Day 31

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So why all of the suffering to get to San Juan? Well near there is another national park, this one called ‘Ischigualasto’ or ‘Moon valley’

So we woke at 5am. Like I said, it is near, but not close, still another 3 hours in a van. Anyway, we woke early and had breakfast, stale bread and coffee. And then jumped into the van and headed off to the national park.

Wow, another truly spectacular event. The national park is full of fossils (though you only see them in the museum) and the scenery in out of this world, which is why they call it ‘Moon valley’. I’ve done scuba diving before and I’ve had the privilege to dive in amongst some great rocks and caves. All shaped and twisted by the constant currents moving backwards and forwards. The rock formations that I found myself looking at reminded me of that. Only without the water and without life.

And so we joined a convoy of cars as we made our way around the park, following a park ranger, who stopped at each of the sights on the route and explained what we were looking at. Unfortunately the park ranger only spoke in Spanish. And while originally Anna had volunteered to translate for me, it soon became apparent that this wasn’t going to be practical.

There is an expression ’information overload’ and this park ranger was a living breathing example of that. At each stop he would talk for 30 minutes. Spewing forth facts and figures, dates and numbers, names and explanations. Even the most interested participant would have had difficulty following and remembering everything he said. Is it just me or do other people feel that no information is terrible, but too much is just as bad, if not worse. It reminded me of being in a lecture hall listening to a professor except we didn’t have any notebooks.

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