10 places in Argentina that very few people know. Part 1

Campo de Piedra Pomez, Province of Catamarca

It is such an amazing place that it has begun to officiate as a postcard of the Catamarca puna. On the outskirts of El Peñón, close to the volcano of Carachi Pampa, volcanic activity created this field of sandy soil where strange formations of talc and ocher rock with pink points like merengue flakes dominate, which are cut in diagonals against the blue sky. The area, more than 3 thousand meters high, has an extension of 25 km and can be walked on foot, with the caution of wearing a cap for the sun and water. A sign on RP 34 indicates access, between the small town of El Peñón and Antofagasta de la Sierra. It is advisable to visit it with a guide and 4x4, or make sure to have precise GPS coordinates, because it is very easy to get lost. As visits increased in recent years, the province declared the area protected natural area in 2011.





 Sea Eyes. Province of Salta

They are three small celestial lagoons in the middle of an immaculate white salar on the outskirts of Tolar Grande. If salares are rare, these lagoons of the color of the Caribbean Sea, surprise even more. To protect them, the municipality has set up a small parking lot, trails and signs that explain that it is not only dangerous to approach the edge of the lagoons because the terrain is fragile and brittle, but above all, it is very harmful to the environment. Although these heights may seem like a poor environment for life, in 2009 CONICET researcher Maria Eugenia Farías, in charge of the Laboratory of Microbiological Investigations of Andean Lagoons, discovered here the presence of stromatolites, microorganisms specialized in transforming carbon dioxide in oxygen dating back billions of years. They are invisible to the human eye, but they are alive and have a high scientific value.





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