This area is the base for visits to Talampaya National Park and Valle de la Luna.
Talampaya is a park with huge canyons and petroglyphs (symbols and pictures cut into stone) that we could actually make out. They weren't brilliant representations (the perspective was wrong and limbs were odd sizes, they wouldn't have passed muster in my art lessons) but you could tell they were pictures of llamas and people and any reception teacher would surely have given them a gold star. These really were 'reasonably well preserved', though the Lonely Planet makes no mention of them at all – so they were a total but welcome surprise, making up for the prehistoric 'art' that was recommended back in Bariloche.
Wind, water and tectonic shifts have created some amazing scenery through the canyons and at one point we stood in an area where a whirlpool effect had cut half a tube through the rock. Here we yelled 'Hola', to hear it echo 4 or 5 times as the sound rebounded off opposite walls of the canyon. (Apparently, Eli, this effect could be recreated by any creature that makes a noise, except for ducks – and nobody knows why).
We also saw some lesser rheas in the canyon (the creatures the Roadrunner cartoon character is based on). When these intelligent animals get spooked by vehicles they start to run away from them but, unfortunately, in a straight line directly in front. It takes a while to occur to the rheas to run off the side of the road and away from the vehicle. I'm sure that in real life a coyote with an unusually high IQ and strapped to a rocket would have no trouble catching one.
The other park, Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) contains some amazing and bizarre rock formations that give the feel that you could be on the moon. It has also earned the nickname Dinosaur Valley because the conditions here are ideal for preserving the remains of ancient life and a multitude of animal and plant fossils have been discovered. Some of the best of these are on display in the museum, including the carnivorous Herrerasaurus - of which over 50 skeletons were found in the area!
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