Our next stop was Parque Nacional Talampaya north through more arid country from last nights camp. This park can only be visited as part of a tour, so we joined a group of about 20 in the small bus and headed up the paved road into the park. The road did not last long and then we were in the bed of the Rio Talampaya bouncing along through sand and boulders. We spent the next 3 hours in a gorge with 150 m vertical red sandstone sides, looking at the rock formations, petroglyphs, condors, and nandu's (large flightless birds). It was a spectacular place one of the best gorges we have visited.

Back at the visitors center we idled away the afternoon in the sun, watching the drivers of tourist buses feed the pack of foxes that now seem to live off the charity of tour buses. We counted 9 in all. They were amazingly calm around people coming up to within 20 ft when food was on offer. It's the closest I have ever been to a fox. They are usually more skittish than that.