After driving most of the day, I finally arrived at my next stop, Calilegua in Jujuy Province. I’ll be starting in Calilegua National Park, but this first day all I had time for was to check in at my hotel in the town of Calilegua. I would describe the town as exceptionally uninteresting. It’s not a bad place, just boring, but it’s the most convenient base for my next round of exploring, so here we go.

Calilegua National Park is supposedly a cloud forest, which is why I decided to come here. I’ve explored other cloud forests before and they were cool, misty, and you know, cloudy. Calilegua on the other hand is dusty and hot as hell, like over 100°F hot. I started by driving thirty miles up the twisty dusty really rocky road to the village of San Francisco Jujuy to hike to their waterfall, Cascada de la Toma.

I found the trail easy enough and started walking. Thankfully, the temperature up here is a whopping three degrees cooler. They say your not allowed to hike this without a guide, but I took my chances on the well worn and well defined trail and somehow managed to survive. The most dangerous parts of the day were the ferocious wild animals I encountered, seen above. Finally, I made it to the waterfall. Was this trickle of water strangled by garden hoses worth all the effort it took to get here? Nope! But there it is.

I hiked back down and decided to hike the trail right next door up to the viewpoint, Cerro de la Cruz, since I’m already hot and sweaty anyway. Oh man that was a hot climb up there. Luckily, the view of San Francisco Jujuy and the mountains was pretty spectacular. After that I walked back down to the village and found a nice place to have lunch, empanadas and locro. Locro is one of my new favorite Argentinian dishes by the way, a stew made of corn, beans, meat (usually pork), and often pumpkin. Simple, hearty, delicious. Yummm!

Rather than revolutionary generals, San Francisco has a big monument to Pachamama. She is the Andean goddess of space and time, and the energy that connects everything in the universe. She’s also the mother of the sun and the moon, so she’s kind of a big deal. Respect!

The next day, even though it was 102°F, I suited up and did the big hike in Calilegua National Park. There are several trails, but I combined them to make a big roughly 6 mile hike around the park. The sun beating down through the trees was like a thousand pound weight. Holy Crap, it’s hot! There’s reportedly some cool wildlife in here and I was hoping to spot a tapir, some cool birds, or even maybe a jaguar. Apparently, the only living thing dumb enough to walk around in this heat is me though.

I don’t think I appreciated some of the views from higher up around San Francisco at the time because of the intense heat, but looking at the pics after, they were pretty amazing. The night after the big hike it did rain and cool off a bit, but I decided I had had enough of the “cloud” forest and didn’t want to deal with the muddy road through the park, so I bailed a day early and drove to the next stop, Humahuaca. There’s more of Jujuy Province to explore.

By contrast, my next stop, Humahuaca, was really delightful. Narrow cobblestone streets, friendly plazas, lots of delicious restaurants, interesting murals all over, I really enjoyed staying here. And the temps are 30-40° cooler. Much nicer!

The best part of Humahuaca though, and the reason I came here, is the jaw dropping scenery. This area is known as Quebrada de Humahuaca and it may be the most colorful place I’ve ever been. It’s very surreal. I have a lot of hikes and various sights mapped out, so I didn’t waste any time. My first excursion was to hike up to the Cerro Colorado. The start of the hike passed by some mountains called Gigantes Dormidos (sleeping giants).

After a long walk down the road, the path turned up, like almost straight up to Cerro Colorado. No switchbacks needed. The climb was super hard, not because of the climb itself, but because of the elevation. Humahuaca sits at just shy of 10,000ft. Cerro Colorado is about 13,600ft. I’m discovering the hard way that I am NOT AT ALL acclimated for these heights. My lungs are demanding to know where all the oxygen went.

I managed to make it to the top, but I now know that my pace is probably going to be a little slower than usual. The 360° views from the top more than made up for not being able to breath. Just colorful mountains as far as the eye can see in every direction. Unbelievable! I think my jaw actually dropped for real. The panorama below starts kind of northeast and works its way to the southwest.

After enjoying the views for a while and trying to catch my breath, I made my way along the ridgeline in the center of the pic above until I reached Puente del Diablo. The Devils Bridge is on the far right in the pic below, but there were several little arches and holes in the rock here.

