We have a very light breakfast but the thin little croissants are quite good. There are packaged muffins that we stick in our pockets. We are are grateful we have them to snack on later in the morning. The petroglyph group sets off. Jonathan has a cryptic map and we hope it will get us to our destination. We arrive at the designated corral and begin a relatively steep ascent.
Mari Ann was in a serious car accident several years ago and she needs to take her time but we’re not in a hurry. I was expecting a cave but when we arrive at the rock face we find a few paintings. As we slow down and take our time looking we cannot believe the number of petroglyphs and their beauty. One theme is a labyrinth.
We see a labyrinth circle about 2 feet in diameter surrounded by irregular circles. Another small labyrinth is multicolored: red and black. There are “families”
of figures; lots of animals; positive hands
(the hand was dipped in dye and placed on the wall) and negative hands (dye blown around the hand on the wall); arrows; slash marks; a spotted cougar; and places high up on the rock wall where Jonathan says they inked rocks or balls and threw them up the wall–maybe for target practice. We are so happy that we visited this ancient site. On the walk back to the car Jonathan says he feels like we are being watched. He turns around and tells us to look at our hiking friend: a little fox that follows us for a little way, apparently unafraid. We have a full days drive to the small town of El Chalten in the shadow of Fitzroy Peak, an iconic image of the region. We travel from Chile to Argentina on rough, unpaved roads through boring pampas land. The most exciting thing we see is a Hairy Armadillo.
We nearly scare the little guy to death trying to coax him out into the open for photographs. When we are in sight of our destination we are amazed to see Flamingos on the small lake on our right and a glacier filling the mountain valley on our left. How can the two be seen together?! The snow-covered mountain range that includes Fitzroy fills the view ahead of us.
Ben wants to set up his tripod and catch the sunset but the rest of us, including his wife, Mari Ann, want to move on to our hotel. Jonathan tells us that there are just a couple of rooms with private baths and we want to stake our claim. After a bit of discussion (and I think some grumbling about my assertiveness from Ben and Jonathan under their breath) we leave Ben for pick-up later and get to the hotel first. As it turns out there were 3 rooms with private baths so the 3 old married couples get those rooms and the single guys have to share a bath. We will be here for three days–hurray! Howard says he’s run out of gas after 8 days on the road. We decide to stick around the ‘hood tomorrow while the others have a photography hike. And besides we must do laundry. I can’t stand myself any longer! We have a fabulous dinner! Our Pebre (the pico de gallo appetizer we find so often and love) has lentils in it and it is great. Howard orders tasty lentils and chorizo–that should get him back on schedule, if you know what I mean. Bill and Rex think they are ordering a lamb appetizer but the waiter brings two huge bowls of delicious lamb stew and we all dig in. Others order pizza to share and I have a HUGE bowl of pasta. We all fill our bellies and even ask for doggie bags for tomorrow’s lunch.