Valley of the Moon

The Valley of the Moon is in the Northeast of the Province of San Juán on the Route 510 (formerly 141), 314 km away from the City of San Juán, Capital of the Province of San Juán) and it is the most important tourist landmark in the province. The creation of the Provincial Park has contributed to the preservation of the area and has helped to recover the wild fauna. The park is the desert valley between the mountains of Cerros Colorados in the east and the Cerro Los Rastros in the west.

Because of the strange formations and the similarity to the lunar landscape, the place has been used as background for several films such as Highlander II and many commercial advertisements. The Valley of the Moon is becoming a great centre of interest, not only for the magnificence of its landscape, flora and fauna, but rather for the palaentologic discoveries that have aroused interest in many scientists from all over the world.

The Valley of the Moon is a great depression: 63.000 hectares (60km long, 15 km wide and the mountains are approximately 1200 meters high), which the wind and the water have eroded during centuries and grit and gravel have formed fanciful shapes in the rocks. The place is called Triasic Basin of Ischigualasto (geologic formations) by geologists, (Ischigualasto is according to tradition, the name of an Indian chief who lived in the area). The area of Talampaya in the province of La Rioja, belongs to the same basin as Ischigualasto.

The Triasic Period lasted 45 million years, it is the time in which the earth began to be inhabited by reptiles that multiplied very quickly.

Before the formation of the Andes, the region was covered by an immense lake in which after millions of years a coal field developed, this can be seen in the southern part of the Valley where the rocks are darker. The landscape doesn't offer big differences of height (the Cerro Morado is 1800 m high) and the area is crossed by gulches of streams that only exist during the rainy season. The curious shapes of the rocks are not solely due to the action of the wind, water or rain, but also to the differences in temperature which have helped erode the rocks. The particles risen by the wind hit against the rocks. Since the soft rocks wear away more quickly the result are these curious forms. Parts of them fall apart, and their names have then to be changed by the tourists that visit the place.

In the Valley of the Moon a great depot of bone pieces and fossilised ferns which are 225 to180 million years old, have been found. The scientists have been able to identify up to 63 different animals, including dinosaurs. In this long depression, stones have been formed thanks to the erosion of the wind. The visitors have baptised the different rocks as Cerro Morado (volcanic formation, 1400 m high, from which one has an extraordinary view of the area) (it takes approximately 3 to 4 hours to climb it, it is formed by sandy and loamy rocks in the base and by lava in the upper part),

Barrancas Coloradas (with brilliant and opaque stones), El Gusano ( The Worm, a formation of laminations of sedimentary rocks) among which thousands of plants got caught, Valle Pintado (Coloured Valley), Cementerio de Fósiles (Fossils Cementery, with skeletons of prehistoric animals), Cancha de Bochas (with round stones that look like bowls), La Piedra Loca (The Crazy Stone), La Foca (The Seal), La Paloma ( The Dove), El Submarino (The Submarine), La Ventana (the Window, great opening of high rocks from which one can see The Mushroom), El Bosque Petrificado (The Fossilised Forest), La Esfinge (the Sphinx), El Loro (The Parrot), El Hongo (The Mushroom, pedestal of great height), La Lámpara de Aladino (Aladin's Lamp), El Indio (the Indian), El Cóndor (the Condor), El Obelisco ( The Obelisk), El Elefante (The Elephant), El Cañón (the Canyon), El Cura (The Priest), Los Cajones (The Drawers).

The mountains that surround the valley are younger, they hardly have 70 million years.

The Indian that inhabited the region painted the rocks, and arrow tips can be found in the whole valley. The loneliness and the intense colours, the imposing size of the valley and the stones, transform the Valley of the Moon into a charmed place.