Me encanta, Tilcara
More brief stories…enjoying my time here so much, that I´m doing less Internetting…haven´t even written in my diary, either..ack, so far behind!
Let´s see…I´ve been here for about a week already, but it seems like I´ve packed in so much already.
The day after the caves tour, I had taken a day to rest. A windstorm came in and so much dust was in the air, it was pretty crazy. There was a dusty haze over the mountains which made them look really surreal.
Yesteraday, I went with Vanesa, Simone (an Italian guy I met at the hostel), and Patricia to Purmamarca and the Salinas Grande. We took a local bus to Purmamarca for 2 pesos, then hopped in a combi to the Salinas for 20 pesos each. Otherwise, the excursions from Tilcara were 100 pesos..sheesh!
The Salinas were nice. Not as grand or impressive as Salar de Uyuni…that just tops the cake. But it was nice to check them out. To get there, we had to go over a pass of 4200 meters. Luckily, I didn´t get altitude sickness..which was nice.
Purmamarca was beautiful. The mountains there are of different colors, layered on top of each other. They are amazing. We did a short hike on a camino through the mountains. Every turn around the corner held something beautiful and impressive. Reds, greens, orange, yellow, etc…stunningly beautiful.
Today, Nathalie and I walked about 6 or 7 km to the next town over, Maimara. Actually, we were going to rent bikes…but we went to the bike shop, and it was closed — the guy was out on vacation to Buenos Aires. Then we went to ask around for other bike shops…well, long story short, we walked all around Tilcara trying to find bikes or horses to rent…we ended up walking the way to Maimara.
It was a beautiful walk. For the most part, we walked along the river. There´s really no path, and we ended up in someone´s agricultural fields but then turned around as we figured there were dogs to protect the house. We crossed the river a few times on bridges made from fallen trees. And all the way (from the hostel, and walking all over Tilcara), we were accompanied by a dog that would not leave. There was really nothing we could do…he just kept on following us all the way…some 7km later!
Maimara is beautiful. This little village also has colored mountains. Mountains everywhere, they are so gorgeous. Hopefully my pictures will do them a little bit of justice. Maimara is such a small, small town. We got there and nothing was opened. We walked all over town, asking the locals (who gave us foreigners strange looks) about a place to eat. We finally found a place, but the choices were limited.
After lunch, we went to the cemetary which had a nice mirador, then took the ¨Vuelta de Mundo¨path, which took us to a cross and another gorgeous mirador. We hiked the paths down the mountain, to try to get to where there is some sort of temple (looks like the one on Pucara which is restored). Well, down the mountain, we ended up in someone´s backyard, had to climb down a large adobe mound, and out their gate. It was pretty crazy. Well, we figured that the mirador would be the same, so we didn´t hike up to the temple looking thing.
The dog followed us the entire way, it was crazy. We stopped by a canal, I got a plastic bag out to fetch some water for the dog, and Nathalie helped me out. Two boys were watching us, probably thinking we were crazy. We gave the dog some water because it hadn´t had much over the hike all day long. Well, it was time to head back to Tilcara, so we caught a Remis back to town…had to leave the dog. Poor thing. But well, he didn´t have to follow us all the way…sheesh! Maybe he´ll have a new life in Maimara, or find his way back to Tilcara…who knows.
Tags: Tilcara, Travel
Marisa
October 13th, 2005 at 12:41 pm
I like Tilcara too…
I´m from Jujuy, Argentina..
Tilcara is a beautiful place…