HISTORY

In 1895 Jose María Arias Moreno and his wife, María de la Plaza de Arias Moreno, started their journey from Santiago del Estero to this region. Since Mr. Moreno was suffering from tuberculosis at the time, they were looking for the special climate that would help him recover from his illness. The difficult journey through the rugged area was done in stages by wagons, mules or on foot.

It was in 1920 when, having inherited it from his uncle Victorino de la Plaza, former president of Argentina, Mr. Moreno reconstructed the road to facilitate the access to the house by car.

Originally, La Constancia comprised only one room, which was made of mud and had a thatched roof. Little by little, gradually was enlarged and included more facilities to make the place more comfortable to visitors. A dove cot, a playground and a big natural pool were then added to its surroundings. There was also a special place called "Playa de las Adoratrices" for the nuns who belonged to such order and who lived in San Javier.

After La Constancia was transformed into a rural hotel, its history started to be closely related to the experiences of its guests. Following the popular belief, children would anxiously wait for the Magi to come down the Champaqui hill on Christmas day, or exchange presents on New Year's Day.

In 1935 Maria de la Plaza began the building of a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph with the help of local workers. The chapel was built of local stones and engravers from the Vatican were in charge of engraving the images of San José (St. Joseph), San Antonio (St. Anthony) and San Francisco (St. Francis) on Carrara marble. The chapel boasts two majolicas of considerable size representing the images of The Virgin from Catamarca and Mary and Joseph in their escape to Egypt. The first ringing sound of bells coming from St. Joseph's oratory was on January 8th,1938.