Destination content © Wayne Bernhardson, used from Moon Handbooks Argentina, 1st Edition.
Maps © Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÁN
For patriotic Argentines, the provincial capital of San Miguel de Tucumán is a pilgrimage site, the place where delegates declared the country’s independence on July 9, 1816. Its historical legacy, which also includes several colonial monuments plus its access to the nearby Sierra de Aconquija, makes it a worthwhile visit, though it really owes whatever prosperity it conserves to the province’s struggling sugar industry.
During the current crisis, though, Tucumán has become a politically divided city where former dirty warrior General Antonio Domingo Bussi won a closely contested mayoral election in early 2003 before being jailed for 1970s human-rights violations on the request of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. Capital of a nearly bankrupt province, the city retains a certain vigor, but it’s a vigor of protest from the strikers at the tourist office to the demonstrating teachers in the central Plaza Independencia, opposite the provincial government house. Tucumán is also one of Argentina’s noisiest cities, and that’s saying something.
In the aftermath of the sugar collapse, unemployment is epidemic, and it may be a symptom of Tucumán’s plight that even relatively upscale businesses find it hard to make change (provincial bonos (bonds or funny money) have been more common here than elsewhere in the country—there’s just not been enough money in circulation). One index of its misery may the numbers of bucket-bearing car washers lining both sides of the highway on the eastern approach to the city.
History
San Miguel de Tucumán dates from 1565, when it was a highway hub connecting the highlands of Alto Perú (present-day Bolivia) and the city of Salta, to the north, with Córdoba to the south and Santa Fe and Rosario to the southeast. By the early 17th century, wrote the Spanish chronicler Vásquez de Espinosa, the region had begun to acquire a reputation for its fertile soils, plentiful irrigation water and abundant livestock, making it the region’s wealthiest city.
Following independence, declared by a largely Unitarist congress of clergy, lawyers, merchants, and military (Federalist forces boycotted the gathering), Tucumán quickly adapted to the changed economic and political circumstances. With its frost-free subtropical climate, the province was well positioned to supply the burgeoning Buenos Aires market with sugar, and arrival of the railroad from Córdoba reduced transportation costs, further fueling the boom.
In recent decades, though, falling world sugar prices, obsolete equipment and low levels of reinvestment have caused many sugar mills to close, and more capital-intensive farming for crops like cotton, grains and soybeans have superseded labor-intensive cane. This, in turn, has increased rural unemployment and fomented immigration to the capital.
Orientation
Between the steep, densely wooded Sierra de Aconquija to the west and the banks of the Río Salí to the east, San Miguel de Tucumán (population 525,853) is 1,191 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires via RN 9, and 303 kilometers south of Salta via the same highway.
Bounded by San Martín, 25 de Mayo, Laprida and east-west Avenida 24 de Septiembre, Plaza Independencia is the pivot of Tucumán’s standard grid; street names change on either side of 24 de Septiembre, and outside the boundaries of Avenida Alem and Avenida Mitre to the west, Avenida Sarmiento to the north, Avenida Avellaneda and Avenida Sáenz Peña to the east, and Avenida Roca to the south. The largest open space is the wooded 100-hectare Parque 9 de Julio, only six blocks east of Plaza Independencia.
Sights
Tucumán’s civic center is Plaza Independencia, whose provincial Casa de Gobierno (1912) is the site of frequent demonstrations, thanks to the province’s perpetual financial plight and contentious history. Across the street to the north, the Templo y Convento de San Francisco (1879) is a rebuilt version of a colonial church that passed into Franciscan hands after the Jesuit expulsion from the Americas in 1767; the convent sits atop Jesuit foundations.
Immediately to the south of the government house, the mid-19th century Casa Padilla (25 de Mayo 36, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., US$.30), built by provincial governor José Frías and furnished in the fashion of its time, is now a museum of European art (it takes its name from Frías’s son-in-law, a city mayor).
