the zone and is often a destination for "Medical Tourism" from both foreigners and Porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) alike.
The townspeople have been in a long battle to prevent a gold mine being set up nearby, with concerns that the metal extraction willcontaminate the watercourse permanently and irreversibly. Although the mining companies were prohibited from producing mines in the area, there are still monthly street marches against the mines, and the issue never seems to feel fully settled.
In May 2009, Esquel twinned with Aberystwyth in Wales; with representatives of the Welsh town travelling to Argentina to participate in the signing of a charter formalising the link
