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Issue Date: 12 / 2012 |
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Ischigualasto Provincial Park
Tommie Sue Montgomery
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San Juan is one of Argentina’s smaller provinces and lies immediately north of Mendoza. It is a two-hour drive from Mendoza City to San Juan City across a broad, flat plain that is mostly desert but is being reclaimed for agricultural land. Fruit orchards, olive groves and, of course, vineyards appear with increasing frequency. San Juan has long produced wine and in past decades was mostly known for its whites; however, improved techniques mean that both Mendoza and San Juan are increasingly producing both, with Mendoza by far the larger producer.
San Juan has other attractions, however. It is the home of Domingo Sarmiento, the great 19th century Argentine president who did more than anyone in the Southern Cone to instill the importance of education and contributed mightily to ensuring that Argentines would become, early on, among the most literate people in South America. The house where he was born is the city’s most notable historic site and museum.
But San Juan’s real claim to fame is Ischigualasto Park, in the east-central part of the province. Arriving via a highway whose dips would make a person prone to mal de mar uncomfortable, Ischigualasto quickly makes one forget the trip. Located 4 hours northeast of San Juan City and 1300 km. northwest of Buenos Aires, it is one of the world’s greatest Paleolithic treasures.
Because of our stop in San Juan to get information about lodging near the park and to visit Sarmiento’s home, we didn't arrive in San Augustin del Valle Fertil (Fertile Valley), 45 minutes south of the park, until 18:30. We found a charming, small posada with 5 rooms and a delightful host, Azucena. We also found an excellent dinner then collapsed in bed. Rain during the night did not bode well for a visit to the park and it was still raining in the morning. Azucena called the park for us and we were told that it would open about 10:00. We arrived at 11, in good time for the noon tour.
Ischigualasto, or the Valley of the Moon as it is also known, is the only place where two entire Paleolithic eras –the Triassic and Mesozoic --are revealed. Access is carefully controlled by park staff who lead caravans of cars and small buses to several points on a dirt trail that winds for 20 km. through the park.
The landscape quickly changes from desert with assorted green scrub and cacti to a barren land where plants are few and far between.
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The first stop on the tour is the gusano, or worm, so named for its long, segmented shape. Best seen from the road as one approaches, the surprise is on a small ledge that forms part of the underbelly of the beast—beautifully preserved small fossils of a fern and other small plants that lived 250 million years ago when most of this land was under water.
The body of the gusano also reveals two of the stages through which this land has lived. The bottom half is limestone; the top half is sandstone.
Six kilometers further along the trail the “Painted Valley” appears—a stunning area of sculptured canyons that gets its name from the subtle red and green layers carved by long-gone rivers and by erosion.
A couple minutes later the caravan pulls into the second parking area and the guide gathers the crowd to explain the origins of this area. The red layers come from copper, the green from iron. Long before the Andes pushed up from the sea this area was a lush, fertile land where dinosaurs roamed. The major Paleolithic excavations and discoveries have taken place in this area of the park and continue every spring and fall.
On to the third and last stop on the tour; too much rain has made access to the last two stops impossible so the caravan will retrace its route back to the park entrance from here.
The most interesting has been saved for last. A few steps across a dry creek bed stands “The Sphinx,” a natural rock formation. Everyone wants a photo op with this gift from nature.
The guide takes off down a trail and invites everyone to follow. Rock formations, large and small call attention to themselves from passers-by.
The guide stops in a large flat area covered with smooth, round balls. This is the Cancha de Bochas, or Ball Field.
The balls are fragile sandstone, created much like a pearl, and covered by eons of loose sand. Over time erosion and the wind have blown away the top layers of the mound in which they were buried, exposing them for all to see.
Many are completely exposed; others seem to be emerging from the earth; still others are barely visible, awaiting future movement of the earth.
The balls’ fragility means that, once exposed, they are susceptible to the extremes of wind, rain and temperature that can lash this region. In summer the high can reach 35 or 40 C., then plunge to 5 or 7 at night. In summer this normally dry region is subject to thunderstorms that can dump as much as 10mm of rain. The balls that can be seen today will disintegrate into the sand around them, then be blown away, exposing more balls below.
Ischigualasto brings one surprise after another, and in leaving the park provides one more: a lone guanaco regally surveying its realm. He turns his head and stares at the visitor, as if to ask, “What are you doing here¬?” but doesn't move. A dozen pictures later, the visitors move on.
Returning to the park entrance, a museum developed by the Natural Sciences Center of the University of San Juan awaits the visitor. The docent is from the university and presents the findings of various digs with and enthusiasm that engages listeners of all ages. The fossil she is discussing is real but most of the fossils in the museum are reconstructions of dinosaurs found across several decades of excavations.
We left the part exhilarated and exhausted—and still had to drive back to Mendoza. David is a driver par excellence—a good thing, as we had to deal with baldenes –dips in the road—for much of our time in San Juan: fording rivers—La Rioja Province hasn't discovered culverts: and breathtaking mountain passes. But the chauffeur negotiated all with panache and had us back at our hotel by 22:00.
Tommie Sue Montgomery, Ph.D., has traveled, lived and conducted
research in Latin America and the Caribbean for 35 years. She has
lived in 5 countries, and visited another 18.
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