Nos Aventures
EXPLORE THE CUEVA DE LAS MANOS WITH US!
Even before leaving for Argentina, we had a few ideas of what we absolutely wanted to see. The Cueva de las Manos (the cave of the hands) was one of them. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the importance of its cave paintings. It is also one of the first and most important settlement sites of hunter-gatherers in South America.
VISIT THE CUEVA DE LAS MANOS
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To see the Cueva de las Manos, you have to wait at the site reception for a guided tour to begin. In high season (December to February), there are very regular departures and the visit lasts 45 minutes. We put on construction helmets and we start by advancing along a large rock face. A path has been laid out for tourism, but at the time of the first inhabitants of this cave, it must have been much more complicated. Avoid going there in flip flops or sandals. In short, we walk a little and we arrive at the first traces of hands. We can also spot some paintings of animals, these are guanacos that largely populated the area at that time (If you want to know what a guanaco is, you can see some in our article dedicated to the Valdés Peninsula ). By the way, what era are we talking about? It would seem, according to the elements found on site, that the cave was occupied more than 13,000 years ago and until 1,000 years ago. There is even a rather interesting hunting scene. The artists would have used the relief of the rock wall to represent the landscape located in front of the cave. We therefore see human silhouettes encircling guanacos to lead them into a dead end.
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The more we progress on the path, the more we advance in time. Indeed, the cave paintings furthest from the entrance are also the most modern. You can see it very clearly, because the paintings are sharper and the painting is more vivid. They have not suffered the ravages of time like the older ones. We also see other abstract motifs, or imaginary creatures. One of the explanations would be that the inhabitants of this area painted what he saw in his dream.
The paintings are very well preserved today. This is linked to several factors: the cliff houses the water and sun paintings and the cave is not closed. As the air is very dry in this region, no fungus affects the paintings.
Some handprints do not have 5 fingers. Was its author hurt? Did he have a malformation? Or was he just a little prankster? We don't know... There is also a trace of a hand with 6 fingers and one with 3 elongated fingers! History Channel fans will surely think of aliens. For that of 3 fingers, it is in fact traces of paws of Ñandu (or Nandou of Darwin in French). It is an animal of the same family as the ostrich which probably fed the inhabitants of this shelter. What does a Ñandu look like?
At the end of the path, we have a superb view of the Rio Pinturas canyon. It is not surprising that nomadic peoples have settled (temporarily) in this superb valley. They had water, vegetation, and most certainly plenty of guanacos and ñandus as a food source.
We then set out again on the road, the Argentinians with whom we arrived by hitchhiking take us to the town of Gobernador Gregores. We spend the night before embarking on a day of hitchhiking, waiting for someone to pass on a road that hardly anyone uses...
We did well to challenge ourselves to go see the Cueva de las Manos. Even if the place seems lost in the middle of nowhere, in high season, a few vehicles pass by and the stop works! The site is magnificent and the paintings are really numerous and well preserved overall. The only negative point is that this site has been protected by fences only since 2006, whereas it has been known for much longer and has even been registered with UNESCO since 1999. Some ill-intentioned individuals have come to degrade the site by putting their own footprints or by extracting certain fingerprints to bring them home or sell them… Rest assured, the false fingerprints are not very numerous and are clearly distinguishable from the real ones. If you want to see handprints without having to come to South America, you can go see the cave of Gargas in the Pyrenees. His handprints date back over 30,000 years!
OUR PRACTICAL ADVICE
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Activity
The visit to the Cueva de las Manos costs 200 pesos for foreigners and 100 pesos for Argentines (2016 / 2017). If you pass with Argentinians, give them the money so that they pay your entrance and benefit from the local rate 😉 (Yes, we are tired of being considered a wallet on a leg)
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How to get to the Cueva de las Manos?
To access the Cueva de las Manos you have two options. You can arrive from the south from El Chalten or from the north from Perito Moreno. In both cases, you will either have to hitchhike or take the bus. Be aware that the bus from El Chalten costs around 75€ (one way…). We opted for hitchhiking and it must be said that it worked pretty well for us, but we were in high season (December to February).
Once near the Cueva de las Manos, if no one takes you directly, it is better to stop at the southernmost access, this is where most tourists pass.
There is also a hike of about twenty kilometers that starts from an estancia (a kind of large farm) in which you can sleep.
The ultimate solution, valid from the town of Perito Moreno, is to go through an agency. He offers transport to the entrance of the site and back to town, but we didn't even dare to look up the prices.
