I went first thing this morning to see the Walichu caves just outside of El Calafate. The caves have 4,000 year old fingerpaintings. You know, cave drawings/paintings. Some hand prints and some other designs.
I think in this one you can more clearly see the "negative hands" with the white print with red outline. My guide called the upside down ones negative, and I certainly don't know that's not what they're called. These ones are made by putting your hand on the rock (and they chose good rock to do it on as there were many types in these caves) and then using guanaco blood to paint all around it. Guanacos are related to llamas and camels and are essentially wild llamas. Although I have been on the lookout for them, I haven't seen any yet. And I doubt I'm going to find any in BA.
Here are some fingerpaintings of people. They seemed to be of the stick-figure school of fingerpaint. The really tall one on the left is the shaman.
Some paintings of caves maybe? And then lots of dots in a circle.
After visiting the caves, I went to check out the regional museum in Calafate. I had been told it was small and quite good. Both accurate descriptions. It had an exhibit on all of the extinct big mammals and mega-animals (that is not what they were called, but that's what I'm calling them). They had some cool bones and fossils on display. Like a mini natural history museum.
Then came the best sign in the exhibit. Apparently there is a heated scientific debate on the domestication of the guanaco. Enough to merit an asterisk. I mean, this could have wide ranging implications today, don't you think?
And because I'm a sucker for scenery: Here are some photos from where the caves are. It's got the steppe, Lake Argentina, and the Andes. I couldn't resist.
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