Meteorite Men | S02 E02 | Hidden Atacama Gemstones

Video Description

In the first-ever intercontinental "Meteorite Men" episode, Steve and Geoff revisit the site where their hunting partnership began back in 1997: the Imilac pallasite strewnfield high in Chile's desolate and hazardous Atacama Desert. It is winter at 11,000 feet in the driest desert on the planet, but with new equipment and greater determination, the guys persevere through the harshest of conditions and — on the desolate plains of Vaca Muerta — make one of the most significant discoveries of their careers. Also: Steve meets some jumping sheep, and Geoff accidentally frightens a hotel manager. TRIVIA The song Geoff is singing along with while driving the truck is "Rocket Man" by the Red Elvises. Geoff is a fan of this Russian rock / punk / dance band and the "Meteorite Men" production team received special permission from the singer, Igor, to use the song in this episode. Geoff actually was sining along with the song in real time, as it was part of his "Meteorite Men Season Two Road CD" — a compliation of favorite rock 'n' roll songs he took on the road during filming. In addition to being the first overseas (Canada not quite counting as "overseas") "Meteorite Men" episode, Imilac was also the site of Steve and Geoff's very first hunt togehter. In fact, they first met in person at the airport in Santiago, Chile. When the Imilac part of this episode was filmed, it was at the very same site they guys had visited back in 1997 and Geoff wrote about the experience: "We arrived in early August — which is winter in the Southern Hemisphere — and a bracing wind blew in from the frigid South Pacific. Seabirds called out as we drove along the rocky shore, and I felt as if I had slipped back into a happy and familiar dream. Steve and I had aged since we said goodbye to Imilac; but when our trucks galloped up that long ochre slope once again and parked beside the old campsite, nothing had changed, nothing at all. The impossible sky remained the same enamel blue, and the hills to our west still slumped against the horizon like giant sleeping camels, far off in the clear and precise mountain air. I walked to the exact spot where I pitched my tent and tied it to our haggard Toyota in the ferocious wind, back when I was still thirty-six years old. I recalled exactly how my sun shade had been whipped away by that sudden gust — just over there, it was — and stared at my own footprints preserved, evidently forever, in the uncaring and impassive Atacama sand. While thirteen long and memory-filled years elapsed in our temporary and measurable lives, the hands of the great meteorite clock that remains hidden from the quotidian world of humans had moved forward, imperceptibly, about one minute." -- From "Rock Star: Adventures of a Meteorite Man" https://aerolite.org/product/rock-star-adventures-of-a-meteorite-man A FRIENDLY REQUEST FROM GEOFF NOTKIN: Please like this video and subscribe to this channel. YOUR support and interest helps us create new, free, original, science, adventure, and educational programming for YouTube, like "Fireball Steve," "Views on Space / Views from Space," and "Meteorite Minute," all of which you can view on this channel. THANK YOU!