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The Melado valley |
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The Melado Valley is in the pre-Andean range, southeast from Talca and 300 km South of Santiago.
Originally, the Melado area belonged to one ranch only with a great many tenants. During the XX Century, their lifestyle was constant: these were tenants that met up with their landlords once a year. Valley proprietors and Andean mountain range area owners traditionally lived far away from their ranch due to harsh weather conditions.
The Melado arrieros were in charge of caring and multiplying the herds, which gave them an agreed (although not always) use of the premises and animals. Another profitable activity, which is illegal today, was Argentinean livestock trading at lower prices. During these expeditions, arrieros arrived from El Melado to Malargüe, in the transandean region after extenuating and long riding journeys crossing goats and cattle at the Andean border. Expeditions such as these could only be executed between December and April as the remaining months all paths connecting Chile and Argentina remain covered in snow (over 30 border paths in the area).
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