NORTHERN CIRCUIT

LEANDRO N. ALEM
A hundred and twenty kms from the City of San Luis, by the No 146 National Route, we find this village going througha totally totally paved road, amiably guarded off by majestic mountains and green fields that supply a fascinating experience to the traveller.

Leandro N. Alem is situated at the middle of the localities of San Francisco del Monte de Oro and of Luján, and offers several sites that are ideal for practicing trekking and mountaineering.

Historians assert that this small village was originally called "Los Corrales", then it took the name of "6 de Septiembre" and only recently, since 1947, it is known by its actual name. This place was also renowned in the past for its muleteers, "gauchos" and horse tamers.

The traveller will find in Leandro N. Alem some alternative tours with which to enjoy its marvellous environments.

For instance, at only 3 kms distance, we can find Las Parrillas, a water outlet that provides the town and its farming fields, although its main attraction actually are the uncounted pools, formed by the river that flows across, where the local families seek coolness during the warm seasons.

Further on, 10 kms away from the town's Central Square, a beautiful and fascinating place called Los Morteros can be found. Here the traveller will find another overwhelming arrangement of natural lakes among the overwhelming mountains with camping sites scattered in the surroundings.

Re-entering the road and going 3 more kms in the same direction, we will arrive at La Maroma, who, as the Leandro N. Alem villagers often tell, is the Mother of all Lakes, a marvellous mirror of water that beckons contemplation and provides spiritual relax. A rustic corral for mules, assembled with branches, and several fig trees growing in twisted shapes, confer a unique sensation upon the landscape.

Around the Village, the studious traveller will be interested in a visit with a palaeontology touch. The place is named "Piedra del Indio", a huge rock hidden among the mountains, splattered with quebracho and pepper trees and creepers. The aborigines that once roamed the zone, thousands of years ago, used the rock as a canvas for their amazing paintings.

Another possibility is to go walkingto the top of El Realito Mountain, which is the guardian mountain of the zone, with an altitude of 1640 m.a.s.l. It will be a real adventure, starting at the Potrero de los Leyes, getting then into the Ravine of Las Talas, ascending through a zigzag trek surrounded by palm trees like the carnauba wax palm, also molle pepper trees, the so called espinillos, wild apple trees but mostly with huckleberry, fuchsias and rosemary plants.
When the traveller finally gets to the top, he will find an archaeological site called La Angostura, a plateau where the aborigines of the zone employed impressive outcroppings of rocks, weathered by the winds as shelters.

In this locality there are no lodgings available, it is recommended to stay overnight in the provincial hostelries of Luján and San Francisco del Monte de Oro, 20 kms away.

SAN FRANCISCO DEL MONTE DE ORO
At 112 kms to the North of the Capital City, along the well paved Ruta Nacional N° 146 plus a small trip over a gravel road over the Provincial Route No 9, the traveller will arrive at a village that is submerged into the San Luis and Socoscora Sierras, in the valley formed by the San Francisco River and with an altitude of 776 m.a.s.l. It is San Francisco del Monte de Oro.

This river divides the Village precisely in two parts. The northern side, urbane, modern, commercial and cultural. And the southern side, old fashioned, traditional and crisscrossed by picturesque narrow streets.

In the South sector of the square that faces the church, there still stands a school founded in 1826 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. It was declared as a National Historical Monument in 1941.

San Francisco is on top of a huge plaque of a high quality, nearly pure crystal quartz that, along with cobalt, onyx and uranium ores, form a mineral compound of high energetic welfare. This property brings stability to the climate, and develops a high concentration of ozone, which positively enhances the good health of its inhabitants and, for that case, of any one who breathes it.

Places worth visiting
The landscape of San Francisco offers an enormous variety of sights. Its clear water streams, flowing among waterfalls and pools, its creeks, its exotic carnauba wax palm trees, are enough arguments to satisfy the expectations of the most demanding visitors.

The town owns the Municipal River Beach Resort of Las Palmas, of an unusual beauty and with a spectacular natural landscape, along with all the facilities and commodities. In the nearby vicinity, the fabulous river beach resort of El Esteco, at the shores of an impressive lake, awaits the traveller From San Francisco del Monte de Oro, tours to the Salto Escondido, Valle Encantado, Las Piedras Pintadas (rock paintings more than eight thousand years old), Rodeo de Cadena, El Rincón, the ravines of Cal, Socoscora and López, Las Chacras, El Azud, Dique de Luján, Sierra de Las Quijadas, Carolina and Quines are presently scheduled.

In all of these places the adventurous visitor can enjoy the practice of trekking, horseback riding, mountain bike, fishing, canoeing and mountain climbing. During the first weaks of January, the town celebrates the Fiesta Provincial del Artesano or the Provincial Festivity of the Craftsman.

LUJAN
At a distance of 120 kms from the Province Capital City, driving down the Nş 146 National Route, and at the banks of the Río Seco River, appears, full of dignity and wealth, the ancient village of Luján.

Concerning its urban deployment, one of its main characters is a church built in 1850, in a typical northern style.

Surrounded by a dream-like landscape, covered with the perfumed scent of its orange trees, this locality offers to the traveller the quietness of its river and the Luján Dam, a splendid place to engage in the sport fishing of trout and atherines. The City boasts of its viewing point that allows for a panorama view of the region in all its magnificence.

There is a craftsmen school and each year the celebration of the Fiesta Provincial de la Naranja (Orange Festival) takes place.