San Juan beyond Ischigualasto

San Juan is mostly desert, and its reputation rests on one park. That park deserves it — see Ischigualasto — but a province this empty has more than one reason to stop.

Barreal and the Calingasta valley

Three hours southwest of San Juan city, the Calingasta valley runs between the main Andes and the Precordillera, green with alfalfa and poplars against bare rock on both sides. Barreal is the base: a one-street town with the Cordón de la Ramada above it, including Mercedario at 6,770 m, the highest peak in Argentina after Aconcagua.

Just south, the Pampa del Leoncito is a dry lake bed 12 km long, flat as a table, where carrovelismo — land sailing — reaches well over 100 km/h on the afternoon wind. You can be taken out in a cart with almost no notice.

El Leoncito and the night sky

The Parque Nacional El Leoncito protects, among other things, the darkness. Two observatories work here — CASLEO and Carlos U. Cesco — because the valley gets around 300 usable nights a year with exceptionally still air.

Both run evening visits: a talk, then time at the telescopes. Book ahead, bring a serious jacket (it is 2,500 m and the temperature falls off a cliff after sunset), and if you can, go near the new moon.

Valle Fértil

San Agustín del Valle Fértil is the base for Ischigualasto, 80 km away, and worth a night rather than a passage. It sits where the dry plain meets the Sierra de Valle Fértil, with a reservoir, goats, carob woods and a slower pace than anywhere else in the province.

Ruta 149 and the high road

North and west, RP 412 / RN 149 links Barreal, Calingasta and Iglesia in a long, almost unpopulated run of gravel and altitude, eventually reaching Rodeo — where the Cuesta del Viento reservoir hosts windsurfers and kiteboarders on a wind that blows, dependably, every afternoon from about one o’clock.

Check fuel before you commit: between Barreal and Rodeo the stations are far apart and not always serving. See getting around Cuyo.

When to come

Spring and autumn. Midsummer in the San Juan lowlands regularly passes 40°C, and the high roads are better in October–November or March–April. Winter is clear and cold, fine for the observatories, harder for the passes.