Pampa de Achala

Pampa de Achala is the name given to a vast region that lies at the heart of the Sierras de Córdoba located within Sierras Pampeanas, and located in central-northwest of Argentina. It is a rugged area with little vegetation, which is over 1,500 m and has singularities green biological, terrain e watershed. The region is protected by provincial law, and that this region basin is head of the vast majority of streams that run through the Córdoba.

The name for the area comes from the Quechua language, and apparently refers to the original inhabitants of the region, the comechingones.

There is no concrete data concerning the origin of the name, merely hypotheses. According to the dictionary of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua,achala means 'fancy dress' or 'striking costume'. Many Quechan terms contain the word achala. A similar word is achalay, meaning 'grooming' or 'decorating.' According to the dictionary of Dr. González de Holguín, the word achala does not exist in that context, but one finds the similar words achallay and achallay ñichini, which mean both 'to cause something' and 'self-admiration.'

The word could have originated from a distortion of the original term, which was later converted into a word more agreeable to the Spanish of the area, and could refer either to the clothing historically worn by inhabitants of the region, allowing them to withstand the severity of the weather, or to the admiration the inhabitants had for this special region.

Pampa de Achala is located in the province of Cordoba in Argentina. The northern boundary consists of the mountains of Los Gigantes, and the southern boundary of the northern portion of the Sierra de Comechingones, with the Summits of Achala located in the central area of the region. It is a rugged area, whose small plains and low slopes are responsible for its classification as 'plains'. These slopes and plains allowed for the formation of an intricate underground water network that supplies a great number of springs. Within this region, there are numerous deep ravines with vertical walls between 600m and 800m high, many of which are more than 1,000m wide. The most important and popular ravines are the Quebrada del Condorito and the Quebrada de Yatán.

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