Word: rioja
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...fossils were seized last year by officials of the Argentinian province La Rioja from an expedition which Romer headed. They are valuable, Romer said, because they are all "new animals"--genera and species not know before. They are fossils of small reptiles from the Early Triasic Period, 200-250 million years...
Although all fossil collecting is under control of the Argentinian government, the provincial governor of La Rioja defied the law and issued a personal decree forbidding the removal of any fossils from La Rioja. He was responding to a "they're robbing the province of its natural heritage" campaign which began when the value of the expedition's find became known...
Romer said that several Argentinian papers subsequently criticized the governor's action, "a national scandal." The governor remained adamant until two months ago when he agreed to release the fossils for five years' study. However, the fossils are still in La Rioja. Romer said he expects to get them eventually...
...Rioja, a picturesque town of 35,-000 on the Andean slopes of northwestern Argentina, the little donkeys of the community are nicknamed plateritos, because they are just as lovable and usually just as hungry as famed Poet Juan Ramon
Allowed for the most part to forage for themselves by night, the plateritos chewed the grass of the town square down to nubbins, ate up the flowerbeds around the bandstand, munched the leaves and pink buds off the scrubby palo borracho trees that line La Rioja's streets. They followed housewives from the marketplace and sometimes quietly stole vegetables from their baskets. At newsstands they even snagged and ate the latest edition of the daily Cordoba. As the pack prospered and multiplied on such fare, fines were imposed on loose burros and a squad of "burreros" was formed...