2023-10-20 14:00:00
Throughout its territory, Argentina has hundreds of towns that dazzle with their charm. La Carolina, located in the heart of the Central Sierras of San Luis, is one of them. It has 300 inhabitants, stone streets and houses, incredible landscapes and is committed to a better quality of life; to revalue the cultural and architectural heritage. That is why within the framework of the Ordinary Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization it received the “Best Tourism Villages” recognition.
The history of this town begins in 1785 when Don Tomás Lucero found gold in that town lost among the hills. In 1792, to avoid a wave of adventurers in search of the precious metal, The then governor Marquis of Sobremonte intervened in the mines and baptized the place “La Carolina” in honor of King Carlos III.
Since then, sinkholes, excavations and vents coexisted in the bed of the yellow river, where the search for gold converged, transformed by the passage of time and the slopes, which left colored stalactites. “The river is full of minerals and given its oxidation it adopts that color that makes it unique” – says Luis Macagno, Secretary of Tourism.
In that river you can take the excursion to relive the search for gold in the river with a pana tasteless mixture of water with sand, so that the gold precipitates to the bottom of the conical dish, which they usually call Chinese hat or mining fountain.
And the walk inside the mines, where the custom of manually searching for gold is still preserved, It can be done all year round. Adventure tourism lovers can also do activities such as rappelling, climbing, zip lining, trekking and horseback riding.
You can also visit the Museum of Manuscript Poetry next to the gold mine or the historic house where Juan Crisóstomo Lafinur was born – son of a Spanish official who came to these lands with the gold rush -, poet, revolutionary and considered the first philosopher of Argentina and great-uncle of Jorge Luis Borges.
Distinction to the most beautiful tourist towns in the world
It is awarded by evaluating the landscape beauty, the commitment of the place and its people to natural and cultural resources, sustainability and tourism development. To participate, localities must have low demographic density (up to 15 thousand inhabitants), be located in a characteristic natural and/or cultural landscape and share values and lifestyles typical of the region valued for tourism.
La Carolina participated in this UNWTO initiative through the management and application of the Secretariat of Tourism of the Province and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Nation. Other Argentine towns that participated in this edition of “Best Tourism Villages” are Gaiman, Laguna Blanca, Los Antiguos, Tolhuin, Villa Traful and Yavi.
San Luis Tourism
After obtaining the recognition, the Secretary of Tourism of San Luis, Luis “Piri” Macagno, highlighted that it is a great pride for the province and for La Carolina to have obtained this distinction.
“It is the most important award given to a destination at a global level, a lot of work was put into the presentation, we were confident that La Carolina was going to have a prominent position but never this level of recognition by the UNWTO. “Today is a before and following for tourism in San Luis,” said Macagno.
The official emphasized the beauty that La Carolina boasts and above all, its history, which can be imagined just by walking through its cobblestone streets and contemplating its colonial architecture. “This high-altitude town was the epicenter of the gold rush in Argentina during the 18th and 19th centuries, first with the Spanish, then with the English, who exhausted the resources of its mountains, leaving an environmental liability in the region,” he explained.
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