Trekking Pinturas Canyon To The Cave Of Hands

After some miles on the barest track, our van pulled up at a spot overlooking the canyon. Claudio had already explained that we had the option of doing the 5k "trek" or could simply ride on to the Cave of Hands in the van. Vicki wisely opted for the latter. The descent into the canyon was steep and covered in sand and gravel. Not good for an alumna of the Center for Total Joint Replacement. I carried on, failing to realize that a decent into the canyon likely meant an ascent out of it. But it was a great hike. Jan. 28.

Overlooking Pinturas Canyon

As the trail descends, the van departs

The canyon

A thyme bush

Below, a small herd of guanaco crosses the canyon floor (click
to enlarge)

We press on

Watched closely by the vultures

On the canyon floor, a habitation traditionally occupied by just
one gaucho; the whole empanada is being returned to nature
prior to joining the national park

Darwin's rose, someone said; but it doesn't look like a rose...?

Survival of the nastiest: a pine cone with thorns...nasty ones

Not messing with this

A solitary hiker in the canyon; turns out she was an English
teacher in a private elementary school in Puerto Varas, headed 
for the same cave tour we were on

Canyon outwash

A guanaco footprint

Calafate berries (box leaf barberry); eat one, they say, and you
will return to Patagonia; they look and taste a bit like
blueberries (never mind the nasty thistles); a bit; they are
loaded with seeds; if you return to Patagonia, it will not be
to eat more calafate berries

A whole nasty bush of them

Returning to nature

Thistle and butterfly

Basic signage

Rio Pinturas

Fish and canyon walls

In the distance, the Cave of Hands

The whole complex...visitor center on right

A group on the catwalk by the paintings

Huffing and puffing,, I am the last to emerge from the canyon
and to join the tour

En Route To The Cave Of Hands

From the description at the travel office in Bariloche, we figured we'd be picked up at the Estancia and would see the Cave of Hands and then would be back in Perito Moreno by mid- afternoon, to await the night bus to El Chalten. Not so. It turned out the Cave of Hands was an all-day experience, involving scenic driving, a 5k trek up a canyon, and then the Cave. A great day nonetheless. Jan. 28.

First a stop to appreciate the desert colors

Claudio, our guide, was a pretty good photographer

This is an ex-guanaco

A herd of guanaco--they are the forebears of llamas; the
principal mammal hereabouts

Another road-side shrine

Beginning of the canyon we will be exploring

Pronounced ascent

King of the mountain

Pronounced descent

Big mountains to the east

More guanaco

Argentine ostrich

Chick

More guanaco

Closer up

San Lorenzo, highest of the southern Andes at 3.7km

Inside our van; two other couples, driver and guide; really nice
people; invited us to share the mate'

The Cave seemed hardly 25 miles from the Estancia, but much
of it was gravel, and then this track

The canyon into which we will descend and the ascend to see
the Cueva de las Manos

Thanks, again, Claudio

Vicki wisely decided not to do the trek up the canyon...too
steep and too much gravel; so she rode on to the Cuevo site
and waited for the trekkers

Estancia Cueva De Las Manos

We arrived at the Estancia Cueva de las Manos in good order, unpacked and enjoyed a decent roast chicken dinner. One of the things one does in Argentina is to stay on an estancia--a ranch--and so I was very pleased with the opportunity. Plus, the accommodations were pretty nice. Except the electricity ran only in the evening hours, off a generator. Don't ask about the ice machine. As it turned out, it was a sort of qualified estancia, sold last year to a foundation which, after ridding it of non-native animals, will donate it all to the Cuevo de las Manos national park. Nonetheless, I listened intently to the Malambo from Ginastera's Estancia suite on my phone. Jan. 27.

Lounge decor

Looking around the estancia

The environs