Return Fron Cueva De Las Manos And Night Bus To El Chalten

So the tour ended, and we were back in Perito Moreno at the Hotel Belgrano in time for a light dinner before the night bus to El Chalten arrived. 8PM passed. 9PM passed. No bus. About 10PM, the bartender/waiter/manager told us in very rudimentary Spanglish that the Chalten Travel bus had broken down and that alternative arrangements were being made for us. Somehow, we were relieved. Later, Claudio appeared, drove us to the bus station, and procured tickets for us on the Taqsa/Marga night bus to El Chalten. (Claudio sub-contracts with Chalten Travel; we trust he will be reimbursed). Anyhow, the Taqsa bus was an hour late, took another 45 minutes to load and refuel and...you get the picture. We arrived in El Chalten after noon on January 29th, somewhat fatigued, but relieved to be more or less on schedule. Plus we were both able to sleep a good bit on the wonderfully reclining seats. The bus was filled with a few locals but mostly with young budget travelers. Backapackas. Many Americankis, too. We are deep in Patagonia. Jan 28-29.

A prized photograph and memory; the guanacos frequently try
to jump the fences and sometimes don't make it, impaling
themselves on the stakes; we saw half a dozen of these but at
turbuss speed warp factor 5+, they are difficult to catch (I'll
spare you the close-up); I have a similar photograph of an
impaled antelope/deer in the Davis Mountains, TX, c. 1984,
entitled "Don't fence me in"

An apparent short-cut took us through a side canyon and its
salty dry bed

Claudio occasionally opening and closing gates

Another road shrine

More desert color

Our luggage outside the Hotel Belgrano, hopefully so the bus
driver can't miss us; unfortunately, he never made it

Waiting for the Taqsa bus at the bus station...a depiction of
where the day took us

Next morning, aboard the Taqsa bus, on the long off-pavement
spur to El Chalten

More guanaco

Also no alcohol

They are herd animals: the female herds, with young, led by
one lucky male; the bachelor herds, the unlucky males; I guess
this depends on your perspective...

Next morning: big mountains looming

And the lake and the tongue of giant Viedma Glacier

And wildly striated mountains

Welcome to El Chalten and the Parque Nacional de los Glacieres;
"Capital Nacional del Trekking"

Cueva De Las Manos, 2

Continuing our tour of the great Cave of Hands...Jan 28

Moving on from one enclosure to the next

Dots...so familiar from European sites

I have always wondered whether six-fingered people have trouble
with base 10 math

Pepperoni pizza

More abstractness as you proceed left

The Dancer...muy famoso...the hands at the right are playing
a keyboard

This is thought to depict a guanaco hunt, the topography on
the stone depicting...

That of the canyon directly facing

Moon phases?

Interesting over-painting

Humans surrounding the guanaco for the kill

Incredible place...what a day!

Cueva De Las Manos, 1

Students of this blog know that we are fans of archaic rock paintings, having visited Lascaux, Pech Merle, Alta Mira, Cueva de la Pileta, the Grotto of Niaux, Chauvet, Font du Gaume, and most recently, Pont D'Arch in the Ardeche. Although the Cave of Hands is much younger than the great European sites, its extensiveness and variety make it of no less interest. C14 datings here suggest habitation from 13,000BC to around 700AD, with the paintings mostly done between 9,000BC and 3,000BC. (The stencils are done by blowing pigment through bone pipes...the bones providing the datable material). I had always thought Cave of Hands was a single wall panel, but it is rather a number of panels spread across several enclosures on the side of the canyon wall. 800 hands, give or take, plus a lot of guanacos, and even a few humans. Jan. 28.

A World Heritage Site, of course

Your walk a few hundred meters, and then you see them

Thus

The panels go on and on; here mostly guanacos

Of the 800 hands, only 30 are of right hands

Even where the rocks have tumbled down, there are paintings

The formal tour lasts about an hour, is done in both Spanish
and in English, too; the guides very knowledgeable; there is
also such signage as the above, and a museum in the visitor
center; in English, too

Note hands in green atop

Ambidextrous? One of the few right hands depicted

Thought to be some sort of map

Nursing guanaco

The one actual cave; the rest in overhung enclosures

Note double-jointed wrist

Hunting guanaco best done during full moon

Hard-hat zone

Name that creature

Another right hand

Us, there; incredible place