CIRCUIT OF THE CENTRAL ZONE

THE TRAPICHE GOLD CRUSHER MILL
At 42 kms from the City of San Luis, over the Ruta provincial No 9 is found a traditional village that in 1792 was the home to a small population that built a mill or "trapiche" to pulverize the golden ore that was extracted from the deposits of La Carolina. This Village, as a matter of fact, is called Trapiche.

Traditional and customary, in Trapiche the star is the river that runs encased between two steep margins filled with woods, and that is crossed by bridges on several spots. There are some species of trees worth mentioning, as willows, pines and canes, and along the promenade you will find rest houses, natural river beach resorts, hostelries and camping sites, from were horse riding excursions can be programmed.

From the northern part of Trapiche the traveller can reach Rio Grande and the Siete Cajones, which are remarkable pools outlined by the rocks of the riverbed, The Valley of Pacanta, Carolina, and the Cerro Tomolasta Mountain, guardian of the village. Eight kms away you will get to the Embalse La Florida Dam.

CAROLINA
80 kms away from San Luis, and travelling over the Provincial Routes No 20 and 9, awaits the village of Carolina, an old mining town founded by the Marquis of Sobremonte, Supervisor of Tucumán, in 1792. This village experienced a time of splendour around the mid XIX century, brought by British and Spanish enterprises that swarmed to this area to extract the gold that lies underneath.

This small village has only one street, which rises towards the Tomolasta Mountain, at 2018 m.a.s.l. stained with peculiar golden tones. Over this sole earthen street, stand its typical houses, all built in stone. In this village the traveller will find intact the dark tunnels into which depths the miners used to dare in their search for the precious ores.

The tour that is usually offered to the visitor includes an insight of the lands of Carolina. The caves made by the miners go cross the underground of the whole town, and without the skills of a professional guide one cannot get inside them. This trip takes an hour, and during that time the tourist will observe at the sides of the galleries the different mineral ores that are extracted from the ground, several stalactites and veils of stone.

The trip over the Ruta Provincial No 9 takes an hour and a half, this road goes across the village of Carolina and later heads towards the Gruta de Inti Huasi Cave, were in old times, prehistoric men that lived on hunting and seeds recollection left marks of their passing.

There are no lodging facilities, but the local families use to rent rooms of their homes. In the Valle de Pacanta Valley, at 10 kms from Carolina. 19 kms before arriving to Carolina, in the Valley of Pacanta, you will find the Las Verbenas Hotel. It is 44 kms to the North of Trapiche and 11 kms from La Verbena, at an altitude of 1610 m.a.s.l. Hang gliding and Paragliding can be practiced. Its main festivity is the Fiesta Provincial del Oro Provincial Gold Feast, and it takes place the fifteenth of February.

THE INTI HUASI HOUSE OF THE SUN
Again by the Ruta Provincial No 9, and 2 kms after Carolina, the traveller should take the Ruta Provincial No 10. Turning to the East will lead through a wonderful highland road for about 16 kms, until reaching the crossroads with the Ruta Provincial No 39. From there, only 2 kms ahead, Inti Huasi, which in Quechua language means "House of the Sun", will be found.

It is a large cave at the foot of one of the sides of the Mountain of the same name, at an altitude of 1715 m.a.s.l. looking East. Here you will see many paleolitical rock paintings that remain almost completely in plain view.

This cavern, of some 60 ms width by 20 ms of depth and 10 ms of height, was already well known by the 19th century travellers. The archaeologist Alberto Rex González using the radiocarbon method of dating to test the antiquity of the rests found inside the Cave, establish them to be from around 6000 years B.C.

5 kms away can be found the Caverns of "Casa Pintada" and "Las Galerías", situated at the foot of the Sololasta Mountain. Remains of megatheres, glyptodonts and toxodonts were found in this place.

This archaeological site was also a very important dwelling of the aborigines from the tribe of the "michilingues".