Cueva de las Manos

Monday, February 9th: A long, hard drive over even more challenging ripio paid off in big dividends as we reached Cueva de las Manos, a world heritage site located in a spectacular canyon. With a setting reminiscent of the Grand Canyon as a backdrop, we viewed the very interesting cave paintings, with an estimated age of 1000-9000 years. In such a nice setting, and with the Chummy still showing some "hiccups" from the previous day´s roadside repair, another 2 hours were committed to resolving its remaining steering issues. Finally, in late afternoon, we started the grueling drive to our next destination. On the way out, we stopped at a small shack for the advertised coffee. (Our only commercial choice in an otherwise barren land.) Due to our late start after the tour and the rougher-than-expected conditions of the road, we finally pulled in to Estancia Telken well after 9 p.m. for a night of "campio" (as Stan calls it). After setting up our tents, we sat down to a stellar meal prepared by Chef Jack, who (unfortunately for him) has demonstrated his cooking prowess, with even the most rudimentary of ingredients. Exhausted, but well fed, we all slipped into our sleeping bags well after midnight under the bright luminescence of a near-full moon.