Quebrada de Humahuaca

I will rate my experiece in this valley (quebrada in Quechua) independant of the only cultural aspect of the WHS. For me the natural/ landscape experience was more fascinating than the cultural aspect which is also interesting.  
 
Already the ride from Salta or Jujuy into Tilcara is a highlight. While driving uphill the landscape changes from green hills, forests and meadows into a dusty, red- brownish mountain landscape which sees mainly huge cactus growing. Maybe it is because I haven't travelled such a landscape before that I was quite happy but also others on the bus liked what they saw during the ride.  
 
Tilcara is quite a picturesque town. My family thought I'm in the Wild West when I have sent them pictures. We visited the Pueäcará de Tilcara within 1,5 hours in the evening of the first day which was sufficient. There is a flyer with some basic info available in English which doubles partly with some information signs in the fortress, that is more an ancient village than a defensive structure. Additionally there are guided tours in Spanish, which we didn't take. In addition to the historical aspect of the site I found the archeological controversies that happened here in the first half of the 20th century the most interesting. In short archeologists rebuilt parts of the Pucará (fortress in Quechua) but with wrong techniques and built a road that destroyed parts of the archeological site. Finally others build a monument for the archeologists within the …

Originally when visiting Argentina, we planned to hire a car to visit the Quebrada de Humahuaca. However, a quick search online showed that there were multiple reasonably priced day trips leaving Salta visiting the valley, so we skipped sourcing a rental car and booked two tickets on a day trip.

We booked our day trip with Nordic Travel through Viator, for about $50 USD per person. Our bus seated about 25 passengers and we had a bilingual guide (although only four of us didn't speak Spanish) plus lunch was included.

The downside of doing an organised tour is that the stops are up to the tour company - for instance, our first proper stop was at a roadside cafe/shop with the longest toilet queues I've seen outside a festival. I enjoyed our first proper stop at Purmamarca, with just enough time to visit the church and a viewpoint for the Hills of Seven Colours, plus eat a local tortillas rellena.
 
However, we only found out on the bus that as it was a Monday, the Pucara de Tilcara was closed, so we only stopped in town, which wasn't that interesting. We also ran out of things to do for our longish stop in Humahuaca - I most enjoyed the colourful street art.
 
We also weren't expecting that with a 6:30am start time (well at least for pick-ups) and a 12 hour duration, that the tour wouldn't get back to Salta until 8:15pm, a narrow call for …

I visited Quebrada de Humahuaca in March 2022 after almost seven weeks in Argentina. Already in 2008, Els was surprised to write the very first review of this site, which is well on the classic path of backpackers and tourists in South America. It is even more surprising that only one other member of this community has visited the site and written a review since then and that this one dates back to 2009. Thirteen years later, I invite you on another four-day tour of the Quebrada. I spent three nights in a hostel in Tilcara, where I had come with a direct bus from Salta (beautiful city by the way).

First, after settling in at the hostel, I spent the rest of the afternoon surveying the Pucará de Tilcara and the adjacent Jardín Botánico de Altura. This ruined fortification is the main evidence of pre-Hispanic cultures in the area. The site is well laid out. They give you a pamphlet at the reception with the main information to understand the site. The problem is that this site and its visit is more of a lesson on what not to do as an archaeologist. You learn that the archaeologists of the mid-twentieth century rebuilt the dwellings with different materials and techniques than those used at the beginning, that they contaminated some areas of the site by transporting large quantities of soil and that they destroyed part of it to build the monument in homage to the archaeologists, a monument …

This was the first site I visited outside of Europe and the Middle East. It was a lucky choice since the area has a very distinct atmposphere from what I had known. The Quebrada is stunning in its natural setting and a very special place. In the Quebrada we visited Tilcara (where we stayed and I would recommend to stay) and nearby Purmamarca. Two special assets of the towns are their traditional colourful cemeteries filled with floral ornaments which are surprisingly cheerful, and the local Cuzco style paintings. If you want an interesting explanation about the Quechua influence on this local Baroque style (in Spanish) go to the Museum of Colonial Painting in Jujuy Capital. Local restaurants offer traditional Andean food and in some of them you can also listen to indigenous music.

Two nearby attractions I would recommend to visit while here are are the Salinas Grandes de Jujuy (second largest salt flats in the world after Uyuni, Bolivia) and Calilegua National Park.

So this is the first review of the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Quite remarkable, as it is well on the beaten track for both overland South America travellers (it's close to the Bolivian-Argentine border) and regular Argentinian holidaymakers. Think of a sanitized version of the Andes, in a Colorado/Arizona landscape. I stayed here for four days, both in Purmamarca and Tilcara, and drove up and down the valley in a rental car.

The Quebrada has a relatively high population density, which differs from the many other valleys around Salta. The town of Purmamarca (population: 360) is quiet though: earthen roads, low adobe buildings, the smell of wood smoke in the streets in the evening and early morning, and scarce street lighting. It's a great little town to stay in. Its major landmark is the Seven Coloured Hill, which the town is exactly located in front of. The natural scenery is one of the major assets of the Quebrada de Humahuaca in general.

It wasn't put on the World Heritage List for its natural beauty, however. It's a 'cultural route', used by everyone from hunter-gatherers to independent Argentina. The tracks of the early groups aren't very easy to spot for the casual visitor. Most of what is visible left dates from the Spanish colonial times and later.

Driving north, the first historical building you encounter is the Posta de Hornillos. This is a 16th-century post for travellers to rest, modelled after the oriental caravanserais. It is now turned into …