Difunta Correa Shrine

The shrine at Vallecito grew around the story of Deolinda Correa, a woman said to have died of thirst in the desert in the nineteenth century while following her conscripted husband, and to have been found with her infant still alive at her breast. She is not a saint recognised by the church, but devotion to her is enormous across western Argentina, above all among long-distance drivers, and the site has grown into a small town of chapels stacked up a hillside. What visitors remember is the offerings: mountains of plastic water bottles left so she will never thirst again, walls of number plates and steering wheels from drivers thanking her for safe journeys, wedding dresses, football shirts, and scale models of houses built by people who got the home they prayed for.

What you actually see

• The bottle mountains - vast piles of water left as offerings.
• The chapels on the hill - dozens of small shrines climbing the slope.
• The vehicle offerings - number plates, steering wheels and parts from drivers.
• The house models - miniature homes left in thanks by families.

When to go

April to November for tolerable heat; the desert here is severe in summer. Holy Week and early May bring the largest gatherings, when tens of thousands arrive and the site is overwhelmed. Ordinary weekdays are quiet and easier to take in.

Honest expectations

This is an active place of devotion, not an attraction, and photographing people at prayer without asking is intrusive. The site is commercialised at the edges, with stalls and traffic. Some visitors find the accumulation of offerings moving, others simply overwhelming.

Nearby

San Juan city lies west; the road east continues toward La Rioja.