On the south side of the plaza, its twin bell towers topped by cupolas, the neoclassical Iglesia Catedral (1847–1856) is a national historical monument. Half a block south, dating from 1836, the Museo Histórico de la Provincia (Congreso 56, tel. 0381/431-1039, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. weekdays only, US$1) was President Nicolás Avellaneda’s birthplace; it holds some 10,000 items including maps, documents, paintings, coins, and the like.
One block farther south, Tucumán’s most important historical landmark is the colonial Casa de la Independencia (Congreso 151). Two blocks east of the historical museum, the Museo Iramain (Entre Ríos 27, tel. 0381/421-1874, 8 a.m.–noon and 2–7 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m. noon only) showcases Argentine painting and sculpture. Half a block south of the plaza, the Museo de Bellas Artes Timoteo Navarro (9 de Julio 44, tel. 0381/422-7300, 8 a.m.–noon and 4–8 p.m. weekdays, 5:30–8:30 p.m. weekends) offers rotating art exhibitions. One block farther south, the Basílica Santo Domingo (on 9 de Julio between Crisóstomo Alvarez and San Lorenzo) dates from 1860.
Half a block west of the plaza, the Museo Folklórico Manuel Belgrano (24 de Setiembre 565) is a hybrid museum and crafts shop in a house that once belonged to the influential bishop José Eusebio Colombres. One block north of the plaza, part of the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, the Museo Arqueológico (25 de Mayo 265, tel. 0381/423-3962, 8 a.m.–noon and 4–8 p.m. weekdays only) specializes in northwestern Argentine prehistory, with some 6,000 archaeological and ethnographic items.
Beyond the city center there is a pair of other notable museums. To the north, beyond Avenida Sarmiento, the Instituto Miguel Lillo operates the Museo Pedagógico de Ciencias Naturales (Miguel Lillo 251, tel. 0381/423-3026, 9 a.m.–noon and 5:30–9 p.m. weekdays), a natural sciences facility that specializes in geology and paleontology. On the west side of Parque 9 de Julio, the early 19th-century Casa del Obispo Colombres (Avenida Capitán Casares s/n) was the bishop’s residence and site of the local sugar industry’s first oxen-driven trapiche, a mill that’s still in working condition. Hours are 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m. daily, with informative guided tours available in Spanish only.
In the handsome late-colonial Casa de la Independencia, arguably Argentina’s single most important historical site, the signatories to the country’s definitive declaration of independence met at the invitation of then-owner Francisca Bazán y Esteves de Laguna. They signed the declaration on July 9, 1816, and though the congress itself moved to Buenos Aires the following year, the heirs sold the building to the federal government in 1872, when it became the site of judicial and postal offices.
Much of the building was demolished in 1903, but for the renovated facade and the restored salon in which the declaration was signed; in 1943, however, architect Mario Buschiazzo rebuilt the structure based on documents and photographs antedating the demolition. From the walls, portraits of the signatories face the table at which the declaration was signed.
The Museo de la Independencia (Congreso 151, tel. 0381/431-0826, US$.65, half that for retirees and students) is open 9 a.m.–12:40 p.m. and 3–7 p.m. weekdays except Monday, 10 a.m.–12:40 p.m. and 4–7 p.m. weekends and holidays; there’s a light-and-sound show at 8:30 p.m. nightly except Tuesday.
Housed in a colonial construction that belonged to the family of independence figure Bishop José Eusebio Colombres, also a pioneer in the sugar industry, the misnamed Museo Folklórico Manuel Belgrano has nothing to do with General Belgrano, but rather is a hybrid institution that displays and sells museum-quality versions of indigenous carvings, weavings and ceramics, leather goods and horse gear, and the intricately woven lace known as randa, from the provincial village of Monteros.
The Museo Folklórico Manuel Belgrano (24 de Setiembre 565, tel. 0381/421-8250, free) is open 7 a.m.–1 p.m. and 3–9 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and 4–9 p.m. weekends.
Entertainment and Events
July 9’s Día de la Independencia (Independence Day) is Tucumán’s single biggest celebration, but September 24’s anniversary of the Batalla de Tucumán (Battle of Tucumán) is also important.
