RINCONADA

In old times called it was called the Gold Corner or "Rinconada de oro", or The Rich Corner Valley, "Valle Rico de la Rinconada" due to the exploitation of gold by the Spaniards in this area between the XVII and XVIII centuries. You can still visit the entrance tunnel of the old mine.

Towards the end of the XVIII century, Rinconada was made a part of the Encomienda (A system by which Spaniards were given lands belonging to indians and the Indians themselves to be used as labour force) given to Miguel Bernárdez de Obando, who had acquired family ties with the Yavi Indians. The town "was a typical Indian town with small houses, irregular streets, all built on a terrain with as much ups and down as possible".

Today it only lhas a few small blocks. In the central Plaza there is a church in one of the longer sides. This church was built in 1670 and then rebuilt in 1791 and repairs were carried out in the XX century.

A curious and picturesque detail is that in the warehouses you can still find the small scales used to weigh and value the gold nuggets and the powder which the miners used to exchange for merchandise.

In this small town there is no place where they will serve you food, and there is only a municipal shelter where to stay overnight.

THE PROVINCIAL RESERVE LAGUNAS DE VILAMA LAKES
In the most northeastern corner of Argentina, close to the three-country border with Bolivia and Chile, in the Department of Rinconada, with an expansion of 157,000 hectares you will find the Provincial Reserve of the Lagunas de Vilama.

The Reserve includes more than a dozen andine lakes, which occupy depressions without outlets or runoffs situated at 4500 m.a.s.l. The lakes are all fed by spring or melt waters, the smaller ones beeing salty and deep. The most important ones, called Vilama and Palar. are shallow and extremely salty.

Theses lakes are very unstable as to their existence and placement. They vary according to the the physical-chemical characteristics of each one. They harbour an interesting bird population, amongst which there are endangered or endemic species such as the Horned Coot and the Andean Flamingo.

It is also a feeding and resting place for many different migratory species. The swampy terrains that surround the lakes are locally called "ciénegas", and there you can also find other endangered species such as vicunas and Andean ostriches or Suris or Ñandús.

These swamps are also grazing lands for the domesticated herds of llamas and alpacas and the sheep of the local population that practice a nomadic lifestyle.

Apart from these swamps, the most common vegetation is made up of shrub steppes and alpine meadows.

On September 20th, 2000 it was designates as a RAMSAR site and named the Provincial High Andean Reserve of the Chinchilla.