Land Before Time: Valle del Encanto National Monument

It's another beautiful day in Chile and I've already had a number of great experiences that define the nature of travel in this country.

I started out this morning in Ovalle, getting lost as usual, and finding my way in the most unexpected manner. After making a number of wrong turns, finding one street closed to automobile traffic, and getting contradictory directions from a number of people, I pulled into a gas station to see what I could find out. Here I met some exceedingly helpful and friendly people, one of whom offered to show me the route out of town, since he was driving that way anyway. I followed him in his car until he had to turn off in a different direction, but by then I was on the right highway and the rest was easy.

My elusive destination, which very few people seem to be aware of, is the Valle del Encanto, a National Monument just outside of Ovalle. I found my way to this spectacular canyon, which is about three kilometers long and filled with pre-Columbian rock art. Known as arte rupestre in Spanish, this is a world away from the arte callejero I saw in Santiago and Valparaíso. Dating back as much as 4,000 years, the petroglyphs, pictograms, and bedrock mortars here represent a number of different cultures that passed through this solitary canyon.

I felt a sense of euphoria as I walked through the canyon. The mid-morning sun was heating up the day, the hillsides were thick with cacti, and the birds called out a symphonic melody from all sides. The quail seemed to have the main part in the symphony, with their distinctive cries that ring out out from the underbrush. A small creek runs down the middle of the canyon, lined with big shady willow trees. At the lower end of the canyon, large rocks and boulders are piled up, channeling the water into a series of pools known as "Los Baños del Inca," the baths of the Inca.

But the arte rupestre is the main attraction here. For thousands of years, this canyon held a special significance to the people of the area, a sanctuary where sacred rituals were carried out as part of the cycle of their lives. Just above Los Baños del Inca is a large boulder inscribed with a number of petroglyphs, a human figure and a number of geomorphic designs. This is the center of a gallery of arte rupestre, with mortar rocks alongside the creek and subtle pictograms depicting wavy red lines. It is clear that the year round source of running water was an important inspiration for the people who left their marks on these rocks. I sat here quietly, trying to imagine the people in this canyon who had come here before me.

I hiked through the canyon, finding another gallery of arte rupestre. This one is even more spectacular, with a series of petroglyphs carved in the rocks above a small pool of water. I found a shady spot, a small opening like a cave between the fallen boulders above the pool. I looked out at the petroglyphs, which appear to be human heads adorned with large ornate crowns or masks. These images have led some wild imaginations to speculate that spacemen wearing helmets visited the ancient people of this valley many centuries ago, but rational evidence does not support this theory.

A few small groups of people were there, but the park was by no means crowded. I was surprised that such an important site is so unknown. The archaeological significance of the Valle del Encanto was only discovered in 1946 and the site was declared a National Monument in 1973.

I spent all morning and part of the afternoon in this mesmerizing place. By the time I left Valle del Encanto, I was the only remaining visitor in the park. I stopped at the entrance station and talked with the park ranger, who gave me some great insights into the culture of the Molle people, who lived in this canyon from approximately 500 to 700 A.D. and created much of the arte rupestre. Before the Molle Culture, early hunters had been gathering here for as far back as 4,000 years. We looked out at the canyon below and he pointed out how this was a natural passageway for people migrating between the coast and the Andes Mountains. With year round running water, this was a lush valley in the middle of a vast parched desert.

After the Molle Culture, the Las Ánimas complex developed in the region from about 800 to 1000 A.D. This was followed by the Diaguita culture, which emerged around 1000 A.D. The Diaguita people were conquered by the Incas, who were the dominant culture in the area at the time of the Spanish arrival in the 1530s. For thousands of years, this secluded desert canyon has been a center of art, culture, and life.

Over the rest of the afternoon, I traveled from the hot desert canyon of Valle del Encanto to the foggy seashore at Punta de Choros. Traffic was light and the scenery was beautiful, perfect conditions for afternoon driving bliss. The road trip continues ...