Purmamarca – Tilcara - Humahuaca

Yesterday I had another short day – 25km from Purmamarca to Tilcara. It was a sunny day, but because of the altitude it wasn't that hot, and I didn't need more than 1½ hours to get to Tilcara. The road was nice, with little traffic, and impressive views.

When I arrived to Tilcara I looked for accommodation, which was easy to find. I left again to have a walk, including to the Pucara, an indigenous fortress. At first I went to the archaeological museum, and then to the Pucara, very near to Tilcara (less than an hour walking).

In Tilcara I saw a few murals against open pit mining near Tilcara. I don't have much of an idea about the struggle, but as I understand it the company Uranios del Sur wants to exploit uranium via open pit mining. The people of Tilcara are fighting against this project, but so far not with success. Uranios del Sur is a subsidiary of the Swiss-Canadian company “Uranio AG”.

This is not the first time that I see something about mining, but the first time that there is clearly resistance (visible for me). More information on the project can be found here (in Spanish). The website http://www.mapaconflictominero.org.ar has a lot of information about mining conflicts in all of Argentina.

I continued walking up to the Pucara, which is not only an indigenous fortress, but also has impressive views of the Quebrada de Humahuaca.

Today I left at 8:30am, and in Tilcara the sky was cloudy. But after a few kilometres the majority of the clouds had disappeared, and it was quite sunny. I cycled past the Tropic of Capricorn, where I stopped to take a photo.

I continued until Humahuaca without a break – it was only 42km, and again with impressive views along the way.

I arrived at Humahuaca at about 11:30am, and at first went to the Hostal Humahuaca, where I met a group of Argentinian musicians. We did a barbecue for lunch, and then they left and I rested a bit. Now I'm sitting in the garden of the hostel writing for my blog.