Warning: Argentina May Cause Severe Aging, Part IV: Parque Provincial Payunia

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Part 4 of 4
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So there we were, Guadalupe and I, finally on our way to Parque Provincial Payunia. Although our visit to the park had been delayed by three days, I was determined to see it and was glad we had finally made it. Our tour guide, along with a driver, led 10 of us in a van to Payunia early that Thursday morning (this was two weeks ago, I´m really behind!) The ride was bumpy but the beautiful scenery made up for it. After a pit stop for some breakfast along the side of the road, we made our way into the park, 450,000 hectares in size. It took only a few minutes for my breath to be taken away. There were volcanic cones left and right, and instead of brown dirt the ground was black from volcanic rock for as far as the eye could see. Where was I? It seemed like another planet. This feeling was only intensified by the red rocks mixed in between, and patches of white snow that dotted the landscape. There was one colossal volcano that towered above the rest and I stood there in awe, going trigger-happy with my camera. According to our guide the volcanos were still active but there have been no eruptions in over 10 years, despite there being 800 volcanic cones in the park. I knew that if I saw Hernan again, who I had been traveling with, he would regret missing all of this. This was sensory overload to the extreme.

Although in many areas the scenery was similar, there was vegetation in spots to mix things up. Each stop that we made on our way through the park kept making me think I was not on planet Earth. Who has ever seen the ground consist of just two colors, black and red, with almost no brown to be found anywhere? Then and now, the landscape seems painted, as if Salvador Dali himself had somehow found his way to Argentina and created these views with a few brush strokes. It´s possible, right?

After an outstanding lunch, we continued to explore different nooks and crannies of the park. Each hill we passed over the scenery was better than before, and it never got old. I can liken the experience to being in the desert and seeing endless miles of sand, except this time it´s endless miles of black. The patches of snow just made it even better. The last stop of the tour was at a volcano crater which was probably about 100 meters deep. I had never seen anything like it. The view of the Andes mountains in the background was just icing on the cake. It is hard to describe the pure awesomeness of what I witnessed that day. Although it may sound like hyperbole, Parque Provincial Payunia has a nice comfortable spot in my Top 10 list of South America, along with Macchu Picchu and the Salt Flats of Uyuni Bolivia (http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/blog-135653.html) among others. The pictures barely do it justice. Truly unique.

Coming back after the exhausting day, I was wrestling with what to do next. Guadalupe was going to return to Mendoza and stay there for a day before heading back to Buenos Aires. I wanted to go back to Cordoba, which would take two buses and at least 16 hours of traveling time. I could leave Malargue at 1am, arrive in Mendoza in the early morning and then take another bus to Cordoba. Or I could leave Malargue the next day in the afternoon and hopefully sleep through the night, arriving in the morning the following day. Although neither option was ideal, I decided to go with the former. So there I was, fighting the urge to sleep to catch the 1am bus to Mendoza, arrive at 7am, then take an 8am bus to Cordoba, arriving at 8pm. Uggh. I´m sure you´re asking yourself why I decided to subject myself to this, or why I wanted to go back to Cordoba after already spending so much time there? Well...I had to go see about a girl.

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Photos

Totally black
Yes those are black volcanic rocks and yes those are also red volcanic rocks!

Surreal Landscape
Those white specks are snow

Beautiful landscapes
Note the red spots at the bottom of the hill

Surrealism?
Some of the landscapes, especially this one, look like Dali himself could have painted them. All that´s missing is a melting clock.

Dinner?
The egg of some animal unique to the area (I forget the name) that my guide found on the side of the road. And in case you´re worried, yes we did put the egg back.

Comments

[dorothee Herlyn]

guadelupe
Wer ist die noch mal?Ist eine Frau, nicht? Wenn ja, dann war Mica bestimmt wieder alarmiert und eifersuechtig? Oder ist das jetzt besser geworden? Die Landschaftesbilder sind ja urig, moechte ich auch mal sehen. Bis bald, Mama

[George]

Glad You Put It Back
That egg is from a Mendocinosaurus. Glad you put it back. They say that these creatures come after their victims without mercy, and that that the blood that flows through their vanes is as red as Malbec.