Parque Provincial Ischigualasto

I had not planned on visiting this park, but I have gotten much better at going with the flow, throwing my plans into the wind and, my god, being a little impulsive! I have found there are great rewards in all these activities, and at Parque Provincial Ischigualasto, I saw breathtaking and unusual scenery.

Once we finally reached the park, we had some time to check out the museum. The park is famous for its fossil discoveries, which include fossils from the oldest species of dinosaur known to exist (pictured below, I think) and also some bones of the biggest carniverous dinosaur (even bigger than the Trex!). They had some interesting displays in the museum, where they showed the fossils as they were discovered and then explained on surrounding panels the questions the discoveries posed to the palentologists and the conclusions they drew. My favorite display was of three small dinosaur skeletons that had been discovered together. The were called the "Tres Hermanos," or three brothers, and it was concluded that they died together when a cave they were in collapsed. This finding raised the question of what these "brothers" were doing in the cave. Did they live in groups? Did they live in caves? Were they hunting? It was fascinating.

A real dinosaur! This is the oldest species of dinosaur.
A replica of some sort of raptor.

After we explored the museum, our van took off on a 40 kilometer circuit through the park. We stopped at five different points of interest and learned about the geology of the area. Unfortunately, my Spanish vocabulary is not advanced enough to understand conversations about geology, but I had met a Mexican in my hostel who was on the tour with me, and he helped explain things to me more clearly. Btw, my eyes totally lit up when he told me he was from Mexico. First of all, his Spanish was amazingly clear, which made me excited. Also, it is always so nice to meet another North American.

Plant fossils on an outcrop at our first stop on the tour.

The hill in the distance is the difinitive mountain in the area. People say it looks like a person lying on his back.

Our next stop was the Painted Valley, where water and wind erosion has exposed the softly colored layers of millions of years of buildup. It was completely surreal.

The Painted Valley.

I'm on the ledge.

Next, we descended into the valley and were among the neutral colors, which resembled a lunar landscape. We took a short walk to see various points of interest, and some very strange rock formations. Apparently, from what I could gather from Alex, my Mexican buddy, much of the erosion is from the strong winds that blew through the valley.

As my Mexican pal put it, "It feels like we are on the moon!"

We also saw this creepy looking field of perfectly round, nearly evenly spaced stones. From what Alex told me, these rocks were volcanic and exist in large quantities under the earth's surface. They resemble molecules because they have dense, circular centers and are then covered by softer rock. According to Alex, the wind eroded the soft material of the exposed rocks, leaving the dense nucleus behind. We got to hold one, and it was really heavy.

This arrangement looks fake, but it is natural.

I rolled in the dust to take this shot!

The desert is a wasteland.

We walked back to the car, and then moved out of the Painted Valley and into a different part of the desert, populated by many cacti and other strange eroded rocks.

Am I in a Dalí painting?

Striking a pose with the crazy rock formations.

Eeeee! I love cacti!

Our last stop was another rock formation. I was tired from the long time we passed in the car and the heat, but I found myself again wondering at the beauty and diversity of the desert.

Here I am with another cool rock formation. I love the contrast with the red canyon wall in the background.

This is what we looked at for most of our eight-hour round trip to the park.

Final Thought: Totally worth the eight hours we spent in the car.