When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in this area, they found indigenous peoples like the Casabindos and Cochinocas, but they also found immense and rich mineral deposits and for this reason Cochinoca soon became the most important settlement in the whole of the Argentinean Puna highlands.

Many years later, during the second decade of the XVIIIth century, the Cochinoca curate was created, which limited to Humahuaca approximately at Tres Cruces, but a new road bypassing it, the loss of its position as the most important Departmental town to Abra Pampa, the railroad which went further east, and mainly its diminishing importance as a mining centre, led to that in 1915 its population dropped to only 45 inhabitants.

However, the decline of its population and importance has not changed the beauty of its abrupt landscape, its graceful bearing, when, from far away you look out towards the tree covered small valley that harbours it. At its centre you will find the colonial chapel of Santa Bárbara.

This small building, dating from the XIXth century, has inside a masonry altarpiece with three niches ingeniously decorated with images done in popular art style. The chapel is under the protection of the saintly protector against thunderstorms and rays, which is a clear indication of the vicissitudes of the local climate.

In the lower part of the town one can find the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Church, a building dating back to the XVIIth century. Beneath the portraits of Juan José Campero and his wife Juana Clemencia de Obando, there is a long inscription describing how they commissioned to have the church and its altarpiece built between the years 1682 and 1693.

Of the original building there is only the tower left, which remnants you can see on its right hand side. The present church was built between the years 1860 to 1890, on top of what was left of the old church. The major pieces of interest that you can find within its long nave are the many paintings and pictures of which the Crucifixion of the altarpiece and the two statues of the Virgin attributed to the art of Mateo Pizarro.

It is located 246 kilometres from San Salvador de Jujuy and today holds 3725 inhabitants.

LAGUNA DE GUAYATAYOC LAKE
It is located in the southern part of the Department of Cochinoca, practically bordering the Salinas Grandes salt flats.

During the months of March and April, when the rains are at their heaviest, it reaches its maximum extension of approximately 240 square kilometres and a depth of six metres. There is no specific information available regarding the local flora and fauna, but it is a place where several species of flamingos can be found.