This was a bit of dead tree stump seen from the cave higher up by the entrance but I first thought it was some kind of witch figure, very Wicker Man I thought...
Cycled about 60km there and back today, including about 10k through the park, off-road. Mind you the last 8k of the road there was a dirt track which was pretty much off-road too. Luckily little traffic, but every now and then a truck would thunder past raising lots of dust. I had my cool army-issue desert-proof sunglasses on, complete with elastic strap through the bit at the back of my cap to stop it being blown off when there was a particularly strong gust of wind. The cave of the Mylodon (Giant Sloth) itself was a bit of an anti-climax after all I´ve read about it´s history and the photos I´ve already seen. There was a huge polyester life size model of the beast at the entrance and lots of noisy Chileans taking daft snaps posing with it. I did however see a Patagonian Fox at about 3meter distance as it trotted into the cave, totally ignoring the big fake beast that was ´guarding´ it. I left a tiny bit of Max´s cremated remains at the back of the cave - ha, that should confuse them if they have another archaelogical debate about all the ages of the various bones found there over the years! How Dogus Maximillius Weimeranerus got into the picture will become a debate to rival that which surrounded the Mylodon remains for decades.
After the main event there were 2 other caves to be found in the park. You had to walk further to get to them and not many people bothered. I took the bike and could cycle most of the way when the path wasn´t too rough and only met 2 other couples on my route. The second cave was just a smaller version of the first, but the 3rd was truly scary. In the first two the daylight reached right to the back but the smallest one was a sort of multi-storey cave with a sloping floor down to a ´cellar´ and the light didn´t get down there. I had a tiny torch with me and was tentatively working my way to the back but it was so quiet and dark and I´d just been reading about how sabre-tooth tigers used to live there and that pumas are occasionally spotted... I chickened out before reaching the back - I was sure sOmething was going to suddenly appear and scare me even more than I was already. I climbed a huge mound of stones for the last view over the valleys and lakes and mountains and then heaved the bike over a fence to save me having to cycle back to the entrance to the park. Saved me a good few kilometers of dusty road. On the way back I was tempted a few times to hitch a lift in one of the passing pick-ups but persevered up the last hills and was rewarded with smooth downhill roads and a rainbow on the final stretch into the town. Because of the constant switching between sun and rain here rainbows seem to be reasonably common.
Anyway, it was a great day. Stayed dry, although I could see the veils of rain drifting over the mountains at various points I only ever got touched by the fringes of them, not enough to get my raingear out of the bag. Found a dead bird of prey on the road and moved it to the verge to stop it getting flattened. Discovered in the museum this morning that it was a Red Beaked Hawk. I saw a whole flock of them dismembering something during my walk to the airport in Ushuaia too. I think I may have seen a condor circling above the mountains but then again it may just have been something else pretending to be a condor as it´s difficult to judge sizes from that distance. (There´s a really annoying American in the booth next to my phoning someone via skype and telling what he had for dinner yesterday and repeating everything because whoever is desperate to know the details of his current eating habits can´t hear him properly the first time. I hate him.)
Pictures are going to have to wait as this place shuts in 5 minutes.
After the main event there were 2 other caves to be found in the park. You had to walk further to get to them and not many people bothered. I took the bike and could cycle most of the way when the path wasn´t too rough and only met 2 other couples on my route. The second cave was just a smaller version of the first, but the 3rd was truly scary. In the first two the daylight reached right to the back but the smallest one was a sort of multi-storey cave with a sloping floor down to a ´cellar´ and the light didn´t get down there. I had a tiny torch with me and was tentatively working my way to the back but it was so quiet and dark and I´d just been reading about how sabre-tooth tigers used to live there and that pumas are occasionally spotted... I chickened out before reaching the back - I was sure sOmething was going to suddenly appear and scare me even more than I was already. I climbed a huge mound of stones for the last view over the valleys and lakes and mountains and then heaved the bike over a fence to save me having to cycle back to the entrance to the park. Saved me a good few kilometers of dusty road. On the way back I was tempted a few times to hitch a lift in one of the passing pick-ups but persevered up the last hills and was rewarded with smooth downhill roads and a rainbow on the final stretch into the town. Because of the constant switching between sun and rain here rainbows seem to be reasonably common.
Anyway, it was a great day. Stayed dry, although I could see the veils of rain drifting over the mountains at various points I only ever got touched by the fringes of them, not enough to get my raingear out of the bag. Found a dead bird of prey on the road and moved it to the verge to stop it getting flattened. Discovered in the museum this morning that it was a Red Beaked Hawk. I saw a whole flock of them dismembering something during my walk to the airport in Ushuaia too. I think I may have seen a condor circling above the mountains but then again it may just have been something else pretending to be a condor as it´s difficult to judge sizes from that distance. (There´s a really annoying American in the booth next to my phoning someone via skype and telling what he had for dinner yesterday and repeating everything because whoever is desperate to know the details of his current eating habits can´t hear him properly the first time. I hate him.)
Pictures are going to have to wait as this place shuts in 5 minutes.
