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Published: August 5th 2007
Gone Trekking
And thankfully you can't see the slimy green trickle of coca juice in the corner of Russ' mouth!!Tilcara is just 28km up the Quebrada de Humahuaca from Purmamarca. It didn't take long to get there and the scenery continued to amaze us all the way. It's a nice little town with, once again, a lively market on the plaza. Here we tried to buy an Andean saxaphone but nobody was able to tell us how to produce a note from it. Maybe they are just tourist tat and not meant to be played! We were entertained by a proper Andean band though, and they were very good.
About 40 minutes walk up hill from the town is the Pucara. This is a ruined hilltop settlement just over the river (crossed by an old bridge) from the modern (ish!) town. The entrance ticket to the ruins gives you entry to the botanical gardens too. There we saw all kinds of cacti, and we got to play on the piedra campana too. It's quite strange to strike a huge rock with a small one and hear it ring like a church bell! We then saw the small llama farm before wandering aimlessly amongst the ruins and the huge cacti which litter the place. At the very top of the
Andean Music
Whilst you get tired of Simon & Garfunkle's "El Condor Paso" blasting out of shop speakers, the real thing is entirely different. ruins is a mausoleum to the archaeologists who excavated the site. It is in the shape of a Mayan or Inca temple and looks a bit out of place.
The next day we walked out to the gargantua del diablo (Devil's Throat) waterfall. We noted down the route in the Tourist Information and took lunch with us. It was a beautiful walk, turning left at the bridge to the Pukara, then continuing along the track next to the (dried up) river. At one stage the trail goes steeply uphill to meet the long and winding road which most tourists choose to drive up. Russ got a bit out of breath and chewing coca leaves was his salvation, until the anaesthetic properties kicked in and he had to spit it all out!! The trail then follows the road before descending sharply away to the waterfall. Unfortunately the water is now diverted for irrigation so there wasn't much to see! We chose a lovely spot by the stream and sat in the blazing sun for a couple of hours. Then we retraced our steps back to Tilcara. The way back down was much easier on the legs and the lungs! During
The Rickety Old Bridge
But vehicles and pedestrians both cross without incident. the whole day we hardly saw another soul.
It was in Tilcara that we had a laundry problem! We were getting quite low on everything by then and shoved it all in a bag for the lavandaria to take care of. When we collected, Trish was missing several small, but very important, items. We didn't discover this until we got back to our room. That meant walking back into town to argue with the staff. we were amazed that the girl was able to go straight to the "misplaced items" bag and hand Trish her smalls. What made us suspicious was that it was all new and good quality stuff in that bag, including a lovely Timberland teeshirt. We have a feeling that good quality clothes may be removed and put into this "misplaced items" bag until tourists have moved on, then the staff can help themselves. Or maybe we've just become a little cynical and over-suspicious!
Tilcara seemed to be THE place for eating llama on our travels. We loved the llama steak, but even more, the llama stew (estafado). It's definitely worth a try if you are a meat lover. We always remained grateful that we
La Pucara
The ruins surrounded by magnificent rocky outcrops and myriad cacti. chomped on salad vegetables at lunchtime because all we ever got with main courses was rice or potatoes. Still, that's quite normal throughout Argentina.
Before heading off for Humahuaca in the morning we did another short hike. This one took us to "Cerro Chico", the small hill, and wasn't too taxing. We passed some adobe bricks drying out in a field. These are used to construct all the buildings we saw outside the towns in the region. We also passed by the laguna de los patos, or duck pond to you and I!! There were plenty of coots there, but just before we arrived a car full of 4 young Argentine tourists pulled up, and they started to have fun by throwing stones at the birds. Naturally the birds retreated into the reeds and we waited a good 15 minutes after the young hooligans left until the birds came out again.
Apart from the stone-throwers, it was a very satisfying walk. Then it was back to the car and another hour or so to the town of Humahuaca.
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amanda the great
non-member comment
finally!
i have finally had a chance to catch up on your blog and your vaction! what was even more exciting is that i have actually been to these places so thanks for the memory jog! did they tell you about the argentine soccer team in humahuaca?