The whole reason for coming back to Argentina was to visit the far northwest provinces of Salta and Jujuy. We started in Salta and worked our way northward to the Bolivian border. Salta was a fairly typical large Argentine city. It has a nice central plaza, some popular pedestrian malls and ample treats to snack on. We spent a few days there just taking in the city and its sights. One highlight was the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña de Salta which displays Incan artifacts including three frozen mummies that were discovered on the summit of a nearby volcano. Many other Incan mummies have been discovered but the ones on display in Salta are the only ones preserved in low-pressure and sub-zero temperatures. Photography is not allowed in that museum so you will just have to visit Salta to see them.
Salta’s food scene was pretty entertaining and surprisingly different from what we saw further south in the country. For lunch our first day I tucked into a nice big bowl of locro pulsado which is a corn soup with various types of meat and potatoes. There is also a thriving street food scene in Salta. Pochoclo (sweetened popcorn) is certainly the king of street snacks but we also saw candied nut vendors, hotdog-encased-in-pancake-batter vendors (don’t ask) and juice vendors. There was no problem keeping ourselves fed in Salta.
From Salta we headed north to Tilcara. This was supposed to take about three hours on the bus but we ended up killing a full day thanks to the Argentine equivalent of labor day. Argentines and their holidays… Tilcara is a small town at the southern end of Argentina’s Quebrada de Humahuaca. Quebrada is the Spanish term for a steep valley or ravine and, in this case, the geography gives the place an abundance of water for farming.
The main attraction in the Quebrada are the colorful mountains that surround the valley. Purmamarca, a small village about 30 minutes from Tilcara, has a particularly famous “hill of seven colors” that overlooks the town. We popped in for half a day and had a look around.
From Tilcara we made a one-day side trip to the remote village of Iruya (population ~1000). The road into Iruya, called the Obra del Condor, is one crazy mountain road. It ascends gradually to over 13,000ft before plunging through dozens of switchbacks into the valley. The town itself is “muy tranqillo” and I believe that donkeys outnumbered cars in the streets. Smarter donkeys were found napping in the shade under the new pedestrian-only suspension bridge which connects the two halves of the town.
After one night in Iruya we hopped a bus back to Humahuaca (bags on the roof, of course!) and made a quick connection to La Quiaca on the Argentine-Bolivian border. We had heard that is best to get an early start at crossing into Bolivia so we wanted to get as close as possible. More on that adventure in the next post.
