Quebrada de Humahuaca Although the intense beauty of the Quebrada de Humahuaca gorge features so often in tourist literature, posters and coffee-table books that some of the surprise element is taken away, a trip along it is nonetheless an unforgettable and moving experience. Stunning, varied scenery is on display all the way up from the valley bottom, just northwest of San Salvador de Jujuy, to the namesake town of Humahuaca, 125km north of the provincial capital. Here, in addition to some decent accommodation and a monument or two, you will also find an outstanding cultural centre that includes a surprisingly good cinema. While most day-trips along the gorge from Jujuy (and Salta) take you up and down by the same route, RN-9, you're actually treated to two spectacles: you'll have your attention fixed on the western side in the morning, and on the eastern flank in the afternoon, when the sun lights up each side respectively and picks out the amazing geological features: polychrome strata, buttes and mesas, pinnacles and eroded crags. What's more, the two sides are quite different, the western mountains rising steeply, often striped with vivid colours, while the slightly lower, rounded range to the east is for the most part gentler, more mellow, but just as colourful.
Most (day) tours organized out of Jujuy and Salta only go as far as Humahuaca and then head back, but this still gets you two tracking-shot views of multicoloured mountains, the highlight of which is the photogenic Cerro de los Siete Colores, overhanging the picturesque village of Purmamarca. From Purmamarca a dramatic side road leads across splendid altiplano landscapes, via pretty little Susques, to the Chilean border at the Paso de Jama, high in the Andes. Purmamarca has enough accommodation options to make it a possible stopover, especially if you are forging on towards Chile, but most of the lodgings are on the expensive side. Further up the gorge, just outside the village of Maimará and overlooked by oyster-shaped rock formations in the mountainside, is one of the region's most photographed cemeteries. Two-thirds of the way to Humahuaca, the small town of Tilcara is worth lingering in, if only for its beautiful pre-Inca fortress, or pukará; Tilcara boasts the best range of lodgings and eateries in the whole area, plus an interesting archeological museum. Between Tilcara and Humahuaca, in the little village of Uquía is one of the finest churches along the gorge; in these parts the typical chapel design is utterly simple, a plain whitewashed facade, sometimes embellished with an arch, and a single squat tower, usually acting as a campanile; many retain their straw roofs.
Beyond Humahuaca, RN-9 crosses bleak but stunningly beautiful altiplano landscapes all the way up to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border, nearly 2000m higher yet only 150km further on. A side road off RN-9 climbs to the incredibly isolated and highly picturesque hamlet of Iruya, if you really want to get off the beaten track. The whole of RN-9 and some of the side roads are accessible by regular buses from Jujuy, many of them also serving Salta.
| A calendar of festivals in the Northwest |
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Owing to its attachment to tradition and its high proportion of ethnic communities, the Northwest has maintained or revived more pre-Hispanic festivals than any other Argentine region – nearly every village seems to have one. There are also many religious and secular celebrations observed here that are a blend of indigenous and imported customs, so subtly melded that the elements are indistinguishable. Carnival, Holy Week and saints' days predominate among the latter.
January & February
The first fortnight of the year sees pre-Carnival revelry all along the Quebrada de Humahuaca, where Carnival itself is a big holiday. January 6 is the date of processions in Belén in honour of the Virgin Mary. In the second half of January, Tilcara holds its annual bean-feast, followed by Humahuaca's tribute to the Virgen de Candelaria on February 2. Pachamama, the Mother Earth deity dear to the indigenous peoples, is feted on February 6 in Purmamarca and Amaicha, where festivities last a whole week. Cheese fans should head for Tafí del Valle, where the Fiesta Nacional del Queso takes place in early February.
Carnival is a boisterous time in Santiago del Estero and Salta. The Serenata Cafayateña is a folk jamboree held on the weekend following Shrove Tuesday in Cafayate. Londres hosts a lively walnut festival in early February, while Fiambalá'sFestival del Camino Hacia el Nuevo Sol takes place on February 18 and 19. The third Wednesday of the month sees the Fiesta Nacional del Aguardiente in Valle Viejo, and the third Thursday the hangover.
March & April
In March, the Feria Artesanal y Ganadera de la Puna transforms normally quiet Antofagasta de la Sierra. March 19, St Joseph's Day, is a red-letter day in Cachi, while a major pilgrimage, with night vigils and processions, converges on the tiny village of Puerta de San José, near Belén, on March 18 and 19.
Holy Week is a serious affair throughout the region but the highlights are Maundy Thursday at Yavi, the pilgrimage to El Señor de la Peña at Aimogasta, in northern La Rioja Province, and the procession of the Virgen de Punta Corral, from Punta Corral to Tumbaya. A week after Easter sees a minor performance of the momentous rituals in honour of the Virgen del Valle, in Catamarca.
May– August
May kicks off with Santa Cruz celebrations at Uquía, on May 4, while May 25 is celebrated in El Rodeo, in Catamarca Province, by a destreza criolla – or rodeo – and St John's Day, June 24, is a major feast throughout the region.
Late July is when Catamarca stages one of the country's biggest folk and crafts festivals, the Festival Nacional del Poncho. St James' Day, July 25, is a major holiday in Santiago del Estero but also in Humahuaca. Argentina's only bullfight, an unusually bloodless tradition, is the main event at Assumption celebrations held at Casabindo on August 15. Santa Rosa de Lima is honoured at Purmamarca on August 30.
September– December
Salta's big feast thanks God for the Virgin of the Miracle during the nine days leading up to September 15 while Iruya holds a highly photogenic feast for Our Lady of the Rosary on the first Sunday in October. In early October, it's Cafayate's turn to honour the Virgin. Two Sundays later (usually around October 20), La Quiaca holds its Fiesta de la Ollas, or "Manca Fiesta".
All Souls' Day and the Day of the Dead, November 1 and 2, are important feasts all along the Quebrada de Humahuaca and especially in Antofagasta de la Sierra. The city of Catamarca attracts thousands of pilgrims for processions involving the Virgen del Valle, on December 8. Angastaco hosts a gaucho festival in honour of the Virgin around the same time. Nativity plays and other Yuletide activities are popular throughout the Northwest but Christmas itself isn't associated with any special customs.
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