Qualla: Londres, Catamarca https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:57 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Londres, Catamarca https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca Londres, Catamarca: Introduction https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca/ Photo credit Santiago matamoro, CC BY-SA 3.0. There is a London in the foothills of the Argentine Andes, and it was named for an English queen who never knew it existed. When Spanish conquistadors founded this town in 1558, their king, Philip II, was married to Mary Tudor, Mary I of England. To flatter the crown, they christened the settlement Londres de la Nueva Inglaterra - London of the New England - a grand European name pinned onto a patch of high desert eight thousand miles from the Thames. Today Londres is a quiet town of a couple thousand people at 1,170 meters, strung along Ruta Nacional 40, and its odd name is only the second-strangest thing about it.

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Image: Santiago matamoro | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/6e06-londres-catamarca-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Londres, Catamarca: The Second-Oldest Town in Argentina https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca/ Photo credit KroMagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Founded on June 24, 1558, by the conquistador Juan Perez de Zurita, Londres is the second-oldest Spanish settlement in what is now Argentina, after Santiago del Estero. But its early years were anything but settled. The town stood at the edge of country the Spanish had not truly ...

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Image: KroMagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/6e06-londres-catamarca-the-second-oldest-town-in-argentina.mp3 0:06 2 full Londres, Catamarca: A New Cusco in the Desert https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca/ Photo credit Danteacosta, CC BY-SA 3.0. Five kilometers from town lie the ruins of El Shincal de Quimivil, and they change everything you assumed about this remote valley. This was no minor outpost. El Shincal was the southernmost provincial capital of the entire Inca Empire, built and occupied between roughly 1471 and...

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Image: Danteacosta | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/6e06-londres-catamarca-a-new-cusco-in-the-desert.mp3 0:06 3 full Londres, Catamarca: The Birthplace of the Nut https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca/ Photo credit Danteacosta, CC BY-SA 4.0. Modern Londres wears a humbler crown. It calls itself la cuna de la nuez - the cradle of the walnut - and every January it throws the provincial nut festival, when the town fills with music, stalls, and the harvest of its orchards. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, a Natio...

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Image: Danteacosta | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/6e06-londres-catamarca-the-birthplace-of-the-nut.mp3 0:06 4 full Londres, Catamarca: Reading the Layers https://qualla.com/londres-catamarca/ Photo credit Danteacosta, CC BY-SA 4.0. Stand in Londres and you are standing on at least three histories at once. The oldest belongs to the Diaguita and the Inca who farmed and worshipped here, whose stone platforms still align with the stars. The next belongs to the Spanish, who arrived with a king, a queen, and a bo...

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]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/e/0/6/londres-catamarca-wp/6e06-londres-catamarca-reading-the-layers.mp3 0:06 5 full