Blogs from San Agustín del Valle Fértil, San Juan, Argentina, South America

The two national parks Ischigualasto and Talampaya are just so beautiful that I can't really describe it with words. There is no use trying. A few other things that have happened during my trip to San Juan province: - I got adopted by three Israelis on the way (and I am still traveling with them) - my camera broke down in Talampaya national park (it cost me a fortune but I could fix it in Salta) Therefore, the pictures from Talampaya were taken by my friend Yaniv - so the copyright is his. BIG THANKS!... read more

After dozing for three quarters of the journey to San Agustin, I woke up to find a landscape of rocky hills with a light covering of trees, and a welcome appearance of cacti. There was an unexpected selection of accommodation touts at the bus station in San Agustin, but I was soon in a pleasant pension that was half the price of anywhere else I've stayed in the country. San Agustin definitely warrants the use of the adjective "sleepy", its spacious main square tranquil and dotted with bird crap-peppered benches. The squawking of bright green parrots filled the quiet in between the infrequent passage of cars whose silencers had long since ceased to function. The nearby reservoir reflected the cloud-smeared blue sky and surrounding hills, and the temperature was back in the T-shirt range. The point ... read more

Oh my god theres a knock at the door! It´s only 7am, but today we are going to Talampaya Park north of Valle de la Luna. We have been told it is equally as good but totally different with regards to scenery. After our long and bumpy bus ride we arrived at our destination in the scorching desert heat. We were told that the best and cheapest way to see the park was by mountain bike!(15 pesos,3 quid) We got our bikes and helmets and off we went through the soft and bumpy terrain. This place is a lot smaller version of the grand canyon, 125 million years ago it was a big river surrounded by farmland we later found this out by some Petroglifs (ancient drawings on the rocks of farmers herding their Llamas) The ... read more

San Augustin is in the middle of no where (again). It´s landscape is very dry, desert with mountains. We like it it´s very friendly. On the coach we went through all the little mountain villages and they live very poorly, here the houses ae not much more than huts. We woke up nice and refreshed so we hired 2 bikes from the hostel, Campo Base. We were told to go to a little village called La Madajita in the mountains(searching again, oh dear), so we set off. First we found a nice lake surrounded by cactus and palm trees. Our ride through the mountains was lovely if not hard going! We rode through streams, thick sand, rocky tracks all while the sun was beating down on us. After hours we came to a fork in the ... read more