Santa María del Yocavil
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| Basic data | |||
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| Full name: | Santa María del Yocavil / Yokavil | ||
| location | 26 ° 40 ′ S , 66 ° 3 ′ W | ||
| Height above d. M .: | 1640 m | ||
| Population (2010): | 17,030 | ||
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| administration | |||
| Province : |
 Catamarca
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| Department : | Santa María | ||
| Mayor: | Jorge Anderch, Frente para la Victoria | ||
| Others | |||
| Postal code : | 4139 | ||
| Telephone code: | 03838 | ||
Santa María del Yocavil is a city in northwestern Argentina , in the northeast of the province of Catamarca . The name addition Yocavil comes from the Diaguita language and means place on the mountain , the meaning of place on the mountain with phallus shape is controversial .
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 altitude in a desert area. With around 360 days of sunshine , the climate is one of the sunniest in the world.
population
The city, including several smaller suburbs, has around 20,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in the province. The majority of the inhabitants are mestizos and descendants of the Calchaquí Indians.
economy
Santa María is above all a center of wine and vegetable growing . However, tourism is playing an increasingly important role: Santa María is surrounded by multicolored mountains and rock formations, and there are numerous archaeological sites nearby. The most famous are the ruins of Quilmes , located 20 km north of the city.
Attractions
There are only a few historical buildings in the center, most of which are shabby. In addition to the surrounding area, the Archaeological Museum is particularly worth seeing . A little outside is the Cerro La Ventanita , a mountain on which the Diaguita have erected a window-like structure, the meaning of which is still unclear, but the sun always shines through this window at the time of the solstices. A fortification called Pucará can also be visited two kilometers north of the center.
Web links
- IFAM - Statistical Information (Spanish)
- LiveArgentina.com - City information (Spanish) ( Memento of January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive )