DAY 19 - PINTURAS CANYON and CUEVA DE LOS MANOS

Breakfast in company

and into a new province: Santa Cruz. See how far down we're getting.

 As ever, lots of local wildlife

though we have the roads pretty much to ourselves

so it's easy to stop and admire the flowers

And onto the town of Puerto Marino (remember this orange chap, you'll be seeing him again)

The road leading up to the Pinturas Canyon is varied and colourful 

 

and the wildlife suddenly much more frisky

 as we draw near to the site

The cliffs of the breathtaking Pinturas Canyon were formed by volcanic activity 150 years ago, then deepened by glacial erosion

  

 

 

The first hunter-gatherers apparently moved in about 9,000 years ago.  As well as inhabiting the canyon of Rio Pinturas, they left behind rock art which is now UNESCO protected, the so-called Cave of Hands [Cueva de los Manos]  

And of course not just hands 

There is of course this chap too

Hard hats are doled out as you make your way along a walkway

And, on the way out, the daily armadillo makes his entrance

along with a kind of rhea known locally as ñandú guazu