Saturday, April 1, 2023

Our day began in Tilcara, Argentina at a boutique hotel on the outskirts of town. All four of us suffered from a restless night of sleep last night, thanks to a number of mosquitos that invaded our hotel room. Without air conditioning, we had to sleep with the windows open and those pesky mosquitos did their best to disrupt our otherwise calm and peaceful surroundings. Poor Aden took the brunt of their attack; his back, arms, and face are dotted with red bites this morning.

Before leaving our hotel, Casa Calma, we enjoyed breakfast together in the lobby while admiring the view of the vibrant red mountains surrounding Tilcara. Knowing we had a long day of driving ahead of us, Andi requested “five eggs” to be prepared by the kitchen staff in addition to their typical continental breakfast offerings. Why five eggs for four people? I’m not exactly sure, but I assume it’s because he knew the kids wouldn’t eat much. A few minutes later, the breakfast host brought five plates of eggs to our table. Well, now we had more than enough protein to fuel our bodies for the travel day ahead. Eat up, kids!

After breakfast, we left the town of Tilcara and drove north along Argentina Route 9 to a small mountain town called Iruya (pronounced ee-roo-sha; in Argentina, the “y” sound is pronounced “sh”). Andi and I were worried about the condition of the road to get to Iruya as several locals gave us quizzical looks when we shared our travel plans. Hearing their concerns, Andi and I considered changing our plans, but every hotel in the whole Quebrada de Humahuaca valley is booked. So, we decided to continue on — the road to Iruya can’t be that bad, right? Before we left Tilcara this morning, Andi asked the owner of our hotel for his opinion on the route to Iruya, and he said the mountainous road is rough and winding and there are some river crossings, but it is doable. With that said, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I threw our backpacks in “Sal” the rental car and decided to go for it.

The first hour of our drive was fine as we traveled north along the paved highway. At the town of Humahuaca, we turned right onto a rocky, dirt road. The drive was bumpy with lots of potholes and basketball-sized rocks scattered about, but it was also dry and relatively wide in most parts. Only two hours (47 km, or 29 miles) of this dirt road and we’d be there! Oy.

We passed through several small Argentine villages consisting of nothing more than a few houses, and each time women would run out to the road carrying a plate of empanadas or pan casero (cheese bread) for sale. Although jarring, the drive through the mountains was beautiful. Yellow wildflowers, swaying in the afternoon breeze, lined the roadway. We took our time driving slowly along the bumpy road, and enjoyed the view.

The last hour of the drive was more twisty as we ascended to the top of Abra del Condor, a high mountain pass with an elevation of 12,933 ft. Aden felt a little car sick in the backseat, so we stopped on the side of the road to stretch and get some fresh air. On the other side of the mountain closer to Iruya, the scenery changed from dry, desert, and rocky to greener fields and mountainsides.

Surprisingly, the way that most people get to Iruya is by bus transport. We passed two buses on our drive — one driving into Iruya and one leaving the town. I honestly can’t imagine bumping around in the back of a bus for three hours on that road. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it! But, people do it all the time. We noticed the bus leaving town had a higher wheel base, likely to maneuver the rocks and many river crossings.

The challenging drive wasn’t over when we reached Iruya. People have inhabited this mountain town for over 400 years, and the roads were clearly built before cars were a consideration. A cobblestone street led into us into town where several steep side streets interconnected. We had zero cell phone reception, and the navigation map pulled up on Andi’s iPhone was frozen. We had no idea where our hotel was in this town and it wasn’t as simple as driving around until we found it. The one-lane cobblestone roads in Iruya are so compact that our rental car barely fit on the road between buildings. Complicating matters further were the steep hills, one-ways, and dead-end roads that seemed to be around every corner. At one point, Andi had to reverse the car going downhill through a narrow street crowded with people so we could turn around.

Andi remembered reading that the Iruya Hotel was located on a hill, so he found the one road that headed upwards to the top of the town. Eventually, we reached our hotel and found a place to park our vehicle. We noticed everyone places big rocks behind their tires here to prevent their cars from rolling away.

