Baho Caracoles, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Bajo Caracoles, Santa Cruz, Argentina. 5-16-2010

Odometer: 4617.4 miles

Bajo Caracoles must be close to no where. I arrived only 1 to 2 hours after dark. The last piece of tar I saw was just over 390 miles back. Traffic was very heavy today too, a total of 13 cars, the last just over 160 miles before I finished for the night. When I pulled into town the local policeman was waiting for me. He said he could see my headlight about 7 miles away and thought he would wait to see what was wrong. People generally don’t come up Ruta 40 at night, and never in the winter. I had spotted the lights of the city at least 7 miles away. I had only been lost for the last 5 hours or so. By dead reckoning, choosing the fork that inclined most northward I found the right road. There had been 3 different times during the day that ruta 40 had split with out a sign as to which fork went where. I must have chosen poorly at one point, but found the way in the end. Bad Uncle Watler.

The policeman directed me to only hotel in town and said hw would look in on me in the morning. I was gone to La Cueva de Las Manos, before he arrived. When I got back to the hotel around 12:00, the hotel owner asked if I knew why the police were looking for me. I told him they were concerned about the place I was staying. He just looked at me funny.

La Cueva de las Manos, Bajo Calacoles, Argentina. 5-17-2010

La Cueva de las Manos is out next to the middle of nowhere. You have to go through nowhere to get there. I know this, because I just went though nowhere yesterday to get to Bajo Calacoles. They think the cave and the canyon were first inhabited about 10,000 years ago. That is older than Uncle Walter. The hunting pictures (the paintings of animals and such) date about 10,000 years ago. The positive hand paintings ( where they painted there hand with paint and placed it on the wall) date back about 2560 years ago, when Uncle Walter was a young lad. The negative hand prints (where the paint is sprayed around the hand) date back about 2190 years ago, about when Uncle Walter first learned to be naughty from Uncles Skosh and Math. All eras can be seen in the first photo. Most of the prints are of the left hand. They also obvioulsy tried to potty train their cat, and one dude didn't have any hands, so they used his foot. Through chemical analysis they can tell the colors used are from local minerals in the soil. It was mixed with the blood from guanacos. It was too pasty still, so they added human urine to make it really soupy. It was then sucked up in to the mouth through an old guanaco bone and blown across the hand. (Sounds delightful, huh Knut?)

There are two outstanding theories as to why the hand prints are smaller and with narrow fingers, and the majority left. Both theories start with the people being mostly right handed and therefore holding the bone straw in the right hand to paint. Here the theories part. The first then, is that the prints are mostly of young males receiving rights of passage into adulthood. The other is that the prints are mostly made by mothers and their children while the men were out hunting and gathering. It all sounded fishy to me and my fellow tour member Roberto. There had to be a better explanation.

Now, thanks to Uncle Walter and Roberto there is a third and most plausible theory. It is called the Roberto and Uncle Walter Most Plausible Theory. It is simple and comprehensive. “Todos los gringos a la pared!! Esta abajo aresto!!” When we demonstrated it for the photo, the tour guide asked to explain why mostly left prints then. I explained Skosh, Math and I used our right hands to gesture to the arresting officer while his partner took our prints. The dates are explained in the first paragraph. Simple. Better.

Uncle Walter

P.S. Knut, the next time your mom serves peas, just eat them.