Dinosaurs!

My daughter did some research while we were planning our trip to Argentina and she read about several paleontological sites. Apparently, Patagonia is one of the richest places for fossils in the world and it still harbors a wealth of treasures. According to the info we received, the province of Neuquen in particular has become a "paradise" for paleontologists. We decided to make the effort to see one of the sites that was touted: Centro Paleontologico Lago Barreales.

We flew from Buenos Aires to Neuquen. While I was waiting for luggage, my daughter found the tourist information counter and got some great information on who to contact to get to the site: it's not on the beaten path, by any stretch of the imagination. See that white building on the far side of the lake, in the distance after about a 2 hour drive outside of town? That's where we're headed. 

My daughter thought it would be fun to rent a car and try and find it on our own. I opted to pay for a car that came with a driver who was also multilingual. Smart move on my part, don't you agree? Here's what the site looked like when we pulled up.

It was first thing in the morning and no technicians were out working yet.

Finally, one tech started his day. Shoveling, then scraping the top layer, then sweeping the finer layers, then down on hands and knees to see what he might find today.......

Inside the "museum" we could see how they encase the bones they find to safely move them inside for further study.

It was a warm, clear, calm day and I'm glad we visited first thing in the morning.......

This is a the road as we headed back into town to catch our bus to the next stop on our Patagonian adventure. Makes you wonder how someone thought to start digging here.......... in this exact spot............. I'm so glad we had our driver/guide to take us back to town.