In the city of
Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia () is a city in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Chenque Hill. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most important city of the San ...
in the south of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, we can find an important and picturesque elevation which divides the town in two, the Chenque hill. The city business district area lies at the foot of the hill. Its summit reaches 212 m above sea level and the panoramic view from the top is amazing.
According to researchers the name “Chenque” belongs to language of the “native
Pehuenche
Pehuenche (or ''Pewenche'', people of the "pehuen" or "pewen" in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people of South America. They live in the Andes, primarily in present-day south central Chile and adjacent Argentina. Their name derives from their de ...
” and some possible meanings are:
• Native cemetery or burial.
• Rock house or cave in hard rock (in which they buried the dead)
• Funeral knoll formed with rocks.
Legend says that ''any person who digs objects from the Chenque hill, cemetery of the old aborigines, will get 100-year punishment for them and their family''. Apparently those who have taken out arrows, bones and pots died soon or remained damned.
It is also said that ''any person who visits the Chenque hill and rubs their hands with its clay and sandy dust will return to the region''. It is because they will receive a call from the spirit of natives buried there.
At the moment the Chenque hill is a reason of concern for its slips, mainly in the so-called area "Infiernillo" (literally ''Little Hell'').
Landforms of Chubut Province
Landforms of Argentina
{{Chubut-geo-stub