La Rioja to Villa Union

This morning we woke up to beautiful clear skies. Our breakfast was delivered to our cabana.

We got a relatively early start. Although Villa Union where we are tonight is directly west of La Rioja we had to go south around the mountains. Our first destination was Chilecita.

Chilecito is the beginning of a 35 km/ 22 mile long cable car that was built to carry ore from the Mejcana mine. The mine was created at 4,600 meters / 15,091 ft near the top of the nearby mountains. The cable car brought the ore from the mine down to Chilecito at an elevation of 1,075 meters / 3,526 ft. We visited the beginning of the cable tour and were given a fantastic tour of the museum. This engineering feat was completed in about 1908!

After visiting the first two stations of the cable car (There were a total of 9 stations.) we went to a nearby spot where a river full of sulfur sediment meets a clear river coming from another part of the mountains. It called the Union of the Rivers ( Unión de Los Rios).

Tonight we are staying in Villa Unión. We have a little Cabaña.

For dinner we went to Restaurante Don Edgardo.