Potrerillos is an area of the Luján de Cuyo Department

Luján de Cuyo Department

Luján de Cuyo is a department located in the northwest of Mendoza Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 104,000 inhabitants in an area of 4,847km², and its capital city is Luján de Cuyo, which is located around 1,107km from Capital...

 of the province

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Mendoza

Mendoza Province

The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It includes a number of small settlements along Provincial Routes 82 and 89, National Route 7

National Route 7 (Argentina)

National Route 7 is a road in Argentina. It crosses the country from east to west, from the capital to the border with Chile, thus linking the Atlantic coast with the Andes, crossing the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza...

, and the rivers Blanco

Blanco River (Argentina)

-References:* Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993.*...

 and Mendoza

Mendoza River

The Mendoza River is a river in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It is formed in the Andes range between the Aconcagua and the Tupungato, by the confluence of the Vacas, the Cuevas and the Tupungato Rivers, the last being its major tributary....

. The center of Potrerillos is 63 km south from Mendoza City

Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...

.

Potrerillos used to be a group of farms and agricultural facilities, that gained importance after the railroad system reached it. It then became a residential area, as well as a rest area for temporary residents, and a tourist resort.

A large dam on the Mendoza River (Presa Embalse de Potrerillos) forms an artificial lake that measures 12 km in length and 3 km in maximum width. Uphill near its shore, the settlement of Villa Potrerillos, over 1,380 meters above mean sea level

Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

, serves as a base for activities such as hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 (in the hills surrounding the area), rafting

Rafting

Rafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this...

 in the river, and paragliding

Paragliding

Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...

.