Blogs from Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina, South America

Wir haben nur drei Stunden geschlafen, da um 05:30 Uhr schon unser Bus vom Terminal abfährt. Bis zum Abend wollen wir an der Grenze zu Bolivien sein. Auf dem Weg dorthin fahren wir durch die Quebrada de Humahuaca, einem Canyon in den Anden, dessen Gesteinsformationen im Sonnenlicht in den unterschiedlichsten Farben leuchten. Wir verlassen den Bus in Tilcara, einem alten Inkadorf, das archäologisch und touristisch sehr wertvoll sein soll. Ausserdem befindet sich dort auf einer Anhöhung ein Monument zu Ehren der Entdecker des Dorfes. Von dort oben hat man einen fantastischen 360 Grad Panoramablick auf den Canyon. Danach fahren wir weiter bis zum Ort Humahuaca, wo wir ebenfalls nochmal die herrliche Aussicht geniessen. Wir befinden uns bereits auf 2.500 m Seehöhe. Doch landschaftlich merkt man noch gar nichts von dieser Höhe, alles ist sehr flach, nur ... read more

After leaving the city of Salta, I caught a bus to Jujuy, 90km to the north and the capital of the most northwestern province in Argentina (also called Jujuy). The province, as well as having the most difficult name to pronounce in the country, borders Bolivia, to where I will shortly be crossing, as well as Chile. The main attractions in the province of Jujuy are located outside of the city of Jujuy (known as San Salvador de Jujuy to avoid confusion), so I only spent a couple of hours in the city before continuing on to my next proper stop of Tilcará. But I had time to have a quick look at the city - definitely not as nice as Salta, and definitely the poorest city in Argentina I’ve seen. The city centre was nice ... read more

Our first stop in north west Argentina was the MAAM (Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana) museum in Salta that houses the mummified remains of 3 young children, who were sacrificed to the Inca gods. It was a fascinating exhibition which dealt with the uncomfortable issue of human sacrifice in a very delicate and informative way. From Salta we went 4 hours north to the small town of Tilcara. Tilcara is a quiet town surrounded by striped mountains and a few nice restaurants, so served as the idea base as we explored the surrounding area. The day after arriving in Tilcara we took a local bus to the village of Purmamarca and spent the day walking around the nearby hills to find the best view of the Cerro de los Siete Colores (hill of seven colours), ... read more

Today we took a bus to a town high up in the mountains for the day...we ended up at around 11,000 feet in the village of Humahuaca. The bus ride took us up the Quebreda or canyon of Humahuaca for a couple hours. The whole canyon is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The colors and rock formations are beautiful...Some parts look like Sedona AZ and others a moonscape. This area has one of the few concentrations of indigenous people. There wasn´t a large population when the Spanish arrived and most of those were of course killed off. We got there after a 5 hour bus ride, and only had a few hours before we had to head back. We had hoped to take local busses back down, stopping at villages on the way, but the schedules ... read more

North of SALTA Off to the Querada de Humahuaca region. Got our car and some empanadas and hit the road. Feels good to be in a car. Paul's driving, as he's the only one with a drivers license, even though its issued from Cook Island (long story). I left my at home and am a bit bummed cause I do love to drive. But it's been nice to look out the window and just enjoy the landscape. The road just north of Salta is super windy and I do get car sick so we had to stop off for a bit so I could breath a bit easier. It was such a pretty drive though - fabulous mountains full of trees and a long luscious lake. Argentina is very fertile. Finally got of the windy road ... read more

North of SALTA Off to the Querada de Humahuaca region. Got our car and some empanadas and hit the road. Feels good to be in a car. Paul's driving, as he's the only one with a drivers license, even though its issued from Cook Island (long story). I left my at home and am a bit bummed cause I do love to drive. But it's been nice to look out the window and just enjoy the landscape. The road just north of Salta is super windy and I do get car sick so we had to stop off for a bit so I could breath a bit easier. It was such a pretty drive though - fabulous mountains full of trees and a long luscious lake. Argentina is very fertile. Finally got of the windy road ... read more

Our first set down in the Argentinian Andes was Salta. Salta for me was pleasant enough, but it suffers a bit in comparison with the last few towns we´ve been in: Buenos Aires, Bariloche and Mendoza. However it´s a pretty interesting comparison as it´s nothing like the rest of Argentina. Instead it´s got more in common with the Andean regions of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, and not just because it´s chilly. This is the one region in Argentina where there´s still an large indigenous populace, and the European descendants appear to be in the minority. You can get pretty much anything you want made out of llama wool. What´s really interesting is that you can get the exactly the same jumper from here up to Quito. Hands up travellers, how many of you have this item ... read more