At Walichu we saw prehistoric (pre-Tehuelche people) cave drawings found on the walls of an escarpment on the shore of Lake Argentino. The paintings are 4500 years old (upper Paleolithic period) and include human figures, camelids (likely guanaco) and handprints. Francisco Moreno ‘discovered’ the paintings when he was surveying the lake.
Iron oxide and ferrite combined with guanaco fat, plant resin, gypsum, egg white and human saliva were all used to make red paint.
We took a nice walk down to the Reserva Laguna Nimez, a marshy area of Lake Argentino. We saw black swans, ibis, flamingoes and quite a few other birds.
We had lunch down the street. By fluke we found gluten free bread.
On the way back to town we visited the Glaciarium, a glacier interpretation center with documentaries on the Patagonian ice fields. We’ve never seen so much information about snow and ice! We watched a great video of the Perito Moreno glacier which enhanced our visit from yesterday. We intended to visit the Fernet Branca Ice Bar. Sadly it was closed (maybe permanently).
Tomorrow we leave El Calafate and drive around the lake to El Chalten for some hiking in the mountains.
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