at zamartze.  The past three weeks went by quick but it almost feels like I've been here a month.  A lot of time has passed since the beginning of this trip and it really feels like it.

This weekend we went to Victoria gasteiz, which basically means victory in gasteiz.  Along with seeing the cathedral of Victoria (which apparently is the same cathedral that influenced ken follets the pillars of the earth) we got to wander the city a bit.   The city wasn't as great as some of the other places I've seen, but it was great to see somewhere most tourists don't tend to go to.  There is a statue in the middle of Victoria commemorating the Spanish victory here.  All over the statue there is graffiti of little foot prints.  Of course victoria is in the middle of Basque territory, so hopefully I won't have to spell out the meaning of the footprints.  It almost feels like go into the middle of an Indian reservation and putting a statue of George washington.  It felt a little awkward, I'm sure if I were with either of the basque archaeologists  they probably would have made some remarks about the "fucking fascists".  The tension really is palpable when you are around it for a while. (Whenever we screw up something the running joke is to say fucking Anglo Saxon)

Speaking of palpable tensions all this week there have been protests all over the place.  Last night we watches the riots in Madrid live,beatings, blood, and all.  With unemployment for young people hovering around 60%, I'd be protesting also.  The basques were also protesting in Pamplona today about jobs to the basque government.  Throughout he day we have been getting updates from oihan who is at the protest.  Apparently there are lots of armed ,militia with ,machine guns.  Its pretty ridiculous stuff.  Things seem bad in the us but things are definitely Much worse over here.

The dig is progressing nicely.  The site me, oihan, and Fran are excavating has been figured to be a site of destruction.  Meaning that the place was burnt to the ground through violence.  We have found spears and belt buckles all over the place no human remains though ( yet).  Today because of the strike, in the cemetary I got to excavate human remains somewhat.  The work is a little more finicky but I can't imagine too many people can say they have excavated human remains.
On top of excavating we have to draw the pit lines of the graves which I also had to help with.  Maybe one of the most tedious things I've done so far but surely it needed to be done.

As I approach my final days here I have learned a thing or two.  Archaeology is hard work, don't let anyone tell you anything else.  The work is rewarding in the sense that you get to walk in places or touch things that having been touched for up to thousands of years.  Just yesterday I was walking on an ancient medieval floor that I excavated.  There is something really awesome about that but I can't put my finger on it.  As far as Spanish life is concerned, there is always a real brusque attitude towards everything but always in the most polite way.  In other words people will always be very frank with you but its always in a way where you don't want to punch them in the fave after something rude is said.  There is No skirting around any issue and coming from such an over sensitized place it really is a breath of fresh air.
I miss home (and good beer) but this is something I'm very glad that I got to be a part of.  Being able to live in a small village in northern Spain and being able to immerse yourself into something completely different is fun. It seems I'm going to be heading to a place where it rains a lot so I'm sure I'll feel right at home.  Probably until Santiago de compestela, I'll be coming at you with some more
Cheers