On the Road to Talampaya

Talampaya National Park is a strong attraction for lovers of natural monuments hard to put into words unless we are standing right in front of them. Villa Unión is the nearby city that lets us see in order to believe.

8:00 AM: the morning was cool maybe because we had not had breakfast or left the hotel yet. In a few minutes, we would be picked up by the travel agency people so as to cover the 60 kilometers that separated us from the park. Should we sleep a little? Watch the landscape? We would decide later.

8:25 AM: all we perceived through the window was arid, extremely arid and, though we felt like closing our eyes for a while, we feared we would miss some interesting view. What was that thing that crossed the road in front of us? A fox? Yes, a huge fox.

8:40 AM: we went through a small hamlet with a few houses. It is known as Pagancillo and it provides some green hues and other colors to the scene.

9:00 AM: the land continued to be arid, featuring a strong reddish tone with significant changes from sandy soils to rocky formations. Everything at sight was different, strong, enigmatic, but the guide gradually decoded it for us to understand it more easily. Once in a while, we would see a carob tree or a plant used to living with scarce water.

In the distance, to one side of the road, we spotted a group of guanacos which fled instantly as they heard the engine. It was incredible to see them run so elegantly and fast. They truly surprised us.

It was worth staying awake during the journey on the truck and being alert to the views between Villa Unión and the access to Talampaya National Park. Once there, the high reddish walls and the various circuits amazed us and left us speechless.