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Parque Nacional Lihué Calel

The drive to the entrance of the park. In the second half you can see the hills of the park from afar.

My route takes me west again; back to Mendoza. That means that I have to cross the country laterally – through the literal Pampa. The province of La Pampa is right in the middle of the country and is a mostly flat and arid landscape. To change things up I went to the Parque Nacional Lihué Calel in the middle of the route.

While I was still in Puerto Madryn I tried to find fresh fish and seafood to make a paella. Long story short: I was not able to find a fish market in that area. Eventually I resorted to just buying some from the supermarket. Of course they were frozen and my fridge is not configured to be a freezer so I had to make it the same day.

This little fella was just waiting for an opportunity to snatch something edible from my cooking supplies
The paella that I made. I made the mistake of adding too much water in the end. It was still very delicious and I had enough for the next day as well.

While I was cooking Vizcachas started crawling out of their burrows in the middle of the campground and started foraging around for food. They are so cute!

The next day I went for a hike to explore the national park. First I went up the hill (ca. 300m higher) which was really cool due to the big rocks on the mountainside and no pre-tread path that needed to be followed, just a bunch of checkpoints that guide you in the right direction.

The trail up the hill was only marked with checkpoints. How you got there was up to you, which was really cool.

There were 4 locals in trail running gear that went up there as well. I caught up to them at the summit and we chatted a little before they made their way down again. In the campsite there was no reception but on the summit there was so I phoned home for a while before moving on.

View from the top. A nice panorama of the flatness of the pampa.
The way went along the ridge for a while.
Interesting plants that have a very fluffy tips.

At the end of the trail there was the Valle de las Pinturas where there are more than 1300 year old rock paintings from the pre-colombian era. They looked very abstract and there was no info on what they were supposed to depict.

Ancient rock paintings in the Valle de Las Pinturas. They are more than 1300 years old.
Ancient rock paintings in the Valle de Las Pinturas. They are more than 1300 years old.
When I prepared to leave after the hike the little bird even went so far as to explore my car on the inside for food.

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