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<< episode Week of November 16, 2008 Google Earth File for this Episode Monday
Yesterday we flew from Brazil to Bogota, Columbia (the capital city). Upon our arrival at the Brasilia airport, an agent from the U.S. Embassy greeted us. The agent told us that Uncle GT contacted them to travel with us to Bogota, Columbia. The Embassy agent traveled with us to Columbia because the country is not safe for teenagers to travel to alone. During our flight to Columbia, I read the onboard magazine and learned some cool facts about Columbia. Spanish is the official language of Columbia (glad Meri took 3-years of Spanish class). The country is found on the northwestern corner of South America (see my map). Many countries border Columbia including Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Panama. Two large bodies of water also border Columbia, can you figure out what they are? Look at my map.
When we landed in Columbia, we had another mysterious text message. Text message from unknown caller: We R - 34° S, 64° W We called Uncle GT immediately and he said that the text message sounded like map coordinates that measure the exact location of an area on a map. I wonder where the captors are telling us to go? The 34° S represents the line of latitude , and the 64° W represents the line of longitude . Now we have to go back to our map and see if we can figure out what country Dewey is actually in. We are spending the night at the airport hotel in Columbia so we can figure out where we are to go next. Uncle GT sent us a few links to help us better understand reading map coordinates . I hope these can help us figure out where to go next. Reading map coordinates is similar to reading coordinates in math class (if you have learned about the coordinate plane in math class), check out some of these simple activities and get ready to help us figure out our next destination. - Geo
Map of South America Practice Reading Maps Mapping Tuesday
Last evening Geo and I started to decode this mysterious text message. Take a look at the map and see if you can figure out where 34° S, 64° W is located? The equator is at 0 degrees latitude . This imaginary line marks halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole. The equator runs though parts of Asia, South America, and Africa. This imaginary line also divides the world into the southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere . (Hemisphere means half of a sphere). If the mysterious location is 34° S, that must mean the location is below the line representing the equator . In South America there are parts of several countries below the equator (Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay). I see one line of latitude that is 20° and another that is 40°. So our mysterious location must be between those two lines of latitude . Which countries are between the 20° and 40° locations? Since the exact location is 34° S, the country must be closer to the 40° line of latitude . Geo and I have narrowed down our possibilities to Chile, Argentina, or Uruguay. Now let’s look at the lines of longitude . The text message said 64° W. This means that the location is 64 degrees west of the prime meridian . That was the line way across the Atlantic in Greenwich, England. The lines of longitude were sometimes difficult to see. Geo and I noticed three lines of longitude included on this map (80°, 60°, and 40°). The country we are looking for is close to the 60°, since the exact location is 64° W. Remember we had three possible countries (Chile, Argentina, or Uruguay). Are any of these countries near the 60° line of longitude ? Check out the map and see if you can figure out where we are heading tomorrow morning. Holy Idaho – we really need your help!
- Meri
Map of South America Tuesday Night
Thanks to all of you “Geographical Geniuses”, we are on our way to Argentina. Since Argentina is located at 34° S, 64° W. The agent from the Embassy remained in Columbia, and Meri and I are on our own again. Did you know that soccer is really popular in Argentina? I hope I get a chance to play a game with the locals. (My team won the district finals last year).
During our flight, Meri sat next to a teenage girl from Argentina named Nora. Nora told us all about her home country of Argentina. The capital is Buenos Aires, which is the city we are flying into tonight. And similar to Brazil, Argentina is located in the southern hemisphere . Nora is on her summer break right now. (Remember the southern hemisphere has summer during the months of December, January, and February). The official language of Argentina is Spanish. And, over 90% of people in Argentina are Roman Catholic. There are 23 provinces in Argentina (pronounced provincias in Spanish). Provinces are similar to states (such as New York or Idaho). A province is a name for a secondary level of government (a smaller section of a larger country). Nora told us that her favorite hobby is to ski. We were surprised to learn that Argentina gets cold enough in the winter for skiing. Argentina actually has some of the tallest mountains in the world (the southern Andes). I was also shocked to find out Argentina experiences earthquakes, violent windstorms (in the Pampas ) and extremely heavy flooding. I keep trying to think of places in the U.S. that have similar landforms and climate. I also wonder what the Pampas are? Take a look at the map of Argentina. Can you find the Pampas ? We are landing now. Tomorrow Nora is going to take us on a tour of Argentina. - Geo
Map of Argentina Wednesday
Holy Idaho! I don’t know where to begin. I guess I will start at the beginning of our day with Nora. Geo wanted to learn more about the Pampas . The funniest part is that we are in Buenos Aires now - and that city is located in the Pampas . The Pampas are the fertile land in Argentina (and a few other South American countries). The Pampas of Argentina are known for their harvest of soybeans. Much of the Pampas in Buenos Aires is also used for grazing cattle. The Pampas experience heavy rainfall and flooding. In fact, Nora said in 2001 (when she was in 4th grade), Buenos Aires had over 9 inches of rainfall in one month (October). That is more than double their normal rainfall amount. Holy Idaho! That is a lot of rain. Geo keeps asking me what places in the U.S. have some of the same characteristics. I’ll have to think about that one. Can you think of any?
After learning about the Pampas , we headed west towards the Andes. Nora took us on a day tour that flew us southwest from Buenos Aires to the rugged Andes of western Argentina. It was a beautiful flight, and then we took a vigorous hike to the top of a mountain. When we finally made it to the top, we realized the other side of this mountain was a cliff! Holy Idaho! I was ready to turn around and head back down the way we climbed up. But Geo noticed a strange brown envelope about 8-feet down on the cliff. There was part of one word visible on the envelope – DEW…,then something we couldn’t quite see because the envelope was folded over. Can you believe it? We weren’t sure how Claude and Phoebe Equator knew we were going to be at that cliff. We can’t tell Nora about our top-secret mission. How can we get that envelope? How can we keep Nora from knowing too much? What should we do? We could use the rope in our backpacks to rig up a harness. Geo said he was willing to go down the 8-foot cliff; Nora and I would secure the rope for him. OR, do you think we should call Uncle GT and follow his instructions? OR, should we just give up on the envelope and hike back down the mountain? We really need to know what is in that envelope. It could be the key to solve this mysterious case. - Meri  The Pampas (up close)  Here is a llama we saw during our hike through the Andes Mountains. Tell Geo and Meri what to do: Links to learn more : CIA Argentina World Atlas - Columbia
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