I made my way around to get the up close views of Puente del Diablo and enjoyed some lunch underneath it. Awesome!

From there it was down down down. The view was amazing the whole way though. I can already tell this hike is going to end up being one of the highlights from this stop.

My next big hike was to Inca Cueva. I knew going in that I would have to pay to see the cave, but I read that you could hike up to the nearby arch, La Ventana, without issue, so I started there. Apparently, the locals tell people that access to La Ventana is restricted unless you pay for the cave. Whatever! They were not happy with me, but once they learned that I intended to go to the cave anyway and gave them money, we were all friends again.

Getting up to La Ventana was a little venture around the mountain and then a rocky climb up a crevasse into a sort of meadow. Once there I spotted the window in the rock wall (seen below) and climbed through for a great view of the valley below. I had my lunch underneath this arch as well before climbing back down to the cave.

Inca Cueva was definitely worth the price of admission and the temporary animosity from the locals. There were some fabulous petroglyphs in there going back as far as 2000 years. They were mixed with a lot of more modern nonsense too, hence why it’s fenced off and guarded now. Too many idiots ruining it for the rest of us.

These pictures seen below were supposedly painted by Spanish conquistadors.

I saw this next place, El Pintado, marked on the map way out in the middle of nowhere. No road going to it and no trail that I could find. Luckily, I spotted a dirt road using the satellite photos. So I ventured out as far as I could, parked the car and walked down the slope to the dry riverbed and actually found it. I was pretty proud of this one.

The people in these parts drew a LOT of llamas! I did find some other interesting subjects though.

Aside from all the beauty, Quebrada de Humahuaca as been a very important character in Argentinian history going back thousands of years. Starting with prehistoric hunter gatherers, the Inca, Spanish conquistadors, Argentinian revolutionaries, all used this area for life, war, trade, and transport.

High above Humahuaca town at about 14,200ft is the incredible Cerro 14 Colores. I don’t know if there are really 14 colors here, I didn’t count, but WOW! When I said this may be the most colorful place I’ve ever been, you ain’t seen nothing yet! I’ve taken lots of pictures of lots of mountains, but I don’t think I’ve ever been inspired to take close ups before.

The main viewpoint you can just drive to, but after that I decided to hike a few miles through the hills to get closer to the mountains and further from the people. Getting away from the people also meant more llamas. I saw a LOT of llamas this day.

My next decision was, shall we say, questionable. I saw a viewpoint on the GPS and thought I would go check it out. The road however went one direction, down, it was very rocky and there was no way to turn around. I had gravity to get me down to the viewpoint, but the whole way I kept wondering if my little Fiat would make it back up. Once there, the view of the Cianzo Valley was awesome! And I got a little different view of Cerro 14 Colores.

Luckily, I did make it back up that treacherous road, but it took a while. That Fiat is working real hard this week. Ha! Anyway, I got back on the main road, which is still just dirt and rocks, and drove out to see Lagunita de Aparzo. There were actually several lakes way up here and the one I was aiming for turned out to be the least interesting. The other lakes, the amazing views, and the llamas made up for it though. There are seven llamas in this pic below.

I finished my sightseeing and hiking at the 14 Colores and the Cianzo Valley and now it was time to head back to Humahuaca, but not before getting a pic of my route back. Humahuaca is over on the right, though it’s hard to make out because it’s hiding behind that hill.

Holy Crap, this has been a busy week! And this post keeps getting longer and longer. Maybe deciding to put all of Jujuy Province in one post was a bit overzealous. We’ll see. Anyway, just a bit south of Humahuaca in the town of Uquía is the Quebrada de las Señoritas. This hike is guided only and is the only hike I’ve done here with a significant amount of people. Usually I have these places to myself.

The hike itself wasn’t very long, but the rock formations, called the Señoritas, were really fascinating.

The best part was hiking up through this narrow cave. The entrance was right next to the Señoritas. Normally I hate guided anything, but this actually wasn’t bad. The group was small and the guide, Gustavo, was really nice. I think my understanding of Spanish might, MIGHT, be getting a little better, a LITTLE. Ha! I’m trying.

