Page 183 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

ARGENTINA REGION B Y REGION  181

CÓRDOBA AND

THE ANDEAN

NORTHWEST

Varied and distinctive, the landscape of this region is marked by
deep canyons strati fied into all the colors of the rainbow, huge salt
lakes shimmering with pink flamingos, and prairies baked by the
intense heat of the subtropical sun. With a tangible pre-Columbian
and colonial past, the Northwest boasts well-preserved land marks
set amid spectacular desert and mountain scenery.
The pre-conquest settlers of this The land and its guardian Pachamama
region were the Aymara, Quechua, (Earth Mother) are also central to the local
Comechingones, and Sanavirones. With mind -set. Agri cul ture and livestock
the arrival of the Spanish conquis tadors provide most of the area’s income,
in the 1500s, some tribes were dis placed coupled with a growing tou rism industry.
and many rendered extinct. The Jesuit Much of the region’s beauty can be
priests, who followed the colonizers in experienced on road jour neys through
the 16th century, played a leading role the Cafayate and Humahuaca quebradas
in the development of the towns of (ravines). Most cities have a well-preserved
Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Córdoba, Jesuit heritage with colonial churches,
Salta, and Jujuy as major administra tive, convents, and civic edifices that give
cultural, and religi ous centers. them an old-world feel. The south of the
Today, the region is still thrillingly province is considered by many to be
Andean; the influence of the Aymara- and Argentina’s second wine region, after
Quechua-speaking people from Jujuy – Mendoza, and a source of deli cious
their folk music, beautiful textiles, and semisweet Torrontés wines as well as
cuisine – extends down into the more some exceptional red varietals produced
mestizo societies of Tucumán and Salta. by local boutique wineries.

Finca La Rosa, converted from a bodega into a wine-themed hotel and spa, Cafayate
Arid Andean foothills with the mountains rising behind, Parque Nacional Los Cardones

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