By Ivonne Jeannot Laens for MonstersAndCritics.comIt 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...Read Full Article
