SA Sunday: Tilcara, Jujuy, Argentina

View from the ruins, overlooking the valley
From the journal:
5 de julio, 2009 Hostel Terra Oculta, Salta City, Salta, Argentina
...The second stop on our journey was Tilcara, about an hour south of Humahuaca. It is a bit bigger and decidedly more touristy. Though our hostel was cheaper (a mere $25 pesos) the rest of the town was more expensive. We showed down some lovely fried empanadas and delicious treats from Mama Pacha, our new favorite shop in all of Argentina. Our first evening there we picnicked in the plaza with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, grilled flatbreads and pumpkin alfahores [how posh!]. It was very pleasant, though we were eventually frightened away by some wild and reproductively intact dogs...


Cacti in the botanical garden
We flaked a little bit in Tilcara, opting not to do the recommended hikes because our potential guide was trying very hard to rip us off, and we didn't find him all that pleasant to begin with. We spent a couple of nights in the Pena right in the plaza where we saw the two groups you see pictured. We were aware that it was the tourist bar, but we made a couple of new friends there and thus kept going back. It was there that our trip really began. We forged a little community for ourselves in the three nights that we stayed and by the time we left we were able to walk through the town and greet people as if we lived there.


Alpaca cria rolling in the dust
We spent a morning in the Pucará Ruins, which are reconstructed pre-columbian ruins. We thought the fake pyramid at the top that was dedicated to the archeologists was pretty funny. We passed an hour or two in the attached botanical garden laughing at the alpaca cria and the "yerba buena" before wandering back into town...


Dancing in circles


View of the kitchen decor at Hostel Tilcara (though you can't see the dried frog he had hanging in the window)

For more photos please visit my Flickr album: Jujuy
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