San Luis, Argentina

San Luis is the captial city of San Luis Province in the Cuyo region of Argentina. It sits beside the Río Chorrillos river at the feet of the Sierras Grandes, 762 meters above sea level. As of census-ar|2001, its population is 153,322. The current mayor is Alfonso Vergés.

City information

San Luis lies on the National Route Number 7 that connects Mendoza (255 km) with Buenos Aires (791 km), parallel to the Río Chorrillos River. The other closest provincial capitals are San Juan (323 km) and Córdoba (412 km).

Interesting point of the city are the Park of the Nations, the neoclassical cathedral, a number of museums including the "Dora Ochoa De Masramón Provincial Museum", and the colonial architecture. Fishing in the nearby locations is also popular. The Sierra de las Quijadas National Park is located 122 kilometres from the city.

The city's climate is continental with temperatures around 3°C and 33°C, an annual average of 17°C.

The "San Luis Airport" airport codes|LUQ|SAQU at coordinates coord|33|16|38|S|66|21|09|W is only a few hundred meters from the centre, has regular flight to Buenos Aires.

History

San Luis was founded in the August 25 1594 by Luis Jufré de Loaysa y Meneses to be later abandoned, and then again in 1632 by Martín García Oñez de Loyola as "San Luis de Loyola Nueva Medina de Río Seco".

By the end of the 19th century the city had only 7,000 inhabitants.

Because the city is located at the part of the Sierras Grandes known as "Punta de los Venados", the inhabitants of the city are called "puntanos".

External links

* [http://www.municipiosanluis.gov.ar/ Official Site] (Spanish)
*ar-mi-muni|SLU052
* [http://www.welcomeargentina.com/sanluis/index_i.html City info] (English)
* [http://ar.geocities.com/sanluisturismo/sanluis.htm City History] (Spanish)
* [http://www.cuyonoticias.gov./ CuyoNoticias digital newspaper] (Spanish-English)