This city really doesn't deserve a post, I consider this to be a warning to all NEVER to come to this place. Really, you don't need to.
I´m not sure about the precise english translation of Rioja, but I think it translates loosely to "Purgatory" on the optimistic side, or pessimistically as one of the circles of Dante´s hell. The city is fairly small, located in a basin next to some mountains around 300km from Mendoza, and once you arrive it takes a supreme effort to leave. There is such high demand to leave La Rioja that all of the bus seats that recline into beds are booked up almost a week in advance.
So when we arrived at 8 pm on November 17th, after a day of touring desert national parks in up to 117 degree heat and then a 4 hour busride in a beatup old bus without airconditioning, we found that our options were pretty limited. In order to escape we had a 6 hour bus ride in front of us in a normal seat that could begin at 12am, 3am or 8am. After much discussion and much visitation to the ticket counters of different buslines which we learned later were collectively selling tickets for the same buses, we decided to give ourselves some relief, find a hotel somewhere, and take a shower.
By 10pm we had managed to insult one taxi driver for supposing that he would have change, and two hotelkeepers for requesting to view a hotel room and thus insinuating that their establishments might be sub-par. But at last we had a room at the PLAZA hotel downtown, a four star establishment with a rooftop pool, a delicious continental breakfast (besides the ubiquitous awful coffee) and interior decor rivalling Motel 6. At 10pm with the temperature still in the 90s and not a breath of wind, that pool felt great and we were the only ones in it!
November 17th was the day of the Desert Parks for Pedro and I.
In the morning we visitted Parque Nacional Ischigualasto, also known as Valley of the Moon due to it´s barren landscape. In the area of the park, continental uplift of the Andes has exposed around 45 million years of sedimentation from the Triassic period. On the western edge of the park are the oldest dark yellow rocks, in the middle of the park are grey and light pink sediment from a middle period, and to the east are the the tall red cliffs from the late triassic. The place is a goldmine of dinosaur bones. We took a 3.5 hour bus tour with stops to see various rock formations caused by wind erosion and such.
We didn´t seen any dinosaur bones on site other than in the museum, but we did see some leaf impressions and lots of cool rocks.
In the afternoon we went to Parque Nacional Talampaya. Again a desert park with rock formations caused by wind erosion, but what was really impressive were the dramatic red canyons that were formed by fractures in the rock. The canyon walls are vertical and around 300 feet tall, separated by 100 feet or so of flat red sand and bright green acacia-looking trees.
There are also a lot of yellow-flowered bushes that look a bit like scotch broom, but they have no leaves and photosynthesize through their green bark.
At the entrance to one of the canyons of Talampaya there is an incredible series of petroglyphs from around 500AD.
The fauna of the parks are apparently paid, because we got great photo-ops of Guanacos (look like llamas), a Condor, a Suri (looks like an emu), and a grey fox. All throughout the desert areas we´ve visitted so far, there have been tons of small tan colored hawks (still need to find the exact name).
