Humahuaca

Heading North
Humahuaca is north of Salta on the way to Bolivia and we decided rather than take another bus journey we would travel this far on another trip. A very good decision as the La Posada travel agency came up trumps again with another fantastic tour. There were just 4 of us which was great as it meant the guide changed the itinery so that we didn’t miss out on anything by not doing the return journey back to Salta. Our travel companions were Argentinian architects from south of Buenos Aires so we had plenty of opportunity to practice our pigeon Spanish and even ended up getting something of a Spanish lesson from our guide.

Our first stop was San Salvador de Jujuy, a largish town North of Salta. We had a short city tour and stopped in the main square for photos. An interesting stop but not a highlight.

The fascinating towns of Northern Argentina
Further on it got more interesting as we got into the Quebrada de Humahuaca (Humahuaca Canyon) and more spectacular scenery. We stopped at Pumahuaca a small town with a spectacular backdrop of the “7 coloured mountain”, the impressive sight that had made it famous. We caved in further in our policy of not buying souvenirs in the market and purchased a some very cool local handicrafts.

After this we made our way to Tilcara where there are ruins dating back to Inca times when the town was something of a crossroads and a key point for securing the local area. It’s surrounded by valleys in each direction so was a beautiful place. We had lunch here and sampled some of the regional cuisine - humita, made of ground corn with cheese and chopped up vegetables mashed together and steamed in a vine leaf, very tasty!

We carried on from here to our final stop Humahuaca. This was the most picturesque town we’ve been to in Argentina. It didn’t have the spectacular backdrop that Cachi has but it had a wonderful atmosphere. We had a good wander round and enjoyed catching up with family using Argentina’s great budget phonecards. In the hostel we met a great Swiss guy, Pete who we went for dinner with to a ‘peña’, a restaurant serving local cuisine and playing regional music. Humahuaca and the surrounding area are renowned for them and we could see why, it was a great evening and a fitting end to our stay in Argentina. Off to Bolivia tomorrow!

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