Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Huincul, Villa El Chocón and Centro Paleontológico Lago Barreales - lie within a
couple of hours' drive from Neuquén city and will delight anyone even slightly inter-
ested in dinosaurs.
About 80km southwest of Neuquén city, Villa El Chocón boasts the remains of
the 100-million-year-old, 14m, eight-ton, meat-eating Giganotosaurus Carolinii, the
world's largest known carnivore. Discovered in 1993 by fossil hunter Rubén
Carolini, the dinosaur is even bigger than North America's better known Tyranno-
saurus rex. El Chocón is also home to giant dinosaur footprints along the shore of
Ezequiel Ramos Mexía reservoir. (One local confessed how families used to fire up
asados- barbecues - in the footprints before they knew what they were!)
For true dino-freaks, the best place to satiate the hunger for bones is the
Centro
Paleontológico Lago Barreales
( 0299-15-4182295;
www.proyectodino.com.ar
;
Costa Dino-
saurio; AR$40; 9am-7pm)
, located 90km northwest of Neuquén. Here you can actu-
ally work - as in get your hands dirty digging - on-site with paleontologists in one
of the world's only fully functioning dinosaur excavation sites open to the public.
You can visit the museum and take a guided tour of the site in about 1½ hours, but
the real pleasure comes from the unique opportunity offered by sticking around.
Prices (which help fund research) are US$105 for one day, US$270 for two days/
one night, or about US$780 for three days/two nights. Bear in mind that this is a
working archaeological site, and visits (even day trips) should be organized well in
advance. Under the supervision of renowned paleontologist and project director
Jorge Calvo, you'll spend your days dusting off Cretaceous-period bones and pick-
ing at fossils, and your nights in the silence of the desert. As Calvo says, 'when you
set to work picking at the soft rock, uncovering fossilized leaves and bones that are
90 million years old, you forget about the rest of the world - some people even for-
get to eat.'
From Neuquén's bus terminal, there are regular buses to Plaza Huincul (AR$35,
1¾ hours), and all buses between Neuquén and Zapala stop there. There are also
regular buses to Villa El Chocón from Neuquén (AR$28, 1¼ hours). Centro Paleon-
tológico Lago Barreales is a bit more difficult to reach; contact the site for driving
directions or possible transportation options (there are no buses to the site). If you
drive, take RP51, not RN7.
Tours
Turismo Arauquen
GUIDED TOUR
( 0299-442-6476;
www.arauquen.com
; H Yrigoyen 720; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat)
Of-
fers guided visits to paleontology sites of Lago Barreales, Plaza Huincul and Villa El
Chocón for about AR$260 per person (minimum four), which can be combined with
