San Luis
Posted 6 months, 1 week ago at 6:43 pm. Add a comment
‘La Puerto de Cuyo’ (the door to Cuyo), in reality called San Luis, is the capital city of the province of San Luis and is set in a gorgeous surrounding of mountains, plains, vineyards, reservoirs, and rivers and is the halfway stop between Buenos Aires and Mendoza. This area of Argentina travel mixes it up as it combines desert with mountains, green and lush forest with salt flats, and cities with tiny hillside villages, all different yet all unique and worth the visit.
The province of San Luis sees fairly moderate temperatures year round with summers between 17C-26C and winter between 5C-11C. Summers bring beautiful sunny weather, warm breezes, and sometimes heat waves that linger for days at a time. Winters are cool and bring occasional rain but are not long lasting and can actually be quite refreshing for hikes in the local parks and local mountain treks.
The city of San Luis, home to 58,000 inhabitants, is characterized by narrow and long roads, square airy houses with large patios, low buildings, and colonial architecture, churches, and city plazas. The city was founded in 1594 and although it has been reconstructed, it still houses many of its older buildings including the 18th century Convento de San Domingo located in the Plaza of Independence. The city also offers plenty of museums, parks, and a number of quaint cafes and cozy restaurants where the peaceful and kind people of San Luis, called Puntanos, pass their time with friends and families.
One of the main reasons to visit San Luis is to take advantage of the Parque Nacional Sierra de Las Quijadas, a park originally built to preserve the archaeology and paleontology deposits from the area. This beautiful national park is a mix of steep valley’s and canyons, and red soiled steep earth formation and can be visited by either a day hike that takes visitors around the outskirts of the park or a overnight trek that takes visitors to the valley’s and canyons and the gives them the opportunity to camp for a few nights under the stars. The area is quite complex and any moderate hikes should be taken with an experienced guide; the area is known for heavy and sudden summer rains, flash floods, and difficult hiking conditions.
Only 35km from San Luis is a 5×15km long salt flat that resembles the Salinas Grandes (salt flats) in the province of Jujuy, however on a slightly smaller scale but has the added bonus of salt hills, great for a view and definitely worth the visit.
There are also plenty of mountain treking, horseback riding, hiking, and biking activities to be taken advantage of in this area as well as a series of reservoirs that are popular for water sports, fishing, and wind surfing during the spring and summer months.