Tilcara and Jujuy

Scenery between Salta and Cafayate

Leaving Cafayate was an adventure.  We thought there was a bus at 5:00am, but since it was Sunday the schedule was different.  Luckily a taxi came by the bus station and offered to take us to Salta for the same price as the bus, so we hopped in.  In Salta we thought we could get a direct bus to Tilcara, but again, since it was Sunday the schedule was different.  Instead we had to get a bus to Jujuy, wait 3 hours and get another one to Tilcara.  During our layover we wandered around looking for a place to eat lunch, and looked at the drab, run-down city.  Less than 2 hours away from Salta, Jujuy felt like a different world - much more similar to Mexico, Peru or Ecuador than the rest of Argentina.  There were tons of people selling things in the street, it was dirtier and had more litter, and everything just looked uncared for.  In all the other parts of Argentina that I'd been in most people had quite light skin and hair (lighter than mine many times) and were of European decent.  But here in the Northwest, closer to Bolivia, almost everyone had very dark skin and hair and appeared to be of indigenous of mixed heritage.

Landscape between Jujuy and Tilcara

We finally made it to Tilcara, and enjoyed the beautiful landscape along the way again - multicolored mountains.  We wandered around a little bit, but we had gone up a bit in altitude and were now approaching 2500 meters, so we didn't exert ourselves too much and went back to the room and chewed coca leaves.  The next day we had wanted to take a day trip to Humahuaca, a market town not too far away, but there was a strike blocking road so we had to stay around Tilcara.  Instead, we went on an amazing hike up a mountain to a waterfall, and saw some more of the spectacular striped mountains.  By the next day (yesterday) the strike had ended, and we were able to go to Humahuaca.  The taxi that was going to take us to the bus station gave us a decent price to take us the whole way to Humahuaca, so we went with him instead.  This way we got to make pit stops at the Tropic of Capricorn, and another town with a nice church.  The driver explained various aspects of daily life and culture to us.  Mom and I had a nice time looking at arts and crafts, and Dad walked in circles for a while and then sat in the plaza and waited for us. 

Jujuy to Tilcara

One thing that I really love about shopping in markets with handmade crafts is that you can ask for custom-made things.  I remember one of the first times I had this experience was in Morocco.  Browsing through the market we noticed that everyone had the exact same things, and we thought they were lying when they told us that everything was handmade...until one guy let us go behind his stand and there we saw a man making the shish-ka-bob skewers that we were so sure were an industrial product.  He had a blade set up that he could spin with his feet, and then maneuver the wood with his hands, to make the perfectly shaped ends that he had made so many times in his life that they turned out exactly the same every time.  In Mozambique you could find something you liked in the craft market, ask the artist to make it in a different size or color, and come back later to get it.  Yesterday I did that with some cactus spine earrings.  The artist had a whole bunch with different colored stones at the top, but I just wanted a plain pair to match more easily.  He grabbed his pliers and wire and immediately started crafting earrings exactly as I had described, and within 5 minutes they were ready!

Jujuy to Tilcara

Colorful mountain near Tilcara

Yesterday afternoon we came back to Jujuy and it didn't seem quite as unpleasant as our first impression.  We walked around for a while, but even I reached my limit of looking at arts and crafts for the week.  This morning Mom and Dad went to the airport to catch their flight to Buenos Aires, where they will have 2 days to enjoy the sights and put their Spanish skills to the test before heading back to the US on Friday.  It was a lot fun having them here, and we all had a great time!  I bought a bus ticket to Chile for tomorrow, so I have one day to hang around Jujuy and rest, blog, put pictures on facebook, etc.

Papa con un cactus