Dinosaur parks

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Have just returned from a two-day tour to a couple of UNESCO National parks north of Mendoza. The hostel I´m staying at in San Juan organised it for me through a local tour company but since there aren´t very many tourists around here at the moment, there were only three of us on the trip. The other two were a lovely Belgian Flemish couple but the driver was quite unpleasant, which put a slight dampener on things but we tended to laugh at him rather than getting annoyed and still had a good time anyway.
The first park is famous for being a mine of early dinosaur fossils and the students working there were excellent at explaining the whole process. We cycled around the second park today, which was such a nice relief after hours in the minibus travelling to and from San Juan and around the first park!
Am also including photos of a couple of really random places that I´ve visited since the last blog. The first was the Museo Rocsen, which is a museum curated by a Frenchman living in Argentina and includes almost anything you can think of, from gramaphones to shrunken heads (decapitated victims of a Peruvian tribe)! The other bizarre spot is a shrine to a woman who died in the desert but whose baby survived by breast-feeding from his dead mother. People bring all kinds of presents to the shrine in thanks for miracles received! Apparently the church refused to make her a saint but still runs the administration, which sounds a little dodgy to me considering all of the monetary donations that are also made at the site!

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Photos

Parque Ischigualasto - The Ball Court
These naturally occurring spherical rocks are revealed as the wind blows away the sand in the valley. Noone knows how they are formed!

Difunta Correa Shrine II
Here you can see some of the registration plates that have been left as offerings!

Comments

[Rachel]

Hot on your heels
Really can't wait to catch up with you again although I wish I was able to chat before I leave for South America and check where all the best spots are. Nevermind, will content myslf with reading your blog and we can compare notes afterwards. Really wish I spoke some Spanish though. Went salsa dancing last night and had to speak Korean to the Peruvian guy I danced with to make myself understood! Have fun moose. The rainbow round the sun pic was amazing.

[PG]

I know what they are
Your photos are really great. Really envious about your travel... you are giving me the right idea for my next travel...i will make treasure of your precious suggestions. About the "ball court" i know what they are : they clearly represent fossil fecis of very old huge sheeps...don't you think? You see what kind of witty discovery i am able to turn out while i am on call in the Hospital...Poor patients Ciao PG