[meteorite-list] Note from Cali, Colombia, trip #5

From: Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:22:59 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <263708.66680.qm_at_web33102.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Well, I am again in Cali (for about 30 more minutes)
and have in my hands Cali stones #10 and #11.
The man I bought the last stone from has been working
for me for the last month, and found these two stones
by going door to door in the neighborhood where he
lives.

Cali #10 fell on his neighbor?s home and penetrated
the roof and landed on the bed. I knew about this
stone more than a month ago, but we thought that it
had been lost. Well, it has been found! Lucky for the
meteorite world, and the owner. It turned out that the
grandmother, who lives in the same home, cleaned up
the mess (shattered rooftile pieces) and threw them
away. She told the man that she also threw the stone
away the next day, but it was not quite true. It
turns out that when they found out how much I would
pay, they went to the old women and she told them that
she had actually thrown the odd stone in the backyard
in a potted plant they have there. The stone was still
there, slightly weathered, but still very nice! Not
bad, it weighs 90 grams.
The stone is already sold, so do not expect to see
pieces of it for sale, sorry. I will be cutting en end
off for classification purposes and finally we can see
a cut surface.

I have information that it is an L3!


Cali #11 is a 6 gram complete stone, that fell about a
block away. The homeowner was watching TV he heard
thunder in the distance. He then heard something land
on the rooftop and roll down the metal roof, and as he
looked out the door, he saw a small stone drop from
the roof and bounce on the patio. He went and picked
it up, but dropped it instantly because it was so cold
it hurt his fingers! He heard about the meteorite on
the news, knew it was a piece, but simply put it on
the shelf and forgot about it until a man knocked on
his door asking if he had found any black stones.
This stone is as perfect as the moment it fell, with
some paint from the metal roof embedded in the crust.
It did not penetrate the roof when it hit though.
This one is reserved for museum trade only, not for
sale.

My friend here has gone to more than 300 homes, and
will continue, but it is looking very unlikely for
further finds, we will see though. Certainly nothing
should be found on the ground, as it is rainy season
here in Colombia for the next three months, hard, and
I mean hard daily rains, rivers are flooding, and the
sugarcane fields look like the Amazon right now.


Photos will be added to my Cali pages tomorrow, as I
do not get home until almost midnight tonight.

There is no time to relax for a meteorite hunter.

Michael Farmer
 
Received on Thu 18 Oct 2007 08:22:59 AM PDT