Hills with "pine fragrance" in Córdoba. Sociability of pine forests and tourism promotion in the Calamuchita Valley

Abstract

The following article analyzes how the pine is used as a tourist resource to promote the localities that compose the department of Calamuchita, in the Córdoba province. This tree species was introduced to the region primarily for economic purposes, although it is also recognized as an aesthetic element of some localities of the valley as Villa General Belgrano, La Cumbrecita, Yacanto or Villa Berna, villages that received many European foreigners in the beginning and mid-twentieth century. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how pine, a non-native element in the botanical environment of the Córdoba sierra, is part of the sociability of Calamuchita, and this special relationship between the pines and the people allows the materiality of the same to be used as a postcard of the localities of Calamuchita, whether by tourist agents, visitors and settlers. The article presents preliminary conclusions as it follows from a more extensive investigation, which began with the degree thesis “Pines of fire. An approach to the landscape linked to current and subactual forest fires in the town of Yacanto de Calamuchita, Córdoba “(Di Lello, 2015) and continues with a current research that deepen into the diverse relationships that are experienced between non-native plants, population and fires forests throughout Calamuchita.