30th August- 3rd September: Salta and Jujuy provinces

From Posadas, we took a 18-hour bus to Salta. We did not buy the cheapest tickets, but it was definitely worth it.  It was a bus with fully inclining seats (cama). In addition, you could adjust a little plastic table on your seat to enjoy the meals they were bringing.  And more importantly, they showed three great movies: a great romantic comedy that John enjoyed particularly, Mall Cop, and a spy movie (Duplicity).

We arrived in Salta around 10 am, after a good amount of sleep in the comfy seats.  After dropping our bags at the hostel (very conveniently located near the Plaza de 9 de Julio, in the center of the city), we went shopping for a netbook.  Unfortunately, we could not find many, the choice being reduced to a few Argentinian brands, not that cheap.  We were told that imports of netbooks had been stopped, in order to favour local brands.  We might get more lucky in other countries in South America.

Our first visit was at the Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana (MAAM), which had a very interesting exhibition on the child sacrifices that the Inca left on top of some of the Andean peaks.  In particular, the museum displayed the mummified body of one of the three children (the 15-year old or la Doncella) discovered at the peak of Llullaillco during a 1999 expedition, together with the objects that were left with them.  The body was impressively well-preserved, apparently due to the altitude and cold at the top of the mountain.  She had a very peaceful expression, which makes me think that she died in her sleep.  Just to give you some quick background, selected children were taken to Cuzco for an important celebration: the capacocha.  After the event, they returned home, where they were again feted and welcomed.  They were fed, given some chicha (an acoholic beverage made from fermented maize), taken up to the mountain and burried while asleep.  The Incas believed that the children were reunited with their ancestors, who watched over the communities.  The museum was well-organized and displayed interesting videos about the exhibition.  The "Reina del Cerro", another mummy, was also displayed, but it had been damaged by robbers in the 1920s.  We then enjoyed a stroll around the city and visited the Cathedral. 

The next day, we visited the PAJCHA - Museo de Arte Etnico Americano.  We were welcomed by the very enthuastic and friendly vice-director of the museum.  He took us through the main exhibits of the museum, which include macaw-feather creations, religious sculptures from the Cuzco school (see below), traditional costumes, in particular the costume of a Mapuche queen, with the traditional finely crafted silver jewelry. He gave us some very interesting insights into the Cuzco school. Examples of the Cuzco school include the 9 archangel paintings in the Uquia church, 17th century.  The archangels appear as Spanish nobles, with little wings on the back and surprisingly armed with muskets and sabres.

We then went for a hike up the Cerro de San Bernardo hill, which offers a great view over Salta.  Although it is possible to go there by telepheric, we thought that it was high time to get into shape and thus climbed the 1,021 stairs.  Later, we booked our bus tips to Jujuy and San Pedro de Atacama, as well as an excursion to Cafayate.

We left around 7 am the next day for our excursion to Cafayate, known for the Quebrada de Cafayate (a canyon displaying oblic sedimentary strata and colored sandstone) and its wine.  The guide took us to the guarganta del diablo or devil's throat, where the rock strata were particularly impressive, leaving only a small walkway, and the amphitheatre, where the acoustics are very good (we were lucky to have some singers perform for us).  After taking about 100 pictures of various rock formations, we arrived at the Bodega for wine tasting.  Unfortunately, the wine we tasted was not that good, thus we purchased a bottle of Malbec in the village of Cafayate from a more famous bodega, which we enjoyed for dinner.  We could not help but trying the malbec flavoured ice-cream, which was interesting but very acidic on the tongue.   

Jujuy was only two hours from Salta so this was not a tiring journey.  Thankfully so, because when we arrived at the hostel where we had a reservation (I had called twice), they told us that they had just done some painting in the room and the smell was too strong to sleep there...hum, ok!  They very nicely called another hostel 4 blocks away and booked us a room there.  After the eventful morning, we went to the museo archeologico provincial, where the most interesting exhibits were an approx. 3000-year-old fertility goddess figure depicted in the act of giving birth and deformed skulls.  Skulls were deformed using bowls in ceramic or wood pieces for aesthetic purposes.  The Museo Historico Franciscano, by the Iglesia and Convento San Francisco, displayed an interesting collection of colonial and some pieces from the Cuzco school.  The Museo Historico Provincial gave us some interesting insights into the main characters of the war of independence, and also had some interesting costumes of the time.  We finished our tour of the city museums with the Fundacion Recrear, which is a workshop where underprivileged kids are taught to reproduce paintings and carved wood objects. The paintings and objects reproduced date from the colonial era and can be found around Jujuy, most of them located in chapels of the Puna and Quebrada de Humahuaca.  Some of the reproductions were really good, but I managed to resist the temptation.  As a compensation for the long day of visits, we went for a nice dinner in town and shared a churrasco de bife with a salad, and a bottle of wine.

The visits to the PAJCHA museum and the Fundacion Recrear had raised our interest for 17th c. colonial paintings. We thus went to visit the Quebrada de Humahuaca the next day.  We took a collectivo (public bus) to Purmamarca, where we had a short walk to enjoy the sight of the Hill with the Seven Colors.  After a rapid tour around the town  (unfortunately, the Church was closed), we took another bus to Uquia, a very small town, famous for its church and the paintings of the nine archangels attributed to the Cuzco school.  It  is very surprising to see angels dressed as Spanish nobles, with arms (an arquebus or a shield).  One explanation   is that for the indigenous they were seen as protectors of the villages. They are a good example of the syncretism of cultures: the mix between catholic religion and local cultures.  Priests and Jesuits used to teach and evangelize local populations using paintings.  The Cuzco school can notably be recognised by the flowers in the painting. In the case of the archangels, the flowers are all around the frame.

We then went on to Humahuaca, a nice town at the end of the Quebrada. Unfortunately, the church was closed, so we had a walk around the little town.  We then caught the bus back for two hours to Jujuy, enjoying the sunset on the Quebrada.  After cooking ourselves some pasta, we went to bed ready for an early start to catch the bus to Chile and San Pedro de Atacama.