Today I joined a tour to explore the gorge of Humahuaca, a world heritage site. Going there by public transportation is possible, but inconvenient (the buses stop at bus terminals, not scenic points), and renting a car is rather expensive. Plus, tour guides do provide information that is not contained in the guidebook ;-)
Our first stop was Purmamarca. The backdrop of this village is a brightly colored hill, called the hill of seven colors.
Originally, Purmamarca was a village dedicated to agriculture and pottery. Nowadays, both have been abandoned in favor of tourism. This is a street that might have been typical formerly - today, only the shop in the front left corner is typical. Especially the main square is completely covered with souvenir vendors.
The church in Purmamarca was funny: it is open every day - except for Sunday. And here I was, thinking that Sunday was church-day for Christians ;-)
The next stop was Tilcara. On a nearby hill, the ruins of a pre-hispanic fortress have been discovered and partially reconstructed.
There were several of these fortresses in Humahuaca gorge, all located on cactus-covered hills. The reason why the fortress hills, and only those, are so full of cactuses? Well, apparently the inhabitants held llamas for transport, wool, and food. The llamas ate cactus fruits which of course contain cactus seeds. The llamas couldn't digest the seeds, so they were contained unharmed in the feces. Thus, more cactuses.
The houses and walls in the fortress are constructed simply by layering stones on top of each other, without any type of glue holding them together. The roofs are made from cactus wood with a thick layer of dried mud on top. It is amazing how cool it was inside the houses... very refreshing after the heat outside.
After Tilcara, we stopped at a pottery whose owners are trying to preserve the traditional craft by involving family members from all generations in the process. More for show than any real purpose, they had a couple of llamas in the front yard:
Incidentally, I also had llama for lunch. It tastes very good, similar to beef. By the way, the Argentine pronunciation of llama is crazy - they pronounce the double l as sh, like in shell.
After lunch in Humahuaca, we had some time to walk around the town. This is the church, built at the beginning of the 17th century:
Huge cactuses like this one were growing all around town:
And, finally, the most gorgeous part of the day were the beautiful pink mountains dotting the gorge. Just have a look at these great colors!
Our first stop was Purmamarca. The backdrop of this village is a brightly colored hill, called the hill of seven colors.
Originally, Purmamarca was a village dedicated to agriculture and pottery. Nowadays, both have been abandoned in favor of tourism. This is a street that might have been typical formerly - today, only the shop in the front left corner is typical. Especially the main square is completely covered with souvenir vendors.
The next stop was Tilcara. On a nearby hill, the ruins of a pre-hispanic fortress have been discovered and partially reconstructed.
There were several of these fortresses in Humahuaca gorge, all located on cactus-covered hills. The reason why the fortress hills, and only those, are so full of cactuses? Well, apparently the inhabitants held llamas for transport, wool, and food. The llamas ate cactus fruits which of course contain cactus seeds. The llamas couldn't digest the seeds, so they were contained unharmed in the feces. Thus, more cactuses.
The houses and walls in the fortress are constructed simply by layering stones on top of each other, without any type of glue holding them together. The roofs are made from cactus wood with a thick layer of dried mud on top. It is amazing how cool it was inside the houses... very refreshing after the heat outside.
Incidentally, I also had llama for lunch. It tastes very good, similar to beef. By the way, the Argentine pronunciation of llama is crazy - they pronounce the double l as sh, like in shell.
After lunch in Humahuaca, we had some time to walk around the town. This is the church, built at the beginning of the 17th century:
Huge cactuses like this one were growing all around town:
And, finally, the most gorgeous part of the day were the beautiful pink mountains dotting the gorge. Just have a look at these great colors!
