It’s three-hours to the entrance to Talampaya National Park where Christi and I learn to our surprise that the Argentinean National Park Service employs a dual pricing structure: foreigners pay A$25 (about US$6), while locals pay only A$4 (US$1). In addition, all visitors must pay a whopping A$65 for the compulsory guided tour – in Spanish. Our travel agent had promised us an English-speaking guide, but that never materialized. Instead, we’re given a couple of dog-eared brochures in English.
Talampaya canyon is made of red sandstone that has undergone tremendous weathering and now has that Bryce / Zion / Arches look and feel. Our first stop is at a series of petroglyphs – ranging in age from 600-1500 years old. Some are basic animals while others are poorly understood geometric and anthropomorphic shapes. Next up is Echo Chimney. This flute, carved out of the magnificent sandstone escarpment, returns your voice louder than the original call. I’m so busy photographing the gorgeous scenery that the guide has to urge me back to the tour mini-van. Another beautiful formation is the Gothic Cathedral: simple stunning spires formed by erosion of the sandstone canyon walls by wind, water, and a lot of time. The Tower (they’re too polite to call it a penis) and The Monk are two of the massive free standing formations in the park.
Talampaya and Ischigualasto are contiguous parks, but while the former is a national park and the latter a provincial park. Both, incidentally, are UNESCO world heritage sites. We reach Ischigualasto by mid-afternoon, but nothing much happens until 4pm when 20 cars suddenly spring to life and bounce and race into the park in an impromptu convoy. This is the start of the highlights tour.
We begin at The Worm (someone has a vivid imagination that’s all I can say). The Painted Valley, by contrast, is truly beautiful and reminds me of Badlands National Park in South Dakota. And apparently there is a sound scientific explanation as to how the stones in The Ball Court spontaneously formed, but it isn’t one that can be translated easily from Spanish to English (personally I think someone placed the stones there late one night when no-one was looking). I must admit we’re very fortunate to see The Submarine and The Mushroom at sunset as the spectacular sandstone cliffs glow a deep, bloody red. Absolutely magnificent.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, laugh-wrenching tale
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