After that we headed back down a ways and then took a left turn to enjoy this slot canyon up to a little amphitheater, also known as a dead end. Time to turn around and head back.

Aside from all the ridiculously colorful mountains, I managed to hunt down some waterfalls as well. Yes, this place has it all. There’s no real “hike” to Cascada Arcoiris (rainbow falls). I had to study the topo map and some satellite photos, but basically it was just walking up that canyon, seen below. Easy, right?

I walked up the dirt road until I reached the opening of my canyon, made a hard right across the dry river, and then hiked up. The whole way up I kept thinking it was a waste of time because there was absolutely no water. But when I got within a few hundred feet of where the falls are, suddenly there was a stream. It appeared out of nowhere. The water flows down from the falls for a bit and then disappears underground. I was very pleasantly surprised and glad I decided to keep going anyway. What a spectacularly colorful waterfall.

My view coming down from Cascada Arcoiris was pretty spectacular too.

About ten miles down the road I set out for another waterfall hike, Cascada Santuyoc. This one was well marked and regulated though. I had to free myself of 2500 pesos and declare that I didn’t have any medical problems before setting off. The trail descended down into the riverbed which was not dry and then up the canyon on the other side.

The hike wasn’t difficult at all. It certainly didn’t warrant medical declarations, but it was pretty and Cascada Santuyoc was awesome!

Everything in Quebrada de Humahuaca happens along Route 9 and I’ve driven up and down and back and forth that highway so many times I’ve lost count. I finished exploring all the sites in the northern part though, so I moved my base from Humahuaca to Tilcara further south. Tilcara is a little less sleepy and a little more touristy, but it’s a perfect base. I can also breath a bit easier now since Tilcara is only at about 8,200ft. Aside from the established sites I also often get random blasts of color while making my way around.

The town of Maimara has its own colorful mountain called Paleta del Pintor (the painters palette). There were several viewpoints, but the best one turned out to be the random hill I climbed right off the highway. Fantastic!

Possibly the most popular stop on Route 9 is the town of Purmamarca. It’s a major tourist trap, beware! I didn’t know that coming in. I came for the Cerro de los 7 Colores. I didn’t count this time either.

The main thing I did here was the walk behind the village and through the colorful landscape. The views were awesome! This was the good part.

A couple of the side hikes to viewpoints I had read about were curiously fenced and off limits. I did find one though that didn’t really go anywhere spectacular and found some kind of local alter to… something. I hope I didn’t pick up some crazy death curse by taking this picture.

After the walk, getting some lunch and exploring the town for a bit, my opinion of Purmamarca degraded. It seems EVERY viewpoint of the mountain was fenced and off limits, around five or six that I had mapped out. The only viewpoint that you were allowed to go to was the one you have to pay for and that one didn’t even give you a view of the good part. You are allowed to walk the gauntlet of a thousand souvenir vendors at your leisure though. I walked the streets and got a couple of pictures through and over buildings, but that was it. Then I thought I might be able to get a full view from across the highway, but nope. They had planted a fortress wall of tall trees between the highway and the town, completely blocking the view of the mountains. Why? Just why? Lame, lame, lame!

From Purmamarca, a separate highway heads west, and north, and east, and south, but mostly west. It’s one of the craziest drives I’ve ever done. The destination, Argentina’s salt flats, Salinas Grandes.

There wasn’t a whole lot to do at Salinas Grandes because they don’t allow you to walk out too far. If you do they come after you on a motorcycle to reel you back in. The answer to your next question is no, they didn’t have to chase me down with a motorcycle. I saw them do it to other people though. The place was quite a sight to see. And they had some cool salt sculptures.

Back to that drive. On the way back I got some pictures of the crazy highway from various viewpoints. Salinas Grandes sits at about 11,000ft, but to get there you have to drive through and over the Lipán Valley. The highpoint of the drive is about 13,600ft and the views at every turn were tremendous!

Here’s one of those random blasts of color I was talking about earlier. Beautiful!

Perhaps second place in the Quebrada de Humahuaca popular sights competition is… wait for it… Garganta del Diablo. That’s right, I found a third Garganta del Diablo in Argentina. And I know of at least one more in another part of the country that I haven’t been to. I think we’ve identified a natural wonder naming problem. Why is it always the devil? Why can’t it be someone or something else? How about Garganta de la Llama?

