Santa MarÃa, Catamarca
Santa María del Yocavil is a city in northwestern Argentina, in the northeastern province of Catamarca. The name comes from the addition Yocavil Diaguita language and means place on the mountain, controversial is the interpretation of place on the mountain with phallic shape.
Geography
The city is located in the southern Valle Calchaquí on the Río Santa María, between the mountain ranges of the Sierra de Quilmes in the west and the Sierra del Aconquija in the east, at 1,800 meters above sea level in a desert-like area. The climate is one with about 360 days of sunshine among the sunniest world.
Population
The city has several smaller suburbs, together with about 20,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city of the province. The majority of the population is mestizo and descendants of Calchaquí Indians.
Economy
Santa María is primarily a center of wine and vegetable cultivation. However, the tourism sector plays an increasingly important role: Santa María is set multicolored mountains and rock formations, and there is also near numerous archaeological sites. The best known are the ruins of Quilmes, located 20 km north of the city.
Attractions
There are few historical buildings in the center, which are mostly run down. Worth seeing is mainly the Archaeological Museum except the area. Located slightly outside the Cerro La Ventanita, a mountain on which the Diaguita have constructed a window-like structure whose meaning is still unclear, but the sun at the time of the solstices seems always exactly through this window. Also a Pucara called fortification can be two kilometers north of the center visit.