Tourism has now reached great importance in San Rafael, and has become a valid alternative for regional economy. It was not easy to reach this expectation national position, and has demanded the efforts of different sectors and concerned sanrafaelinos development. Over 80 years ago sanrafaelinos threw themselves into the adventure of traveling to distant springs of Los Molles, located 150 kilometers from San Rafael and impassable roads demanding multi-day trip. One of the most enthusiastic visitors was Dr. Theodore J. Schestakow, who, meeting friends, used to spread the benefits of ferrigenosas waters, recommending visiting especially for those suffering from rheumatism and bone diseases. While these visits were carried out more for health problems that sightseeing, you could say that was the birthplace of tourism in southern Mendoza. A few years later Don Fermin Diaz, pioneer and founder of the local thermal baths, began to build a shelter that later became the Los Molles. The building consisted of two large buildings, one to operate the hotel room and the remaining to the thermal baths. The spacious dining room, which was illuminated with alcohol lamps, could hold over a hundred people. This hotel used to spend their holidays well known characters of the Colony, as Schestakow said Dr. John CANADA, Otto Suter, Alfredo Bufano, Juan Luis Solano, Fausto Burgos, Daniel Julian and many others with their families. The program prepared by the hotel owners understand breack Walking on La Niña Encantada, El Pozo de las Animas and El Pozo del Barro, the latter a popular place for people suffering from eczema, considering that the mud with water ferrigenosas had healing properties observed by the same doctor Schestakow. The visitors were impressed by the beauty of The Descent of Little Hell, a road that at times dropped sharply and other trace did a snail type. In our next post we will refer to winter sports in its infancy in our southern Mendoza, the foundation of the Club Andino Pehuenche and the key role that the entity complied in that activity in the ski resorts of Lahuenco hotels close to epoch and Los Molles.
Source: Journal San Rafael
