Torotoro National Park Day 2

 The hostel host cooked a different soup for today’s breakfast, which was also chicken but with different vegetables and spices. This morning also switched from Torotoro to Cochabamba coffee. 

We started from a dinosaur footprint walk, then walked the Circuito del Vergel before we merged into the popular 800-step staircase down to the bottom of Torotoro Canyon. During the rim hike, we saw vultures soaring above the canyon and see the waterfalls from the opposite side of the Canyon, yet we also crumbed up a almost vertical section. Dinosaur prints are experienced along the journey and more luscious vegetation as you near the bottom.

By the time we reached the bottom, my legs were sore, so I skipped the swimming, ate my lunch, and climbed up back to the rim. Two of the members followed the guide to the waterfall to dip in the  some water holes before hiking back up.

We ended the tour just outside the village of Torotoro, where the guide led us through a gate into a fenced-off area on the side of a hill. The guide pointed out a trail of shadowy holes in the ground which were dinosaur footprints.  The entire hillside, protected by a skimpy wire fence, was completely covered in prints, some buried beneath mud and vegetation, but others standing out clearly on sheets of exposed rock.  Some of the footprints were only toes, indicating that the dinosaur who left them was running, and others with claws indicating carnivores. Archaeologists believe that the tracks were left during a mass migration of  dinosaurs which crossed Bolivia during the Cretaceous period (80-100 million years ago), the period when dinosaurs truly ruled the earth. 

We went back to the hostel around 2 pm to check out and then took a 3-hr bus back to Cochabamba hostel almost 7 pm. Most stores closed on Sundays, so I just ate my leftover sandwich for dinner, took a shower,and got rest.