Dino Tracks

Yesterday we visited the "largest archaeological site", according to the Lonely Planet, of dinosaur tracks in the world, located in the midst of a cement company. In fact the cement company were the ones who first discovered the tracks back in 1994 when they were blasting chunks of land. They uncovered a vertical wall roughly 100 meters high covered with dino tracks. Of course the wall used to be flat ground back 68 million years ago. The arid region of Bolivia where its located used to be a hot and steamy swamp land surrounded by volcanoes. There is evidence of both fresh and salt water from way back during the dinosaur era.

Unfortunatly, we had to go with a tour, since the cement company still digs and blasts up to the wall where the tracks are located. There is a "dino truck" that leaves three times a day from the plaza de armas, which happened to be out of commission for repairs. So we just rode a plain old tourist bus. However, this was by far the best tour we have been on. And the English speaking guide was actually coherent. She started out with a comic description of the type of dino tracks we were going to see using miniature plastic toys that were placed around a hole representing the lake 68 million years ago. We tried unsuccessfully to control ourselves, but one wise crack over the size of the dinosaurs verses the toys, and all was lost. The dino tracks however were AWESOME! Our guide was telling us that the wind, water and actions of the cement company keep eroding the sand away, displaying more tracks every day, and destroying old ones. The newest ones appeared just a week ago! It was just amazing to see a vertical wall that used to be level ground 68 million years ago covered with the footprints of some of the most bizarre species Earth has ever seen. We saw four different types of tracks. Three of them were of herbivores and one of a carnivore like big old T-Rex.

Apparently the tracks were preserved by volcanic ash, for our viewing pleasure 68 million years later. We were also one of the last groups to see the tracks up close and personal, and I mean we got pretty damn close, close enough to even touch some. Next month they are opening up a museum on top of the hill across from where the tracks are located which will be the observation point. Pretty lame in my view, since they will hardly be visible from that far away. The Bolivian government is trying to get the site certified as a UNESCO heritage site so they can procure funds to better preserve the tracks. We were told it will cost somewhere near a 1 million dollars to inject silicon into the wall to harden the tracks.

On a completely different note. We were just sitting in the plaza de armas, taking in the sun and chatting it up with the shoe shine boys. When all of a sudden, this very old, toothless man sat down next to Sam and tried to exchange a ratty old bag, first for Sams futbol jersey, then his pants, and when that failed he offered to trade the bag for me. Tempting but no sale.