argentina: quebrada de humahuaca

we hopped on an early morning bus from salta to tilcara...the ride is about three hours, and i made the mistake of not eating breakfast first...by the time we arrived, i was NOT feeling good...the road wasnt particularly twisty, but i still felt as though i was going to puke...this was a huge disappointment, because the scenery was awesome, and i was annoyed at myself for not being able to relax and take it in...
the quebrada de humahuaca is a stunning area in northern argentina...the mountains are a wide variety of colours...greens, pinks, purples, reds, browns...amazing...it would've been even more amazing without all the wind...

i know it all has to do with minerals, and where they are when layers of sediment are created, but it's still hard to understand how some of the land in this area looks like God created it while on an acid trip...
we arrived in tilcara, it was dusty and windy...we were able to find a place to stay, electricity was out in the entire town for the time being...it doesn't mean much when a hostel says it has free wifi if electricity is out during the entire day, most days...
i needed food, badly, so we found an empanada place...yum...is it ever possible to eat too many empanadas? i dont think so...

we followed the map we got from tourist information to make our way to pucara, which are the ruins of a fortress...now the area is taken over by cacti...some dead, some alive...the inside of a dead cactus is a bit sad, really...it was really windy and dusty, so photos dont look very dramatic...i tried to be nice to the cacti, they were not nice to me...booo...somehow i ended up with cacti prickles in my toe? is that considered free acupuncture?
some of this fortress has been rebuilt, it looks terrible...(my opinion of course)...there are no windows in any of the buildings, apparently this is how it would've been back in the day...considering how much sun this area receives, that would make life rather depressing..

there is a rather large monument to geologists in the middle of a platz, no one was thinking about aesthetic appeal when that was approved...
after the fortress we started to walk to an area called the garganta del diablo (devil's throat)...along the way we ran into people coming back the other way who said it was closed (it's a canyony area) due to high winds...boooo...bo sat down to rest for a while, i kept walking just because i wanted to move, and the wind had calmed down a little...
we started dinner with candles everywhere...cooking must be more of a challenge if you can't see very well...power came back on as we were eating...

i ordered coca tea to drink, and no, i didn't feel anything...coca leaves are sold on the street in this part of the country...my meal was llama filet, which was rather tough and chewy...i can now check llama off the list of animals i've eaten...don't need to do that again...
breakfast was not ready on time the next morning, we had to head to the bus station before we found anyone to get the food out...argh...our bus took us to the town of humahuaca...it's the last of the little towns in this area, and i would consider it the most authentic...it's definitely been affected by tourism, but it hasn't been taken over by tourism...the local meat and veg market is very authentic, we loved walking around...i've never seen yellow and red speckled potatoes before...and green potatoes too!! too bad we couldn't buy food and cook with it...

according to the guidebook, locals in this town speak the native language, not spanish...
for snack we had empanadas made to order...YUM...i could've sat at that stall all day long, just eating...the lady had such a rhythm, it was awesome...she would make an empanada, then drop it in the fryer; the whole process took about 10 seconds...
people in this area still wear traditional dress, and have amazing faces...SO MANY PHOTOS...
we walked across a small bridge, i saw a cactus garden of sorts...again i tried to make nice with the cacti (doesn't everyone love a hug?) and again they weren't having anything to do with it...bo ended up talking with a local guy who played a mini-guitar sort of instrument...

in the 'city centre' is a giant monument dedicated to the independence heroes...it's gaudy and doesn't fit in with anything else in the town...there is a large platz in front of the monument, filled with souvenir stands...we left town just as a couple large tour buses arrived...
the bus took us to a teensy tinsy place called uquia, it's a short ride...tourists stop in uquia to see a small church with interesting paintings on the walls...the paintings are of the angels, but with a twist...they're all wearing colonial clothing, and carrying weapons...it's quite strange! an angel carrying a blunderbuss? the church is open only a few hours each day (2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon) so you have to think about your travel/bus timing...

we also walked in the area behind the village, it's gorgeous...the mountains were mostly red, but there was so much colour...there was one other couple, that was it...i loved the quiet...we found a red sand dune, and a canyon...if we'd had more time in argentina, the entire area of the quebrada de humahuaca is one place i would've extended our stay, to do more hiking...
we didn't have to wait long for the next bus to tilcara, thank goodness...we picked up ham and cheese tortillas from ladies running grills on the street...yum

there is a tourist market set up around a park in tilcara, and after looking through every scarf option available, i finally bought one...i bargained a little, but not much, as i don't enjoy it, at all...i paid 45 pesos, the girl had a very difficult time finding change for the 50 peso note i handed her...
we ended up going to the same place for dinner...i had a thick stew...
the next morning i wore boots for the first time during this trip...it was COLD...we caught a bus to purmamarca, not too far away...it was snowing lightly as we arrived, bo was not thrilled...he didn't have much winter clothing with him...fortunately, i had an extra pair of gloves and hat...

purmamarca is completely overrun with tourism...i doubt anyone in that town isn't somehow related to the industry...it's another beautiful area, but it's still sad to see this happen...(and since we visited, we only contributed)...booo...since the town is based entirely on tourism, there is no central bus station...a bunch of different companies offer tickets to nearby towns, but there is no specific station...
we followed a trail called the hill of seven colours...i loved it...even though there were plenty of other people doing the same thing we were, it didn't feel too crazy...(that being said, i would not want to be doing this hiking in high season)...this trail goes around and through a few hills...

at first it was cloudy, which was annoying in terms of trying to take photos...then the sun came out and the photos started to begin to show the breathtaking views...
fortunately, i found postcards...heaps of them, not surprisingly...
we caught a bus to the city of jujuy (which i love just because the name sounds cool) and used that as a transfer point for another bus, to salta...in salta we dropped our bags at the station, and wandered around the town again to kill time before our night bus...