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We stopped at the visitor centre for Talampaya National Park to check the prices and our information was confirmed - $120 US for a tour and the entrance fee of 250 pesos per person ($17 US) would only let us drive to the edge of the canyon to see petroglyphs but we wouldn't be allowed into the canyon unless we paid for a tour. If you book online up to a month in advance the tours are half price - 300 pesos per person ($20 US).
We continued south and turned off for Ischigualasto National Park hoping to get on an afternoon tour but we passed a dead cow on the side of the road with a large number of condors sitting on top of it. So we ended up staying there waiting for the condors to return and didn't get to the National Park.
Condors - Part 1
The next morning it was very cloudy and there weren't any condors. We waited for a while and it looked like the sun was out further away where the Ischigualasto National Park was. So we set off and booked ourselves on a self driving tour at 2-15pm which cost us 250 pesos each ($17 US).
When we got the tickets we were told to wait at the barrier and we would be told what to do. There were 4 cars, us and 3 motorbikes. A man checked our ticket and waived us through the barrier and we stopped behind the other cars. The bikes were behind us. We weren't given any information so when the cars drove off we just followed.
The gravel and sand road was very bad and very bumpy. It didn't take long and the cars were well ahead of us - they were driving too fast. We had to keep slowing down for the rocks and bumps and the cars got further and further ahead until we couldn't see them anymore. Great! Where's the guide? Is he in the first car? Did he bother counting how many people and cars were on the tour? Why didn't he wait for the rest of us?
Not knowing where we were supposed to drive we turned off into a parking area where we thought the first stop on the tour was. We had a very basic drawing of a loop road and 5 stops. So we pulled into the sandy parking area but there was no one else there. The motorbikes followed us and were probably just as confused.
We all set off again without stopping and we let the bikes go ahead of us - there wasn't room to overtake and, no doubt, we were kicking up a lot of dust. We carried on down the track wondering what was going on and also stopped for a photo. We'd paid too much money to have to rush through this tour trying to keep up with the cars and ruining our motor home in the process.
We caught up with the group just as the last motorbike riders were getting off their bike. Obviously they had only just arrived. We weren't very happy as it was but when the guide came up to us and told us we had to keep up with the group we gave it to him with both barrels!! We were SO not impressed. He is paid to look after the group and, at the very least, to make sure the group is together.
He told us that the first stop wasn't on the route anymore so why didn't he tell us that before we started? He also told us off for not keeping up with the group!! Can you believe this guy? Our explanation that the road is too bad for us to drive as fast as the cars seemed to fall on deaf ears. He probably thought that because we are women we can't drive!! That was definitely what was coming across from his attitude. I'm sure you can imagine how well that went down!!
It was obvious to him that we were in the wrong and he was faultless and I regretted paying the money for the tour. We kept going and I really tried to keep up and had to put Winnietwo through his paces but there were times when I just had to slow down - it was too dangerous. The vehicles did seem to be driving a bit slower but they only waited once, at a fork in the road, so we knew where to go.
The guide made no effort to talk slower but then the others in the group were all Spanish speakers. At least our basic map also had information in English so we could read about the various stops we made. It is a World Heritage site because dinosaur fossils from 250 million years ago have been found here.
A new visitor centre along the route is dedicated to Dr William Sill from America who discovered the fossils and is responsible for getting the area designated as a WH site. We had already been to the museum at the parks entrance before we came on the tour and had seen fossils and replicas of 5 out of 7 of the oldest dinosaurs known to exist here.
On the tour we saw some coloured hills similar to the ones we had already seen further north and some "balls" which have been formed by a process called ionic concretion - they start off as very small particles and acquire other sediments over thousands of years eventually forming these balls. There were also various rock formations that we stopped for - the submarine whose second turret must have recently collapsed because it was on the small photo on our leaflet but not there in real life; and a mushroom.
The mushroom was our final stop and Kirsten had not been very happy because all the photos had to be taken against the sun. Finally, at the mushroom, we had the chance to walk around to the other side. The guide was very strict - we weren't allowed to step over the rocks that outlined the area where we could stand! But at the mushroom we could actually go around to the other side so we could get a photo with the sun behind us. We'd just got there when the sun disappeared behind a cloud!!!! Not our day!
We had to wait, but we finally managed to get some shots and then we had to drive back 17km along the bumpy road. I had to concentrate on the road all the time so I didn't get to see any of the scenery unless we stopped. The road back was very sandy in places and one of the motorbikes had a problem in front of us. They had to get off the bike and we came up and asked if they needed any help. Of course everyone else just zoomed ahead and the guide probably didn't bother looking to see if everyone was in line.
There were more sandy stretches and all of the motorbikes were slipping and sliding but none of them had to dismount. We got back at 5-30pm and drove out of the park. The condors still hadn't returned so we drove to a tourist information place in Los Baldecitos about 20km from the park entrance.
Ischigualasto Tour
The man was very helpful and we learned that another National Park we had been thinking about going to, also charged the same amount as Ischigualasto. He also told us that the road there was blocked for a week due to heavy rainfall and wasn't passable. So we had to change our route.
We stayed there for the night and spent almost an hour getting the sand dunes out of our motor home - no kidding, there was a mound of sand on our back table and we had to open up the back doors to get rid of all the sand and dust we had accumulated from the park road.
We stopped for more photos of the condors the next morning because they had all returned.
Condors - Part 2
Afterwards we drove along the RN 150 which took us through a lovely canyon. At the other end we stopped for a photo of a replica dinosaur. We continued along the same road and then drove through another canyon north of San José de Jáchal. It was a very narrow road one lane road even though it was for two way traffic.
We got back onto the Ruta 40 and headed south straight into a sandstorm. It was so dense it was like driving through fog. Unfortunately it was also very warm so Kirsten had her window open so once we stopped at the side of a Shell petrol station for the night we had another round of dust cleaning. I walked over to the petrol station and bought a drink so I could get the WiFi code but the internet didn't work - not for us. We're getting that a lot which is very frustrating!
The next morning Kirsten took the computer over to the station and managed to get internet there. We left just after 11am, went shopping and drove to Vallecito to see the Difunta Correa shrine. According to the story Deolinda Correa trailed her conscript husband on foot through the desert during the 1840s civil war and died from thirst, hunger and exhaustion. Passing muleteers found her infant son alive at her breast. There's now a shrine here that is full of plastic bottles with water in them.
We thought it was Easter Saturday and that there would be hundreds of people here. It was days later that we realised we were a week too early as Easter Sunday would be on April 16th! As a result there was hardly anything happening and they'd obviously cleaned away the plastic to make room for next weeks onslaught!
Difunta Correa in Vallecito
We left at 5pm and after a zig zag drive to get back onto Ruta 40 headed south again towards Mendoza. En route we had a police check for our drivers license and had to pay 55 pesos to get sprayed. We actually spoke to the boss about it because it had only cost us 25 pesos on the way north. But our complaint fell on deaf ears - we had to pay extra for our vehicle size!
The last stretch of our drive had to be done in the dark because we wanted to get to an Axion petrol station where there are hot showers and internet. It was almost 9pm by the time we arrived and the hot showers would have to wait until the next report!
