The footprints
From the ice age.
Máxsipoz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Natifuzz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · MoMiA07 — Public domain · Roblespepe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · MoMiA07 — Public domain · Máxsipoz — CC BY-SA 4.0
Pehuen-Có is a quiet beach village in southern Buenos Aires province, founded in 1948, whose name joins two Mapuche words meaning roughly «pines and water», after its planted woods and long beaches. It is the last beach on the province's coast before the Bahía Blanca estuary. Its strangest feature: along part of the beach a platform of hardened clay under the sand keeps the footprints of animals from the last ice age, including large extinct mammals and big flightless birds, revealed when the tide is out and the sea clears the sand. The area is a scientific reserve, so walk it carefully and do not touch the prints. The village square has life-size models of the ancient animals that lived here. The village and beach are free, an outing from nearby Monte Hermoso. Check tide times to see the footprints.
From the ice age.
Ancient beasts.
A quiet village.
Coronel Rosales district, about 81 km from Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires province
At low tide, when the sea clears sand from the clay platform; the area is protected, so do not touch them.