Quebreda de Humahuaca, Day 72

Another long tour today – this time to the north, to the Quebreda de Humahuaca. Our tour companions this time are three retired gents from Buenos Aries on an Argentinean-style road trip. They act a bit like the Three Stooges, making Christi and I appear quite responsible and serious by comparison. At least the Three Stooges have the decency not to smoke in the car.

This time we’re on route 9 north through Jujuy (pronounced hu-hu-i) and on into the quebreda country. Much like entering the Quebreda de Cafayete, the scenery changes dramatically with multi-colored sculpted mountains and hills rising up above us (the so-called Painters Palette is undeniably spectacular). The first town we stop at is the tiny village of Purmamarca, which has Cerro de los Siete Colores (the hill of seven colors) as a backdrop – and major tourist draw. The old geezers buy the local handicrafts from an indigenous Quechua market, while Christi and I content ourselves with a few photographs (okay, a lot) and poking around the backstreets of this one-horse town. Further up the road is another picture-postcard village, Tilcara, and we spend an easy hour looking at the church, square, and enjoying some rather excellent locally-made empanada de pollo.

An hour further north is Humahuaca. The old guys demand lunch and we eat at an expensive tourist restaurant. Christi and I nibble on cheap empanadas while the Three Stooges tuck into tasty filling meals accompanied by quite a few drinks. Later we get an hour to explore Humahuaca, which is probably the prettiest village of them all. There is a large open plaza with steps climbing to an independence monument, featuring an Indian statue, the church (iglesia de la candelaria) and the municipal building and it’s clock-tower are all beautiful. The downside of taking a tour, of course, is that someone else is setting the schedule and while Christi and I would have liked to explore more, we have to return to Salta. The gents snore contentedly on the way back, missing brief stops in Uquia to visit the murals of angels dressed as conquistadors in the Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula and, finally, the truly ugly Tropic of Capricorn marker.