Argentina: Patagonia

These are pictures from a geological field trip in Northern Patagonia, in the Neuquen Bassin. The bassin was covered by the Pacific Ocean during Jurassic times, before the emergence of the Andes. Now, it's a land of estancias filled with cattle, sheep, goats and gauchos, of mapuche indians, of oil wells and big oil money, of recently discovered dinosaur fossils and footsteps. On the western edge of the bassin the infinite pampa meets thee foothills of the Andes.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Display of Falkland nationalism greets the inbound traveler at the small Neuquen airport Crossing in Plaza Huincul, former oil capital of the bassin, now deserted since the 1997 move of local oil company YPF's headquarters to Buenos Aires
Pehuen trees (or "monkey puzzle trees") evolved during the time of dinosaurs. They are one of the symbols of Patagonia, even appearing on the provincial flag.
Studying the geology of the Neuquen bassin, south of the town of Zapala
Clouds building up in the Patagonian semi-desert



Plays of light and shadows on the hills.

The scarcely vegetated mountains have been submitted by the White Man to the law of property: huge estancias separated by barbed wire belong to landlords who often live in Buenos Aires. The estancias workers live in isolated farms, while their cattle, sheep and horses roam more or less freely in the canyons between the mountains. Local Mapuche such as the group that met us up the mountain one of the days are wary of re-asserting their rights and reclaiming these ancestral lands.
Patagonian vegetation is scarce but tough. A matter of survival in this extreme environment of sun and wind.
At the entrance of the National Park of Laguna Blanca, the visitor is invariably amazed by the incredible landscape. The pampa here meets the foothills of the Andes.