Roaming South America

Villa De Merlo, Argentina

December 3, 2024

Villa de Merlo is a town of about 40,000 people. It is a destination vacation town for Argentinos. It's quite a nice little town sitting at the foot of the Sierras de los Comechingones (the Comechingones Mountains). The climate is mild and for this weekend, wet. The average daytime high for summer, right now, is in the mid-to-upper 70s, though today it is only 22° C (72° F). Merlo is known for having its own microclimate.

On the north side of the town is a nature reserve, and in that reserve is a big boulder that is mostly white. That area became known as Piedra Blanca (White Rock). In 1794, Juan de Videla visited Piedra Blanca and saw that the area would be good for a town. On October 1, 1796, the town was given the name of Villa de Melo (Town of Melo), given in honor of Pedro Melo of Portugal.

Rio Cuarto, Argentina

November 29, 2024

Rio Cuarto, in the Córdoba, Argentina, was founded in 1786 and has a population of about 200,000. The Rio Cuarto (Cuarto River) runs through the center of the city. This part of Argentina is mostly agricultural, lots of ranching and farming, and Rio Cuarto is a hub for the slaughterhouses and food processing plants.

Before Spanish colonization, the area where Rio Cuarto now sits was inhabited by the Comechingón people. They were skilled in agriculture and livestock management, living in semi-subterranean dwellings. Traces of their culture remain in oral traditions and archaeological finds, giving an important view into the region's deeper history. Rio Cuarto's establishment in 1786 wasn't just about creating a town—it was a military and logistical necessity. The settlement functioned as a buffer against Indigenous groups during a time when Spanish colonists sought to secure trade routes and expand the empire's influence into the Pampas.

Villa Mercedes, Argentina

November 27, 2024

Villa Mercedes, Argentina, population around 130,000, was founded in 1856, so it's not an old colonial town with a lot of interesting architecture.

It was in 1706 that a military fort was built on the banks of the Rio Quinto, along with a post house. Slowly more was built around it and in 1752 it was recognized as a town. Cardinal Giovanni María Mastai Ferretti - later named Pope Pius IX, was from here, and Charles Darwin also visited the town. The town had seen many attacks from the indigenous people and was abandoned and repopulated several times. The town was named "Rio Quinto" because it sat alongside the Rio Quinto river, but in 1861 it was renamed Villa Mercedes. The locals refer to it simply as Mercedes.

San Luis, Argentina

November 24, 2024

San Luis, Argentina, was founded in 1594. That original establishment was abandoned after some years but the town was reestablished in 1632 with the name San Luis de Loyola Nueva Medina de Río Seco. The city has a population of around 170,000 and about a half-dozen museums. The town church is of the NeoClassical style and was built in the 1880s, as was the Governor's Executive Building, which was built in the French renaissance style. There are some colonial homes still in use throughout the city.

San Rafael, Argentina

November 23, 2024

San Rafael, Argentina, is not a historically old city, and doesn't have any notable colonial architecture left. But it is a pleasant place to visit for a day. The town has a population of around 100,000. The city streets throughout the center and downtown areas have wide and very wide sidewalks and lots of tree lining both sides of the streets, and that goes on through most of the city. There are some nice parks and plazas and a few parks that need attention.