Places, nature and landscapes around a very special region that I’d love to call “Home”

On my recent visit to Argentina, I went back to this region where arid meets moist, the West meets the East, the North meets the South, and people from all around the country find their homes.

This is the Southern end of the so-called “Dry Chaco”, in the Northeast of the Province of San Luis. The geography here is set by a large barrier of mountains (“Sierras de los Comechingones”) reaching slightly over 2000 m and starting at a flatland around 700–900 m.a.s.l.

Clouds and storms coming from the East get stuck at the mountains, leaving their waters mostly up there. Thus, the air in the foothills feels rather dry. But not totally dry, because the rainwater filters through the rocks and emerges later on forming streams and rivers that give back some humidity to the air.

This creates a series of microclimates, wonderful summer weather, and views dominated by rather arid but not at all desertic landscapes, with very wet and green valleys along streams.

I showed you earlier some lovely spots along a stream, perfect to hike, contact Nature, and refresh yourself in the 30+ Celsius days of summer:

I also showed you already the rich local flora:

Let me now show you other shots more centered in landscapes and places.

Landscapes and mountains

This is the Southern part of this mountain chain, on a typical day of blue skies thanks to the mountains’ efforts to keep the clouds aside -receiving their waters that will then reach the towns of the foothills as lovely streams.

To be more accurate, we took this photo right South of a small town called Papagallos:

This is how the mountains look late in the afternoon when the Sunrays hit on them almost horizontally. This was shot above the town of Villa de Merlo, around halfway to the summit of the mountain chain.

To get to the spot where I took that photo, you need to drive up:

Buildings

The region includes several buildings that date from the 18th century up to modern times. They are modest but quite nice, and most importantly, many are surrounded by pristine nature.

Like this small church in Villa Elena:

Or the central church at the main city of the region, Villa de Merlo:

Or this monastery near Carpinteria, where signs ask visitors to please keep the silence of the place:

Like much of the region, the surroundings of the monastery are an ode to local nature, totally unspoiled. Being the summer quite advanced, many of these plants were already ripening their fruits:

Dry meets wet

It is quite common here to see deep green and arid grasses in the same scene:

Especially around water streams. This one is Piedras Blancas (“white stones”) stream:

And this is the Villa Elena stream, a hell of a natural water park! In this case just having breakfast by (or rather inside!) the stream:

Where, exactly?

The region is the red rectangle in this map:

In the center of Argentina, down there in South America some 800 km from Buenos Aires:

If you ever (want to) visit this wonderful yet not much-exploited region, do let me know!

www.lucianoabriata.com I write and photoshoot about everything that lies in my broad sphere of interests: nature, science, technology, programming, etc. Become a Medium member to access all its stories (affiliate links of the platform for which I get small revenues without cost to you) and subscribe to get my new stories by email. To consult about small jobs check my services page here. You can contact me here.