This is a site that I wanted to visit already the first time I was in Argentina 20 years ago. But the logistics worked against me. I came to Comodoro, which is the closest place where you can rent a car, on a Sunday morning, why I did not get off the bus. Going forth and back from Comodoro is close to a 600 km drive.
But I was still so intrigued about it, and the chief reason that I started my trip in Argentina and not in Chile was exactly that this time I was dead set on to go see the petrified forest, and I was able to do so as an excursion from Puerto Deseado with a guide from CIS Tours. (Thus, I did not have to drive myself.) Puerto Deseado is somewhat closer, and it was only a 500 km ride. As a token of how remote this place is: it's takes its name from the village Jaramillo that appeared in the previous set – it's over 150 km from the site.
So you may ask: what is a petrified forest? A petrified forest consists of tree trunks that have been buried under volcanic ash protecting the them from the regular process of decay. Instead silicates and other minerals in the ash and water filled up the trunks, and by time stone was formed around the trunks, retaining their texture. This phenomen can be seen in several places; I have read about at least three more sites in Argentina alone. However, the forests of Jaramillo are not only much larger, but they are also supposedly unique in that the trunks have been fossilised where they stood; at other sites the trunks have drifted there from elsewhere. Today, no forest can grow at this site, but the volcanic eruption occurred during the Jurassic age, long before the Andes rose and the climate was entirely different.
Beside the petrified tree trunks, the place also offer a mystic type of moon landscape, with some weird rock formations. Most of these pictures come first because I took them on the way to the site. Thus, you will need to wait a bit for the tree trunks.
| Main page Argentina and Chile 2017 | Svensk version |
