Full day excursion to HUMAHUACA, we will visit many interesting sites with incredible beauty and rich in history. About 2 hours drive from Salta City to the north, we’ll arrive at San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of Jujuy province (1593), which between 1810 and 1822 was invaded eleven times by royalist
troops. Individual visit to its Cathedral (1750) with its Baroque pulpit carved in wood by the Indians led by the Jesuits; the Cabildo (old Town Hall) (1864); Lavalle Museum and the Government House with the Room dedicated to the Flag created by Manuel Belgrano. In the same building sculptures made by artist Lola Mora can also be appreciated. Our next stop will be at PURMAMARCA (2274 m above sea level) town of Pre-Hispanic origin where a dazzling show of reflected light earns the mountains the nickname "Painter's Palette" due to its incredible combination and variety of colors. Visit the Cabildo (old Town Hall), the Handicrafts Market, the Church (from 1648), the many centuries old "Algarrobo" (carob tree), below which General Manuel Belgrano rested one afternoon in 1814 during his Northern Campaign.
Without doubts the village of Purmamarca is the most remarkable in this area, with its chapel under the avocation of Santa Rosa de Lima with its melancholic aspect of loneliness, is another appropriate setting of this landscape, perhaps due to the native style of building with a muddy substance extracted from the marshy lakes, which appears to be splashed on the adobe mud-walls. We will continue our trip to TILCARA, a village built chiefly of sun-baked clay brick (3500 m) with its Pucará ("fortress") 70 meters above the river Grande, from which the whole region can be admired. You will be able to see how this old civilization lived, visiting on your own the Archaeological Museum, to understand the practices and customs of that time. We will take once again route n 9, passing through HUACALERA, with its monolith showing the "Tropic of Capricorn".
We will arrive in UQUIA, old aboriginal settlement. The Chapel of Uquia, declared National Historical Monument is simply outstanding. We will finally arrive at HUMAHUACA ( 2.940 Meters above sea level), an old omaguacas Indians settlement. Humahuaca is a traditional village founded about four hundred years ago by the Grande River , surrounded by hills. Visit to the Cathedral built by Spaniards in 1641 adorned with carvings and paintings, Monument to the Independence (1950) in which a running "chasqui" (Indian courier or messenger) is represented, the Handicrafts Market and sightseeing around its typical streets and adobe houses.
Return to Salta City along National Route 9 by late afternoon.
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SALTA - 3 nights