Larry Memmott's Blog

We visited Cal Orck’o and the Cretaceous Park this morning. It’s definitely a worthwhile stop in Sucre, and from the management we understood that it will be getting even better.

Cal Orck’o is the site of a major cement plant of the disputed Fanesca cement company. It is also the quary where Fanesca gets its gypsum and where they have found thousands of dinosaur footprints.

The company donated land next to the quary which the city has turned into the Cretaceous Park, with numerous life-size dinosaur statues scattered over the hillside. Not surprisingly, the kiddie portion of the park is the most fun. Kids can play various games, solve puzzles, and get their photos taken with more manageble-sized dinos.

The most disappointing aspect of the site is the lack of access to the quary itself. My guidebook bought the rather strained official explanation: that the quary is off limits in order to protect the dinosaur tracks. That is obviously untrue, since the tracks are laid out on a vertical stone wall and almost all of them are hundreds of feet out of reach.

At present, visitors have to content themselves with the poor view from a few token-operated binoculars. We were lucky enough to get a tour by the park management and were pleased to find committed people with a plan for improvement. As it turns out, the real reason why the quary is closed to visitors is that, until very recently, it was still operating as a quary for the cement company. Happily, the company has agreed to close the part of the quary closest to the park and work has begun preparing it to receive visitors.

Hopefully, people will soon be able to get a better look at the tracks, which include the longest continuous set of dinosaur footprints in the world, as well as tracks by various species.