Anyway, I first hiked back to the waterfall, Cascada Quebrada de Alfarcito. The canyon was really pretty, and out of the billions of cacti I’ve seen on this part of the trip, I spotted my first flower.

Finally, I made it to the waterfall. This hike can be done right from Tilcara, it’s a few miles, but no driving necessary. And because it’s so popular, there were quite a few people here. I had to be creative and patient for the pic. The falls were pretty though.

On the way back I walked along the big gorge known as Garganta del Diablo. It looks like they built a dam and the walkway follows the little acqueduct. It was pretty deep. In the pic below left, the drop off after that grassy bit was several hundred feet.

My favorite part ended up being the views of the colorful mountains of Tilcara on the way down.

Also within walking distance of Tilcara was the Archeology site of Pucará. There are about a dozen such sites throughout Quebrada de Humahuaca, but as far as I know, this is the only one that as been excavated.

Pucará was first established in the 1st century. Around the 15th century the Inca showed up, took over and renamed the place. Pucará is a Quechua word that means “fort”. And sometime in the 16th century, the Spanish showed up and that was it.

Early archeology wasn’t what it is today. Many of the structures were obviously rebuilt using different methods than the original builders. But at the precipice of the site is one of the most unbelievable things I’ve seen. There is what appears to be a temple of some kind. You can see it from town and I was excited to see it up close, but no, it’s not a temple. Apparently, they decided to destroy a huge section of the archeological site to build a giant monument to the archeologists. Yes, really. I didn’t include a pic as a small protest, but let’s all honor the great archeologists in the Holy Crap way… take your hand, left or right doesn’t matter, smack yourself in the face and gently shake your head from side to side. Seriously, do it!

Better than a picture of the monument, would be a picture of Paleta del Pintor from earlier. You can see it from Pucará too.

I also noticed more flowers on the cacti up here. They’re blooming everywhere now! It’s nice to focus on something other than the deadly thorns for a change.

My final day in Quebrada de Humahuaca I had two smallish hikes lined up. Can you believe it? We’re almost finished with this marathon post. The first hike was right outside Maimara to the Puente Natural. It was a pretty easy hike to the natural bridge, but definitely worth it.

I got some great views of the Paleta del Pintor, once again, on the way down.

And just a couple of miles up the road back towards Tilcara was the hike to Castillos de Huichaira. All those colorful mountains I saw from Pucará and Garganta del Diablo, well now I get to hike through some of them.

I thought this one was going to be hard to find, no signs, no trail, but it was actually pretty easy. There was a well worn trail and a couple of hand painted signs along the way. No problem!

The Castillos turned out to be the less interesting part of the hike though. Just a bit beyond is La Cueva. This place was really cool! And the view from inside the cave was even better than the outside.

After cooling off for a while in the cave it was back down for my last night in Tilcara before moving on to the next stop. As a side note, birds may not like me very much, but cats have always loved me. The resident cat at my hostel in Tilcara, who is not allowed in the rooms by the way, snuck in and slept with me every night. I was chosen.

I know you thought we were finished, but no. On my way to return my rental car back in Salta, I thought I could sneak in a quick hike to Cascada la Horqueta in Yala Provincial Park. It’s not in Quebrada de Humahuaca, but it’s still in Jujuy Province.

These were the kind of conditions I was expecting from Calilegua at the beginning of this post. Cool, misty, cloudy. Anyway, the hike was really fun. I had to cross that river three times, which was a lot trickier than it looks in the photo. Luckily, I didn’t get wet and the falls were awesome!

I also spotted some orchids and a cool looking frog on one of the river crossings. Actually, I didn’t spot the frog, I heard him. He was probably hoping for a girl frog and got me instead. Ha!

Ok, finally we’ve now reached the end of this unbelievably long post. When I was planning this part of the trip I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. This northwestern region of Argentina is a really really incredible place! But now it’s time to explore another region. I have a couple of travel days before the next round of fun begins, but I’ll be back soon with more, so stay tuned…