Tilcara, Argentina - Day 2

Friday, March 31, 2023

There are several small, historic towns nestled along the Quebrada de Humahuaca mountain valley in Northern Argentina full of history and rich Andean culture. The first town we visited during our two weeks in the Salta & Jujuy provinces is called Tilcara. Artifacts from people living here have been traced back 10,000 years. Incas lived here before the Spanish; before the Inca Empire, native Quebrada tribes inhabited the land.

We had one full day to spend in Tilcara, so Andi, Tory, Aden and I got moving early this morning. Our boutique hotel serves a typical Argentinian breakfast for guests, so we started our day with toast & jam, yogurt, Corn Flakes cereal, fruit, coffee, and powdered hot chocolate.

The weather in Tilcara is very deceiving. Today’s temperature said it was 65 degrees outside, but at 8,000 ft. elevation in the desert, the sun feels powerful. We dressed in pants and sweatshirts, but were quickly peeling off layers as the morning progressed.

Our first adventure for the day was to hike the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) trail located just outside Tilcara. Most people walk the road from town making the trek 7 km in total, but Andi and I decided to drive to the trailhead since we have a rental car. We saw lots of hikers walking along the rocky, dirt road and it looked long and miserable. The views of the Quebrada were beautiful though, as we climbed higher into the mountains above town.

At the trailhead, Andi paid $300 Argentine pesos/per person ($1.50 USD) to enter the trail and signed the log book. From there, we walked down a steep staircase of stone steps until we came to a T-intersection with signs pointing to a cascada (waterfall) and mirador (lookout) in opposite directions. We decided to first walk to the Devil’s Throat look-out.

To the right, the short path wrapped around the face of the mountain ending at a dead-end. Fortunately, there was a guardrail along the length of the trail because the cliff dropped straight down into the Devil’s Throat canyon. Aden and Tory had fun throwing rocks into the depths of the canyon while Andi flew his drone to get a better look.

After seeing the “mirador” side of the trail, we turned around and walked toward the cascada (waterfall). This trail led us over a dam and through the belly of the riverbed. The kids really liked jumping back and forth over the small trickle of river flowing through the rocky ground. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the natural waterfall at the end of the trail.

This was actually the perfect hike for our family. At 8,000 ft. elevation, we didn’t want an excursion that was too strenuous — especially for the kids. This trail was flat and not particularly interesting, but it was fun hopping back and forth over the riverbed and balancing on rocks as we worked our way to the waterfall. The waterfall was bigger and more beautiful than we expected it to be.

After walking the Devil’s Throat trail, the four of us drove back into the town of Tilcara. I wanted to stop at El Molle Fábrica de Alfajores to try their version of the popular Argentine alfajores cookies. When we arrived, we realized the bakery was a restaurant, too, so we decided to have lunch. Our waitress was super friendly, and didn’t seem annoyed at all with our broken Spanish. We ordered two empanadas, a humita (which is a traditional Andean food made with corn and cheese, steamed inside a corn husk), quinoa veggie stir-fry, chicken milanese, and carne lasagna. While we waited for our food, we sampled three different alfajores cookies from El Molle — fig, dulce de leche, and peach flavors. These alfajores were different than the ones we tried in the Patagonia region of Argentina, or in Buenos Aires. Alfajores of the north are made with local ingredients like purple corn (maiz morado) or quinoa, and dusted with white powdered sugar. We liked them a lot.

Once again our eyes were way bigger than our stomaches and we stuffed ourselves full to the brim. We decided we’d walk around Tilcara for a while to let our lunches settle. Tilcara is a touristy town, but not in an annoying way. About 6,000 people live here with over one million tourists visiting per year. There’s a daily market which takes place in the town square everyday where vendors sell handicrafts like alpaca sweaters, hats, clay pots, and other trinkets.

We hired a guide to take us through Pucara de Tilcara, a pre-Inca archeological site from the 12th century, and we had about an hour until we were due to meet her. Andi led us into a bakery/cafe called La Casa de Champa and our noses were immediately filled with the warm, comforting aroma of baked cookies. Wow, did this place smell amazing! Andi ordered an espresso for himself, Aden and I each ordered hot tea, and Tory got a hot chocolate for herself. We also ordered two gigantic pieces of cake from their menu — not that we were hungry after our big lunch!

Now that we were completely stuffed, it was time to walk around outside again. We drove over to Pucara, the pre-Inca ruins, to meet the guide we hired for the afternoon. While we waited for her to arrive, we walked around the cacti garden located next to the archeological site.

Carla was our guide’s name, and she spent the next 90 minutes walking us through the archeological site while sharing facts and stories about the ancient dwellings and the people who inhabited them. Between the 11th and 15th centuries, pre-Inca tribes lived in this fort strategically situated above the nearby rivers and valleys. Later, the ruins were uncovered by archaeologists and partially reconstructed for educational purposes.

One of the things I found most interesting were the cacti growing all over the grounds. Carla told us these huge plants only grow one inch every 10 years! That makes most of the cacti around Pucará over 400 years old. She also said people used to eat the fruit growing at the top of them, so naturally wherever people (and animals) defecated, seeds were transferred to the ground and new cacti plants grew. Now every time we see cactus plant, we think about someone pooping there!

One more thing I wanted to do during our visit to Tilcara was see the “Palette of the Painter” — a group of multi-colored mountains in the nearby town of Maimara. We drove south of Tilcara about 10 minutes to Maimara, and pulled into the cemetery parking lot which, as I read, has the best view of the mountains. Their vibrant colors really were quite spectacular to see — photos couldn’t capture the richness of the hues.

We were all still pretty full from lunch, but knew we needed to eat something before we drove back to our boutique hotel on the outskirts of town. We walked around downtown Tilcara for a few minutes before settling on a restaurant called El Fondito. Andi and I shared a plate of empanadas and Tory ordered a cheeseburger. Aden said he wasn’t hungry, so he passed on dinner altogether.

We drove back to our hotel, and turned in for the night. Today was a full and interesting day in Tilcara. Tomorrow, we’re checking out of Casa Calma and heading north to a mountain town called Iruya in Northern Argentina.