Estancia La Maria and caves 5th December 2010

Travelling on coaches, mainly during the night, gives me a sense of time travelling. I leave one place and all the experiences I had there, the wheels turn and I am spun into another life of new people and new places. This week-end was so different from my time at Peninsula Valdez whale watching and being entranced by the dolphins it felt exactly like that. I had read in the Lonely Planet of this estancia where there were caves with prehistoric paintings in them - like at least 80 caves. Since I read about them in England I had become determined to find this place. I had tried ringing them, but it seemed that it would cost me 1000 pesos in taxi fees to get there. It is in the middle of nowhere with no public transpot in sight. Somebody suggested hitchhiking, but the problem would be the lack of cars, not any danger. At the Tosca Hostel Mariano had said that if it was my destiny I would find a way. I arrived in Puerto San Julian (at 4 .30 a.m) which is the nearest town to the Estancia with Manuela a friend I had met at the Hostel . We tried the Tourist Office when it opened at 8.00 and the lass said that Josefina (the owner of the Estancia) was in town collecting 2 guests but there was probably not enough room for me to but worth trying. We jumped in a taxi to the hostel and miracle of miracles they could sqeeze me in. A very hasty goodbye to Manuela, who was never coming with me at this point, and I was bundled into the 4 wheel drive and we set off on gravel roads for the estancia.

The track to the Estancia is 11 km in distance from a recognizable road. It is a wild, beautiful place with over 300 canyons and at least 80 caves that have cave paintings in them. They farm very little apart from 80 sheep, (I have never seen a fridge full of such enormous bits of raw meat) chickens and their own self sufficiency in the way of vegetables. This is not ´the Good Life´ this is ´The Hard Life`. The water arrives through a heavy duty black hose from a spring 3 km away, the lights only work during the evening and go out when Josefina goes to bed and the wind when it blows is so strong you can lean against it. There is a huge lake close by but since a volcanic eruption in Chile it has dried up and is full of volcanic ash. I had a sense of how vulnerable I was out here. There are puma and they will take sheep. Lorena the daughter learnt to use a gun when she was 11 years old. The father Ferdinando died several years ago but he and Josefina bought the farm together - for her it was love at first sight. The caves became their passion. The canyons and the caves are huge and imposing, I felt dwarfed by their presence. I had a sense of this being an ancient land that has been formed by the elements over thousands of years. The rock formations are awesome in the true sense of the word - they have been formed and moulded into extraordinary shapes; sculptured creatures, holes, crevices, folds and slabs, heavy entrances to deep caves, all in a variety of reds, golds and greys - and in many are these strange paintings - lots are of guanacos, the lama like creatures that still roam free and the family will eat if they can - many have lines signifying pathways and circles - maybe planets, but the most common are hands. These can either be direct hand prints or negative prints spraying the ´paint` over the hand. The paint was made from blood and urine and sand. These paintings are of great significance and archaelogists are working on them still. They were first discovered in 1902 and I think these 2 bought the farm in the 1980s. The previous owners had been uninterested in the paintings - for Josefina and Ferdinando it was a life´s work putting Estancia La Maria on the map.

There is a rich bird life here, notably for me, a pair of Southern Lapwings who screamed at me for most of the time I walked up one particular canyon - they were then attacked by a kestrel. They reminded me of the raucous parakets in Buenos Aires. I suspect the lapwings were trying to distract me from a nest. There is also a wonderful amount of wild flowers here which I love but was unable to name as I did not bring a wild life book with me. Surprisingly there were lots of wild roses and a flower that seemed very similar to an Evening Primrose. In this hostile environment lots of them have spines and spikes. The odd lizard and some very fat black beetles. No pumas in sight, except the skeleton of one hung on a fence. I also came across the complete skeleton of a dead horse. When I enquired what happened to it I was told it died of old age. No sentimental burial here!

Josefina and Lorena now run the farm and the business together. They both have houses in Puerto San Julian and live in town when there are no guests. A local man and his beautiful white horse tend the estancia while they are away. Lorena lives with her partner and is studying to be a Notary. Both she and her mother were welcoming and generous hearted. I hope it works out for them in this financial climate.

The Lonely Planet is fantastic for information on where and how and when but as far as costs go it is way out. Mine was published in 2008 and I probably have to multiply by at least 5 or 6 to get a more realistic cost of hostels. Inflation is escalating. I mentioned to Cliff in a postcard that the cost of milongas when he was out here was about 12 or 15 pesos. It is now 20 to 30 pesos. The Argentinians feel it keenly.