Tilcara/Purmamarca/Humahuaca/Iruya, Argentina: Rock in the Mawning

Hostal Los Molles, on the same street as the bus station, (go straight past the plaza, it´s a white house on the right), 30 pesos for a dormitorio with breakfast and an incredible view!

We continued on north to Tilcara, getting even closer to Bolivia than we thought we´d ever do again. Although it still had something of an Argentinean feel, we were so close to Bolivia that we could practically taste the saltenas. Tilcara turned out to be one of the most relaxing and beautiful places we´ve visited. From our hostal we had a breathtaking view of the Quebrada (a long, stretch of rock formations between Salta and Tilcara.)

While sitting outside taking in the view, we met Joke (said, Yolka), a smart, giggly girl from Holland. It was late in the day, but we wanted a peek at Tilcara so we took a 3 km walk to the `lagoon` which was in fact more like a little pond full of yellow and blue beaked ducks. We were surrounded by rocky mountains, cactus and scenes that looked more painted than real. We walked down a woodsy path past small, clay houses where dogs chased rabbits up the rocky slopes and we watched the sky turn pink all around us.

Back at the hostal we met Edgardo, Lisandro and Juan, 3 guys from Pigue, (in the province of Buenos Aires), who turned out to not only be the nicest Argentineans we´d ever met, but also the most hilarious. In two quick days with their wit, humor and just really cute personalities they would change my previously conceived ideas about Argentineans forever.

Apparently, they´d bought too much meat, (6 pounds to be exact!) and didn´t know what to do with it, so they invited us to their barbecue. The food was great, minus the tomato and onion salad that Laura and I made. (We haven´t quite figured out the Chilean salad secret yet.) However, the death-by-onion jokes started rolling and we knew right way that the six of us would be great friends.

After dinner the laughs continued with a silly card game in which we learned that the guys had some amazingly funny and complicated dance moves and that never has Juan ever driven a blue car.

The next day Laura and I went to Purmamarca to see the famous ´Cerro de 7 Colores´ (Hill of 7 Colors). We found the town to be really touristy, the hill to be beautiful and the one hour walk around the hill to be much more impressive. We discussed why Purmamarca is famous for the hill of 7 colors when it could be famous for the valley of a thousand colors!

We took our time walking around exploring the layers of rocky hills, dark gray, behind green, behind brown, reds, oranges...smooth, knobby, jagged, wavy, etc; one more incredible than the next. We sat down for a while and enjoyed the view while I banged on my drum, listening to the distinct echos in the distance.

The next day we got up bright and early to travel four hours to Iruya with the chicos. Juan drove us to Humahuaca where we hopped on a bus that took us right into Iruya. The ride between Humahuaca and Iruya was astounding as we wound up and down mountains surrounded by (more) rock formations and snowy peaks. The boys hopped from side to side of the bus in giddy excitement, taking moment by moment footage of the high altitude landscape.

Once we arrived to Iruya, we hiked to the mirador where we had a view of the tiny town and the beautiful rocky hillsides. We then ate a huge milenesa (typical, Argentine breaded chicken or beef) lunch followed by a walk down to the river. On the way we ran into an old woman selling medicinal herbs. While Laura contemplated buying the cure for her cough, I decided to snap a quick photo of the old senora, something you should never do without asking first. I´m not sure why in that moment I thought I´d get away with it, but the flash went off and the woman got angry. She made me promise I´d send her a copy of the picture, so I sheepishly wrote down her name (apparently there are no street addresses in Iruya) and sincerely promised Petrona Burgos that her pic would be in the mail asap. (I´ve already sent it.)

The ride back to Tilcara seemed longer and much bumpier than the ride there... maybe because we only wanted to sleep, which was entirely impossible. Plus the river had risen, so we had barely gotten rolling when the bus and truck in front of us got stuck right in the middle of the muddy, rocky waters. 30 minutes later, with the help of the passengers and drivers, everyone was through. No one seemed to mind the wait though, since they were more interested in taking pictures of the laughable situation.

All in all, we had had a great day! It ran so smoothly that we were shocked it had been planned by the guys. Laura and I often joke about what we call the `man plan´... obviously planned by men: no money, no tickets, no communication, no clue. Lisandro, Edgardo and Juan defied all odds with a flawlessly organized day.

Once in Tilcara we summoned up our last ounces of energy and danced the night away at the little, local bar in town where we made up 6 of the 12 people there.

The next morning after a few, last laughs with the guys, we said our goodbyes to our favorite Argentines. We were headed for Cafayate.