Volcanoes, mountains and vineyards: a tour of Argentina's La Payunia

By Ivonne Jeannot Laens Aug 9, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Buenos Aires - It is called the 'black desert' and is the setting for one of the three most important volcanic chains in the world: La Payunia, at the foot of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, where hundreds of long-dormant volcanoes rise up, dark and wind-swept.

In this corner of the world, black is the dominant colour, dryness is the dominant feeling, and silence the dominant sound. There is virtually no human habitation on the roughly 4,500-square-kilometre La Payunia.

Only a few merchants live here who are separated by many kilometres. Once a year, in September or October, they meet for the guanako-shearing festival, the guanako being the original wilderness variety of the llama.

Still, the black desert is not a totally inaccessible place. It can be crossed by horse, or in an off-road vehicle.

During the warm months between September and April, hikes through the Andes are offered, on the way to Chile, or alternatively, along one of the many wine routes crossing through the province of Mendoza.

La Payunia has an average of 10.6 volcanoes per 100 square kilometres, vulcanologist Corina Risso, from Buenos Aires University, tells visitors.

This makes the region into one with some of the highest concentration of volcanic activity in the world, together with the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and the Michoacan-Guanajuato belt in Mexico.

Between the sometimes cone-shaped, at other times wide and open volcanoes, streams of black lava formed irregular paths in the desert. The most famous volcano is the Payun Matru, a name which in the language of the native inhabitants of the region means 'place where there is copper.'

Like cannon balls, huge volcanic stones are lying strewn around a large expanse of the region. They were catapulted out by volcanic explosions some 2.5 million years ago.

Tours through the Payunia usually start in the city of Malargue or in the neighbouring village of San Carlos. Travellers can also spend several days in the desert by booking quarters in the house of one of the market traders.

Senor Aldo was the first one to open his house up to visitors. To his sprawling ranch house he added two small rooms, each equipped with its own bath. He calls his abode 'la Aguita,' the little water.

Perhaps it's a nod to the water shortage in the area. In a large stone basin Aldo tries to collect the sparse rainfall. His sons work as tour guides for visitors and his wife cooks the meals.

What is special about staying overnight in his house is the chance to listen to the nighttime sounds in the black desert - and to take in the immensity of the nighttime heavens.

'Sometimes a puma will show up,' says Aldo, standing in the doorway of his house and puffing on an after-dinner cigarette. Besides pumas, there are also foxes and guanakos in the national park, creatures seeking protection at the feet of the volcanoes, far from any human habitation.

Like any other desert, La Payunia also has an oasis. The Lagua de Llancanelo is a wetland area of 65,000 hectares in which some 155 species of aquatic and terrestrial birds live.

Far removed from the black of the desert, it is the pink of the flamingos which dominates, the birds standing like statues on the water's edge.

Beyond Llancanelo there are yet another 70 kilometres to a small town called Las Lenas, which in the winter is the centre of a well-known skiing region.

In the warm months the area is unusually quiet and a good place for simple hikes up to the lakes and hidden caves among the patches of land which are covered in ice year-round. On the other side of the chain of mountains lies Chile.

The region is rich in beautiful landscapes, but also in scents and tastes. Mendoza Province contains 70 per cent of Argentina's grape and wine production.

There are numerous tours of vineyards and wineries offered, during which visitors can sample the various wines. The tour which is based the closest to the desert goes by the name 'del Oasis Sur,' or oasis of the south.

It leads through vineyards dating back to the last quarter of the 19th Century, covering more than 16,000 hectares of grape vines.

It is here that the grapes for such white wines as Chenin, Semillon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are cultivated, as are those for such reds as Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah.