San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca
San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca (saɱ feɾˈnando ðel ˈβaʝe ðe kataˈmaɾka) is the capital and largest city in Catamarca Province in northwestern Argentina, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato. The city name is normally shortened as Catamarca. The city of , located above sea level, has 159,000 inhabitants (), with more than 200,000 counting the suburbia, what represents around 70% of the population of the province. The city is located from Buenos Aires. The closest provincial capitals are La Rioja (), Tucumán () and Santiago del Estero (). Many pilgrims come to San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca to visit the Church of the Virgin of the Valley (1694), which contains a statue of Nuestra Señora del Valle (Our Lady of the Valley). Catamarca is also the touristic centre of the province, with its colonial architecture, and serves as a hub to many touristic points and excursions, hiking, mountain-bike tours, horse riding, and wine tasting. San Fernando del Valle is served by Coronel Felipe Varela International Airport (CTC/SANC), with flights to Buenos Aires-AEP. An initial settlement, called Londres, was established here by Spanish colonists in 1558; a permanent settlement was not founded until 1683, by Fernando de Mendoza y Mate de Luna. Catamarca comes from Quechua meaning "fortress on the slope". The city, which had only 8,000 inhabitants in 1882 and was reached by a railway line in 1888, grew very slowly, and the region remained poor even in the middle of the 20th century. The warm semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) of Catamarca has an annual average of 20 °C with an average maximum temperature of in summer with several days typically exceeding , and an average minimum of in winter. Temperatures in the high mountains can drop down to , however in the city they rarely go below freezing. The Valle (valley) receives relatively little rainfall from summer thunderstorms; most of the precipitation is received in the form of snow on the high mountain tops surrounding the city.
