Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cueva de las Manos (closed in low season), with 22km of gravel and 4km on foot via a
footbridge.
Guides in Perito Moreno organize day trips (around AR$350 per person plus park en-
trance fee). The trip from Perito Moreno is about 3½ hours (one way) over rocky roads.
Once you arrive at the caves, free 45-minute guided walks are given every hour by
knowledgeable staff. There's an information center and a basic
confitería
at the reception
house near the southern entrance, but it's best to bring your own food.
On the doorstep of Argentina's best deposit of rock art,
Hostería Cueva de las Manos
( 02963-432207, in Buenos Aires 011-5237-4043;
www.cuevadelasmanos.net
; dm/s/d/tr
AR$140/520/620/720, 4-6 person cabin from AR$960; Nov-Apr)
, formerly Estancia Los
Toldos, sits a short distance off RN40, 52km south of Perito Moreno. Guests can stay in
cabins, the
hostería
or a 20-person dormitory. Rooms are plain but well appointed.
Guests and tour groups can approach Cueva de los Manos via a scenic but challenging
hiking trail (summer only) that starts from the
hostería
, descends the canyon and crosses
Río de las Pinturas.
Rustic but welcoming
Estancia Casa de Piedra
( 02963-432199; off RN40; campsites
per person AR$35, dm AR$150; Jan-Feb)
, a basic ranch 76km south of Perito Moreno, has
plain rooms and allows camping. It's a good spot for trekkers to hunker down: there are
nearby volcanoes and you can take a beautiful day-long hike to the Cueva de las Manos
via Cañon de las Pinturas (nonguests pay AR$30 for access). From the
estancia
, it's
12km to the canyon, then another 6km to the cave - estimate about 10 hours round-trip.
Hikers should get an early start and bring their own food; guides can be contracted here
but the trail is clear enough to go without one.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Bajo Caracoles
Blink and you'll miss this dusty gas stop. Little has changed since Bruce Chatwin
dubbed it 'a crossroads of insignificant importance with roads leading all directions ap-
parently to nowhere' in
In Patagonia
in 1975. If you're headed south, fill the tank, since
it's the only reliable gas pump between Perito Moreno (128km north) and Tres Lagos
(409km south). From here RP39 heads west to Lago Posadas and the Paso Roballos to
Chile.
Lodgers put on a brave face for
Hotel Bajo Caracoles
( 02963-490100; d AR$380)
,
with old gas heating units that require a watchful eye. It also stocks basic provisions,
serves decent coffee and has the only private telephone in town.
