Following the steps of dinosaurs...
Back in Sucre again, and doing yet more spanish classes. Caught an overnight bus from Samaipata back to Sucre and this time it was smooth sailing, ie. only took 12 hours instead of 27 :)
To reward myself for surviving another long haul trip, I jumped onto a dinotruck after a couple of hours rest at my hostel, and joined a bunch of backpackers to visit the recently discovered site that is full of dinosaur footprints.
The site of Cal Orck'o is near an open pit mine. Due to the movement of the plates, the whole section of earth is pushed up and now stands vertical, which makes it all the easier to see all the footprints as the sun shines down on them. The guide explained the different shapes of footprints made by each different type of dinosaur, and then off we went to identify most of the footprints on the wall. There were tonnes of them going in each and every direction, of all sizes and shapes. As there continues to be construction (or rather digging) on the site, parts of the path continues to fall off, but then new layers and paths also continues to be found. It´s all a bit surreal to stand in front of dinosaur footprints, and especially having so many in one place. It´s also a bit strange that construction continues just around the corner. The cost of preserving those footprints is estimated at around 8 million dollars, and the Bolivian government has applied for World Heritage recognition by UNESCO. Once that´s done they can possibly get internation donation for its preservation.
Oh, we also got to wear those hard hats worn by miners, and saw big chunks of cross section of the Earth layers.
Here are more details about the site for those interested... (from http://pages.unibas.ch/earth/paleo/molino.htm)
ps. photos coming soon..
posted by Susan @ 5:22 PM
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