One thought on “Cave paintings Estancia and Flamingos.”
20th Jan 2017: Argentinian farm
Day 34
We woke feeling refreshed and ready for the day’s ahead. ‘A bad hair day’ might be the phrase to describe my appearance after falling asleep on wet hair, but my pain was much better and that’s what counted. Neil was up and about early as usual, reading up on the days ahead and making cups of tea. I love waking up to his new ideas.
Today would be full of long dry wide dirt roads and the landscape was now a vast dry flat desert. After 80kms, we took a detour out to see the cave paintings at Cueva de las Manos, south of Perito Moreno. We pondered about this diversion, but Neil had met an Italian in the campsite who recommended them. And as Neil said, if an Italian says they’re beautiful, then they must be.
So we drove further winding our way along the dusty and bunny track for another 40km. Suddenly the land opened up into a huge chasm like a mini Grand Canyon. As we got nearer we could see down into a beautiful tree lined valley. We imagined the wonder of the men who first discovered this place.
Nomads had lived in the area for 8000 years. They’d find an area safe from wild animals where they could sleep and hunt. We’d seen many guanacos during our trip. They are like llamas and have roamed the land since the dinosaurs were there. They were the main source of food and raw materials for the nomadic tribesmen. They ground down brightly covered minerals into colourful powders and used these as paints. They’d put their hand on the wall and spit the paint leaving silhouettes of handprints on the rocks. Some painted hunting scenes showing the weapons they used giving us a huge insight into their lifestyle. We were really impressed and that Italian was right.
We had another 40km of dirt road before joining the main dirt road, and, lo and behold, we came across a couple walking!!!! We stopped to offer them water but they we fine. He was from S African and she from NZ. He was pushing his pushbike as she didn’t have one. We had a great chat with them and on they walking leaving us totally amazed.
Neil, in his research, had found a farm where we could stay the night. They are called Estancias and we’d seen them dotted around the barren countryside marvelling on how they could make a living in such a desert. So we took another detour down another 30km of track to find Estancia La Angostura.
Way back at the big slow border crossing, ahead of us we spotted a couple our age motorbike riding the Carreterra Austral. Wow!. We were impressed. Well here they were!! They were an American couple living at Lake Tahoe and were really adventurous. He also had a biplane he flew all over the place and his name was Mike Bradford!
Neil and I decided to join them for the evening supper. We did our laundry, showered the dust away, went for a 3 mile walk to the river and got back just in time. An Argentinian couple our age had also arrived to stay at the B&B so the 6 of us had supper together. Our host and hostess were also our age and it felt just like a dinner party we’d have at home. The Malbec wine flowed freely, the Argentinian guests translated when necessary, and we had a fabulous and fascinating evening. The farmer was a huge man whose family were originally from Croatia and had worked the land for 3 generations. What an interesting night.
We woke to a surprise of a flock of flamingos feeding in the shallow waters, mixing with the farm horses grazing nearby.
After breakfast we all shared addresses inviting each other to stay in our homes.
South America 
20th Jan 2017: Argentinian farm
Day 34
We woke feeling refreshed and ready for the day’s ahead. ‘A bad hair day’ might be the phrase to describe my appearance after falling asleep on wet hair, but my pain was much better and that’s what counted. Neil was up and about early as usual, reading up on the days ahead and making cups of tea. I love waking up to his new ideas.
Today would be full of long dry wide dirt roads and the landscape was now a vast dry flat desert. After 80kms, we took a detour out to see the cave paintings at Cueva de las Manos, south of Perito Moreno. We pondered about this diversion, but Neil had met an Italian in the campsite who recommended them. And as Neil said, if an Italian says they’re beautiful, then they must be.
So we drove further winding our way along the dusty and bunny track for another 40km. Suddenly the land opened up into a huge chasm like a mini Grand Canyon. As we got nearer we could see down into a beautiful tree lined valley. We imagined the wonder of the men who first discovered this place.
Nomads had lived in the area for 8000 years. They’d find an area safe from wild animals where they could sleep and hunt. We’d seen many guanacos during our trip. They are like llamas and have roamed the land since the dinosaurs were there. They were the main source of food and raw materials for the nomadic tribesmen. They ground down brightly covered minerals into colourful powders and used these as paints. They’d put their hand on the wall and spit the paint leaving silhouettes of handprints on the rocks. Some painted hunting scenes showing the weapons they used giving us a huge insight into their lifestyle. We were really impressed and that Italian was right.
We had another 40km of dirt road before joining the main dirt road, and, lo and behold, we came across a couple walking!!!! We stopped to offer them water but they we fine. He was from S African and she from NZ. He was pushing his pushbike as she didn’t have one. We had a great chat with them and on they walking leaving us totally amazed.
Neil, in his research, had found a farm where we could stay the night. They are called Estancias and we’d seen them dotted around the barren countryside marvelling on how they could make a living in such a desert. So we took another detour down another 30km of track to find Estancia La Angostura.
Way back at the big slow border crossing, ahead of us we spotted a couple our age motorbike riding the Carreterra Austral. Wow!. We were impressed. Well here they were!! They were an American couple living at Lake Tahoe and were really adventurous. He also had a biplane he flew all over the place and his name was Mike Bradford!
Neil and I decided to join them for the evening supper. We did our laundry, showered the dust away, went for a 3 mile walk to the river and got back just in time. An Argentinian couple our age had also arrived to stay at the B&B so the 6 of us had supper together. Our host and hostess were also our age and it felt just like a dinner party we’d have at home. The Malbec wine flowed freely, the Argentinian guests translated when necessary, and we had a fabulous and fascinating evening. The farmer was a huge man whose family were originally from Croatia and had worked the land for 3 generations. What an interesting night.
We woke to a surprise of a flock of flamingos feeding in the shallow waters, mixing with the farm horses grazing nearby.
After breakfast we all shared addresses inviting each other to stay in our homes.
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