Plaza de Almas (Maipú 791, tel. 0381/430-6067), is a cultural café/bar (open from 8:30 p.m.), exhibition center, and native-art shop (open 10 a.m.–1 p.m. only).
At the northeast corner of Plaza Independencia, the Victoria Plaza (San Martín and Laprida, tel. 0381/430-4349) provides live music, theater and/or comedy, Friday and Saturday nights only.
The Teatro Orestes Caviglia (San Martín 251) also has live theater.
The Universidad Nacional de Tucumán’s Centro Cultural Eugenio Flavio Virela (25 de Mayo 265, tel. 0381/422-1692) holds theater and music events, along with art exhibits, and also has a crafts shop.
The Centro Cultural Doctor Alberto Rougués (Laprida 31, tel. 0381/427-7976) is a fine arts facility, open 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 5–9 p.m. weekdays, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 6:30–8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Downtown movie theaters survive in Tucumán: the two-screen Cine Candilejas (Mendoza 826, tel. 0381/430-1901), the Cine Atlas (Monteagudo 250, tel. 0381/422-0825), and the Cine Majestic (24 de Setiembre 666, tel. 0381/421-7515).
Getting There
Tucumán enjoys air, road and even rail connections to Buenos Aires and much of the rest of the republic.
Aerolíneas Argentinas (9 de Julio 112, tel. 0381/431-1030) flies 12 times weekly to Aeroparque; one flight daily stops in Córdoba, except on Saturday. Austral, at the same address, flies twice each weekday to Aeroparque.
Six blocks east of Plaza Independencia, Tucumán’s shiny Estación de Ómnibus (Avenida Brígido Terán 350, tel. 0381/430-4696) also contains a post office, supermarket, restaurants and a major shopping center, the Shopping del Jardín (tel. 0381/430-6400), which also provides information on buses. There is now a tourist information booth, open 8 a.m.–1 p.m. and 5–10 p.m. daily. Within the province, Aconquija (tel. 0381/227620) goes to Tafí del Valle at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 4 p.m., to America del Valle four times daily, and to Cafayate at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily, with a transfer at Santa María.
Sample destinations, fares, and times include Termas de Río Hondo (US$2.50, 1.5 hours), Santiago del Estero (US$3.50, two hours), Tafí del Valle (US$5, three hours), Catamarca (US$9, 4.5 hours), Salta (US$$9, four hours), Jujuy (US$11, 5.5 hours), La Rioja (US$12, six hours), Cafayate (US$12, seven hours) Córdoba (US$15, eight hours), Corrientes (US$23, 13 hours), San Juan (US$25, 13 hours), Mendoza (US$28, 15 hours), Santa Fe/Paraná (US$23, 12 hours), Rosario (US$21, 11 hours), Posadas (US$35, 18.5 hours), Buenos Aires (US$25–40, 15 hours), Neuquén (US$40, 21 hours), Bariloche (US$50, 26 hours), Puerto Madryn (US$51, 25 hours), Comodoro Rivadavia (US$55, 30 hours), and Río Gallegos (US$70, 40 hours). International service to Santiago de Chile (22 hours) costs US$38.
NOA Ferrocarriles, at the Estación Mitre (Corrientes 1023, tel. 0381/422-0861) operates trains to Retiro at 8 a.m. Wednesday and Sunday. Rates are US$12 turista, US$14 primera, US$17 Pullman and US$21 in camarote sleepers. The ticket office is open 9 a.m.–8 p.m. daily except Sunday.
Getting Around
Aeropuerto Internacional Benjamín Matienzo (tel. 0381/426-4906) is eight kilometers east of downtown via Avenida Gobernador del Campo, which runs along the northern edge of Parque 9 de Julio. Transfer Express (tel. 0381/426-7945) provides door-to-door transfers.
City buses use cospeles (tokens), available from downtown kiosks, but also accept coins.
Car rental agencies include Móvil Renta (San Lorenzo 370, tel. 0381/431-0550, info@movilrenta.com.ar) and Dollar (Mendoza 1020, tel. 0381/430-6154).
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