YAVI

Only 16 km east of La Quiaca, on a paved road, the traveller can pay a visit to one of the town which experts in this area call a perfect example of a town under Spanish Royal Grant rule ( "Encomienda") and the birthplace of many generations of farmer-soldiers who made Yave the base to dominate and administer vast territories located on both sides of what today is the Argentinean-Bolivian border.

The historic towns of Yavi is but a shade of its former importance with only 339 inhabitants that live in adobe wall houses with typical roofs made out of reed, clay and straw: an adequate shelter for the cold highland nights.

It is located beside the San Francisco River, in a small valley in the middle of the vast, windy and dry highland plateau: Yavi is like an oasis in the region. It was founded around 1667, when the Spanish Crown gave to the first Marquis of Tojo the lands belonging to this shire.

At 3440 m.a.s.l. the town of Yavi re enacts the sacrifice of the Golgota by Christ every Easter. Its church, of simple harmonious architectural lines was built in 1690 by the family of the Marquis of Campero and the Marquise of Ovando, who represented one of the richest and most important possessions on the South American continent.

Special mention should be made of its artistic altarpieces covered in plate gold, the statues and paintings belong to the famed Escuela Cuzqueña Cuzco School, as well as the admirable statues of Our Lady of the Rosary, "Nuestra Señora del Rosario" and of Saint Francis. This church, together with the stately mansion of the Marquis of Tojo, of ample walls and big courtyards, made this place a National Historical Monument.

The region in which the town of Yavi is located in the northeastern part of Jujuy corresponds to the Puna highland plateau and thus the climate is dry and cold. The scene is like a plain with many mountain chains and rivers of little importance. There is little flora and fauna, although you will find cacti, queñoa and churqui, and animals such as foxes, guanacos, vicuñas and vizcachas.

In the area there are still many mineral deposits that have not been exploited. The archaeological site of Laguna Colorada has produced a big site of rock carvings and many stone tools belonging to the ancient hunters.