In the hotel lobby, I ran into a very nice guy who happened to have stayed at our hotel in Tilcara last night. He spoke English, and told me the power was out at Hotel Iruya (as well as throughout town). Therefore, it was very quiet inside the hotel with other guests simply sitting around having lunch or admiring the mountain view.

Andi reserved us two hotel rooms for the night next door to one another — one room had a queen bed for Andi and I, and the other two twin beds for Tory and Aden. Our rooms were ready, so we dropped off our backpacks and then decided to have lunch on the hotel patio.

Hotel Iruya had a limited menu since the power was out, but we were able to order a fabulous local meat & cheese board with a potato, bean, and corn mote accompaniment and quinoa fritters. Tory and Aden each ordered pasta with tomato sauce that was positively made from scratch. The kids devoured their bowls! It looked delicious. All of our food was fantastic, and definitely had a touch of Andean culture which we loved.

Without any electricity, there wasn’t much to do but go for a walk. What goes down, must come up! Tory made us very aware that we’d have to climb back up the hill to reach our hotel again. “Did we want to do this?” she asked no one in particular. Even walking through town had our hearts beating rapidly and lungs gasping for air. With a town built on hills at 2,780 meters elevation (9,120 ft.), an everyday walk through the streets feels like a workout.

Whether it was siesta time, or because the entire town was out of power, everything was sleepy in town — not a restaurant or cafe was open for business. We wandered through the streets of Iruya, and then stopped at the park to let Tory and Aden play on the playground equipment. While we were there, we watched a group of elementary-aged kids playing soccer together in an open-air gymnasium. In Argentina, it’s rare to see a child who isn’t kicking a soccer ball around.

Eventually, we slowly made our way back up the hill toward our hotel. I thought Andi was leading us up another dead-end road, but surprisingly the dirt trail popped out behind the hotel. “I’m really glad we didn’t have to turn around,” Andi said, relieved we made it.

We spent some time hanging around our hotel rooms reading books (Andi and I) and playing practical jokes on each other (Tory and Aden) for April Fool’s Day. The kids were so excited to prank each other today, they brainstormed a list of jokes to play on each other during our drive to Iruya. The best was when Tory sandwiched two chocolate chip cookies together with mint toothpaste in the middle and gave it to Aden. He ate … and liked it! Haha!

Around sunset, we headed back outside to fly the drone and hike to the top of the mirador (lookout) near the hotel. Tory and Aden grumbled about walking up another steep hill, but finally Tory said, “Ugh, what else do I have to do?!” then quickly followed behind me. We stopped a few times up to the mirador to catch our breath and admire the view.

The lookout offered beautiful views of the town below. In the distance, I could hear Andi’s drone buzzing through the mountain valley.

Tory and Aden stopped to play on some playground equipment located at the bottom of the road to the mirador. Their favorite thing to play right now is a game where one of us calls out an action like “frog” or “elderly person” and then Tory and Aden each have to act out that person/thing while making a circuit around the playground equipment. Andi and I cast our votes for whomever we think performed the best. The kids ask to play that game over and over again, laughing in amusement the entire time.

The electricity was still out after the sun went down over the mountain. Luckily, Andi brought a flashlight in his backpack, so we used that to navigate to the hotel lobby for dinner. I highly doubt any other restaurant was open for dinner in town; we didn’t even try to find one. The hotel used candles to light the tables in the dining room.

For dinner at Hotel Iruya, Andi, Tory, and I each ordered a bowl of vegetable quinoa soup. Aden had the pasta again. We were all tired and a little bored without much to do in the darkness. It kind of felt good to be bored though; peaceful and quiet without the usual noise of the world.

The kids put themselves to bed around 9:00pm, just as the powered flickered on. Yes! At least we’d be able to charge our phones before our long drive tomorrow. Andi and I watched a few downloaded episodes of Ted Lasso on his computer, and then we turned in for the night as well.

Tomorrow, we’ll say good-bye to Iruya and make the long drive back along the same mountain road. Hope it goes smoothly!