Las Perlas is a village in the north-west of

Río Negro Province Río Negro (, ''Black River'') is a province of Argentina, located in northern Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Its cap ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, at the shore of the Río Limay. Las Perlas is a small, but fast-growing bedroom community of the Neuquén - Plottier - Cipolletti metro area. It is part of the city and municipality of

Cipolletti Cipolletti ( or ) is a city in north of the Patagonian . With a population of 105 482 inhabitants at the , Cipolletti is the third-most populated settlement in the province, after San Carlos de Bariloche and General Roca. Together, with Neuquén ...

, but is located about 15 km west of the city center, very close to

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

, at the southern shore of the Limay river. While Cipolletti's main urban area is located in the General Roca Department, Las Perlas, like the whole southern part of the municipality, is part of the El Cuy Department.

History

Las Perlas was established as an informal community after 1958, when a forestry company bought land in the area. After 1967, infrastructure for irrigation and roads were built. In 1987, the village was included in the municipality of Cipolletti. In 2000, a bridge to Neuquén was built, and in 2016 another bridge linked the town to Cipolletti across the Negro river.

Transport

Las Perlas is connected with Neuquén across a bridge. There is also a dirt road, ''Ruta Provincial 7'', linking Las Perlas directly to Cipolletti across a bridge near ''Isla Jordan'', an island in the Río Negro east of the confluence between the Limay and the Neuquén. Local bus line 102 links Las Perlas to Neuquén's city center. Before the bridges to Neuquén and Cipolletti were built, the town was accessible by

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

(''balsa'', in Spanish) from both Neuquén and Cipolletti. In consequence, the town was often called ''Balsa Las Perlas''.

References

Populated places in Río Negro Province {{RíoNegroAR-geo-stub