First published: 23/09/22.

Shandos Cleaver 2.0

Quebrada De Humahuaca

Quebrada de Humahuaca (Inscribed)

Quebrada de Humahuaca by Shandos Cleaver

Originally when visiting Argentina, we planned to hire a car to visit the Quebrada de Humahuaca. However, a quick search online showed that there were multiple reasonably priced day trips leaving Salta visiting the valley, so we skipped sourcing a rental car and booked two tickets on a day trip.


We booked our day trip with Nordic Travel through Viator, for about $50 USD per person. Our bus seated about 25 passengers and we had a bilingual guide (although only four of us didn't speak Spanish) plus lunch was included.


The downside of doing an organised tour is that the stops are up to the tour company - for instance, our first proper stop was at a roadside cafe/shop with the longest toilet queues I've seen outside a festival. I enjoyed our first proper stop at Purmamarca, with just enough time to visit the church and a viewpoint for the Hills of Seven Colours, plus eat a local tortillas rellena.
 
However, we only found out on the bus that as it was a Monday, the Pucara de Tilcara was closed, so we only stopped in town, which wasn't that interesting. We also ran out of things to do for our longish stop in Humahuaca - I most enjoyed the colourful street art.
 
We also weren't expecting that with a 6:30am start time (well at least for pick-ups) and a 12 hour duration, that the tour wouldn't get back to Salta until 8:15pm, a narrow call for our overnight bus leaving at 8:45pm! Luckily we were dropped off first directly at the bus station.
 
Like other visitors, I found it hard to appreciate the OUV of the valley, particularly as we missed visiting the Pucara de Tilcara. We visited multiple churches, had part of the ancient Inca path pointed out, saw the old tower in Humahuaca and the Independence monument, plus enjoyed the scenic valley, but it didn't add up to much. The windy weather blowing dust everywhere also didn't help!

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