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Mon 25 Jan. Tilcara is 2465 meters above sea level on the verge of Grande River on Nº9 National Route. It has 5,640 inhabitants. The climate of this region is dry and mild, getting considerably colder as you get higher. The annual average temperature is of 20ºC. The poor vegetation of the area made up of acacias, pepper trees, poplars and willows provide the environment for the growth of a varied fauna including vicuñas, guanacos, foxes, ferrets, viscachas and condors. The area features dramatic mountainous landscapes and rich aboriginal traditions, which make it a major tourist attraction in northwestern Argentina.
This town of low adobe buildings with steep streets offers you quebrada views from most streets. An interesting amalgam of houses, an old church, a museum, and tourist souvenir stalls on the main square (apparently all the wollens come from Peru, and are not local at all!)
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A big attraction in Tilcara is the nearby Pucará de Tilcara, the partially reconstructed ruins of a pre-Inca Pucará, located on a hill with an impressive view of the valley of the Río Grande. The location was strategically chosen to be easily defensible and to provide good views over a long stretch of the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The Pucará de Tilcara was declared a National Monument in 2000.
Pucará - meaning fortress- is a few kilometres outside Tilcara, and we walked there over a rickety bridge spanning a rio seco, and beyond. Pucará was built by the original inhabitants of Humahuaca Quebrada as a hilltop citidal. Pucará offered a mix of the remains of the old buildings and some serious cactus plantings.
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Happily we arrived on the one day of the week on which admission was free - actually admission was pretty cheap anyway.
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Cactus in bloom is very dramatic - as amateurs we have no idea how often cactus flowers and how lucky we were to see cactus in flower?
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Having "done" Pucará, it was on to Purmamarca, a half hour car ride down the road, and a small village dating from the beginning of the XVII century, of pre hispanic origin, located at 2192 meters above sea level and meaning "Town of the Virgin Land" in Aimara language.
This small attractive village is surrounded by colourful mountains. And the best known of these is the seven coloured mountain of Purmamarca that sits as a backdrop behind the town. It's beautiful, not unique as there are other multi-coloured hills in the area, but is probably the best example. But to see so many colours compressed into one hill is pretty neat (pink, green, grey, purple, orange, brown, white). And around Purmamarca rise some impressive orange ridges.
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The town itself is full of adobe buildings, and has not (yet) disappeared under tourism.
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The layout of its streets is centred on the main church, which was built in 1648. The same as with other villages in the region, the houses in Purmamarca are of adobe, earth, clay and straw mixed, a technology passed down through the generations. These are the original abodes of peoples whose lifestyle and customs still permeate these areas.
In the Square , there is a crafts fair where you can get regional products such as pottery, carpets made with looms, ponchos, musical instruments and typical clothes from the Quebrada ( Narrow path).
Church & Carob Tree
Church
This church is consecrated to Santa Rosa of Lima, and was inaugurated in the year 1648. The wooden door lintel is a mute witness to its venerable age. Of a sole narrow nave, it holds many interesting imagery and paintings dating back to the Cuzco School of paintings of the XVIIIth century, all which contribute to the history and tradition in the area of the Quebrada circuit. As a backdrop behind the church can be seen the famous Mountain of Seven Colours, which delights the eyes of every visitor to this village. It is located facing the main square. Of simple architecture, adobe walls, roof of wooden spars and reed and mud cake.
The Historic Algarrobo Carob Tree
This very old and wide trunked fully crowned Carob tree is found beside the church. It is another mute witness to one of the historically most important moments in the history of Jujuy, at one time serving as shade to Belgrano's troops.
El Paseo de los Colorados
An approximately three kilometres long path leaving the village following for a while the course of a rivulet running into the Río Purmamarca River, with spectacular views, including the incredible one of a series of figures shaped by nature on the red cliffs of the surrounding mountainsides. This we walked, and the photos are below
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The sort of tourist shops that exist are all small, and the numbers of tourists are still small.
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On the way back to Tilcara, we stopped at the Posta de Hornadilla, originally a station for changing horses on the messaging system running up South America. Quite odd this place, there was nobody around, and we got in by the back door. A couple of Argentineans joined us, and we wandered through a well laid out museum with not a guardian in site. There appeared to be someone when we finally ended at the front door, but discretion showed us retracing our steps and exiting out the back again.
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Back in the hotel at Tilcara, it started to drizzle a bit, but undeterred we set out with umbrellas in the dark to get to a local restaurant - bad move - Chris fell badly on an uneven pavement on an unlit street, and hurt her shoulder, hand and wrist. She was badly shaken, so to try to put her right, the restaurant suggested a cup of "coca and bica", the local cocaine leaf, spiked with bicarbonate of soda to release the drug. As a result she was on a high all night and could not sleep!
The next day we do a day trip to Yavi