Roaming South America

San Pedro de Jujuy, Argentina

April 12, 2023

San Pedro de Jujuy, Argentina, population: about 60,000. Yet another basic agricultural town with nothing of interest to tourists. And, nothing here that says to me, "Chip, you need to make this your next hometown."

San Pedro de Jujuy was founded in May 1883. At the time of its founding the town already had a working sugar mill for some 13 years. It grew slowly and in 1913 was declared a municipality and had two flour mills. The railroad helped the city to grow a bit more. There is not much available in regard to the history of San Pedro.

General Güemes, Argentina

April 11, 2023

General Güemes, Argentina, population: about 31,500. Pretty much the only thing of note here are the two large plazas/parks, otherwise, this is not a town worth bothering to visit.

General Güemes was founded in 1888. Prior to that, it was a collection of farms and a Franciscan mission. The biggest of the farms eventually became the town of General Güemes. In 1890, the railroad arrived and with it, the town grew quickly. In 1907, the elementary school was opened, and in 1928, the town library was opened. In 1933, another school was opened to bring the level of grades up to 5. In 1937, the School of Technical Education was opened. The town's most important economic support is provided by a sugar cane processing plant which happens to be the first such plant opened in South America. Near the city are also two thermoelectric power plants and an industrial park.

Salta, Argentina

April 9, 2023

Salta, Argentina, population: about 535,000. Salta sits in the Valle de Lerma and the metropolitan area has a population of about 620,000.

Salta was founded in 1582 and the original plan was for it to be a stopping point between Lima, Perú, and Buenas Aires, Argentina. In the early 1800s, there was the War of Independence between Perú and some Argentina cities, and Salta was right there in the middle of it all as an important military staging area. By the time the war ended, Salta was pretty much bankrupt and in complete disarray. That condition continued until the turn of the 20th century. An influx of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Syria, and Lebanon gave the city new life, reviving trade and agriculture throughout the area.

Perico, Argentina

April 5, 2023

Ciudad Perico, Argentina, population: about 55,000. It is in a valley known as the "Valley of the Parakeets". If your only experience with parakeets is with the ones in pet shops then you really know nothing about them. The most notable thing is their noise. Hundreds will be in a single tree and all will be chirping away loudly and the volume is incredible. I remember a street in Barranquilla, Colombia where there are several trees that the birds prefer and they would mass in those trees by the hundreds, many many of them, all chirping away at the same time. It was almost deafening when walking past those trees. Well, they are all over South America and they are here in Ciudad Perico. Perico is Spanish for 'parakeet'.

El Carmen, Argentina

April 4, 2023

El Carmen, Argentina, population: about 15,000, it was 12,000 in 2001, so has it grown that much in the intervening years? I don't know, but there you have it.

The area where El Carmen sits had been occupied by various indigenous groups for many years before the Spanish arrived and conquered all of them in the mid-1500s. The town grew from a farm that originally belonged to a man named Estancia San Juan. By 1875 the farm had fallen into disrepair and Virgilio Figueroa and his wife took possession of the farm. It wasn't any small farm, it was 8000 hectares (about 19,800 acres). They rebuilt the farm and made it a successful and thriving ranch with crops and 7000 head of cattle. The farm had a store for the workers to buy the supplies they needed as well as a blacksmith shop. They had a sawmill which eventually served as both lumber production and a power plant after it was upgraded with a steam boiler. Many people started moving into the area and the farm grew into a town.