After what seemed like ages of driving through nothingness, we arrived in Valle Fertil mid-afternoon and headed to the tourist office. In Ischigualasto Park, the tours are done driving around in convoy and we wanted to check we could take the van (yes), could we camp there overnight (yes) and was there somewhere we could camp in Valle Fertil (yes). Unfortunately the municipal camp was a bit deserted and not very inviting. And nowhere was open for food (damn these siestas!) so we stopped off at a shop, bought some bread (low-carb has gone out the window here), had a snack, filled with petrol and decided to head to Ischigualasto that night. It was another drive through barren desert along rollercoaster roads, but as we were driving later the light was different and pretty cool. We got to the park at about 8.15pm. Tours stop at 5pm but the information office is open until 9pm, so we were allowed on to the campsite, with light, electricity and free wifi (although my iPad wouldn't connect, hence no blog update that night).
We were the only ones there that night. There was rain and thunder & lightning and the odd fox running around. But really, I wasn't scared at all. I'm just glad we had our own toilet and didn't have to trek to the bathroom in pitch black.
We joined the tour on Thursday morning. Saw some pretty cool rock formations and had a really informative guide. But didn't understand much of what he was saying cos it was all in Spanish! Bit disappointing given that they charge foreigners almost twice the price for Argentinians. But it was fun testing the van's off-road capabilities (not sure we'll be doing very much).
