Oenology, Cosmic Rays and Vulcanology

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The overnight bus trip from Neuquen north to San Rafael passed quickly, I think we both slept quite a bit despite the lashing rain which we drove through at some point. We arrived at San Rafael about 8am Sunday morning as the sun was rising. We trundled our bags along to the hotel and went in search of coffee. As in nearly every town or village here the local YPF petrol station has a good cafe.

After checking in and showers we did the walkabout. San Rafael is dead flat with lots of cyclists - except during the siesta which seems to last for about four hours during the week and all day Sunday. Some nice buildings and wide boulevards with lots of shade. And the town is a centre of wine production so we had to try some out. In a wine shop the owner showed us some wine from bodegas that we had never heard of but which won medals last year - and are not large enough producers to export. We also walked out to one of the local bodegas and having sampled their wares bought a couple of bottles. Sunday night we even went to the movies to see Charlie Wilson´s War.

From San Rafael we headed south west to Malargue in yet another hire car. Small town nearish to Parque Payunia and, if you come in the winter, to Las Lenas ski resort. We fixed ourselves up with a trip for the next day to Payunia and then wandered along to visit the Pierre Auger Observatory HQ.

The observatory, as we learned, is the biggest in the world as it is 3,000km sq. The observatory, funded and supported by NGOs from 18 countries is for the study of high energy cosmic rays (!), and at this time is basic science with no practical application but who knows trekkies where it might lead. We learned that these high energy rays only hit the earth at the rate of one per km sq per century, hence the need for a big observatory. The observatory is a massive grid of detectors in tanks - 1600 of which are spread across the scrubby desert. All a bit odd but strangely interesting - and the Argentines are very proud to have been chosen over Australia and South Africa as the location.

Even better the next day was the day long 4WD trip into Payunia, an area with 800 volcanoes from very small to very big. The scenery was stunning and the guide, Miguel, really good - slowing down his Spanish so we had more chance of understanding about volcanoes. Lots of time driving to, up, down and around different volcanoes with lots of photo stops. Excellent and if you ever come this way, unmissable.

Next we head north again.

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Photos

On Volcan Murado
we look a bit like hobbits in this one, don´t we Mr Frodo?

In Payunia,
the ground is all cinders and ash with "bombs" from the volcanoes near the craters

Volcan Murado
from the lava flow formed when the side of the volcano collapsed

Rio Grande in Payunia
Cut through the basalt