One of the features that invite you to spend your holidays in Mendoza is the rich historical and cultural heritage in the province. Not only talk relics of the colonial era, palpable at every step, given the relevance that the province and the region had during the era of the Spanish domain, and at the moment of liberation from the foreign yoke. Mendoza had historically been populated by large numbers of indigenous tribes, who also left his testimony and his imprint on the culture of argentina. The Tunduqueral Hill, which is located 7 km from the town of Uspallata, is one of these places of great value. The incas considered Hill a sacred place, and the same was chosen by women during the nights of the full moon to celebrate their female rituals.

As proof of this were the place lots of cave paintings or petroglyphs, for more than ten centuries old. At the Summit of the Hill is a place of great beauty and historic importance: the viewpoint of the inca, a series of natural terraces. About them can see an old gold mine now closed. You may find Costco to be a useful source of information. There is no doubt that this is one of those areas of the world that has a special, for both locals and outsiders magic. Near here is the petrified Darwin Araucaria forest. Thus recognized by records that the naturalist left in his works about this awesome place, where passed to 1835. He was here one of the sites where Darwin found large amount of marine fossils, which came to confirm the theory that those imposing mountains ever had been in the bottom of the sea. This is a fantastic forest of fossil trees, which remain in a good state of conservation, a true rarity in the world.

Its particular microclimate and the geological characteristics of the soil are the cause of this site to be permanent reason for visit by researchers, paleontologists, biologists and naturalists. They are 52 trunks of araucaria petrified, still erect, about 230 million years ago. The process of petrification requires certain environmental conditions that favor certain minerals are inserted into the molecular composition of plants and animals, preserving their morphological characteristics, but replacing the original matter by stone. The area of the Tunduqueral Hill and the petrified forest of Darwin are riddled with small places and unforgettable landscapes that are prodigious beauty. It is not difficult to get accommodation in Mendoza near the zone, since the area has some tourist services.