Maja in Norway: Quebrada de Humahuaca

Quebrada de Humahuaca is a valley in Jujuy. It is really beautiful with colourful mountains and lots of culture. On the tour we visited Tilcara and the pre Inca ruins located there, the city Humahuacha and Jujuy and a pottery.

Tilcara

Lama or chama as they would say in Argentina.

In Argentina there were 4 types of Lamas. Some of them wild and other domesticated. Their wool, especially the alpacas, is very soft and is often used to make clothes. I didn't buy any, but I did try the meat several times, and it was really good:) In the region they even had empanadas with lama meat, yummy!

Pre Inca ruins

The ruins were always placed on a hill so that it was possible to keep a look-out for enemies. There were several of these ruins in the valley and they were all located like this. What was really fascinating was that even though they didn't have any thing fancy to build their houses, they were still standing there. With only dirt roofs and rock walls. They must have been really clever!

The whole in the ground was used for something, but what I can not remember:/

There were always a lot of cacti around these ruins. We got two explanations for this; the first was that the seeds have to go through a digestive system. The second was that people planted them there. An other amazing thing in the region was how they used the wood of the cacti: lamps, roofs etc.

The people living here could not have been big...

Tropico capricorno
From Wikipedia: "The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It lies 23deg26'22'' south of the Equator, and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun to its maximum extent."
This event calls for a celebration in the city before it spreads throughout the region.

Pottery
There was a lot of pottery in the region. The products were really nice and well made and very cheap. Unfortunately it is very difficult to back pack with breakable things:/

Humahuaca

look at that statue!

There was a famous Glockenspiel here, but it was only twice a day so we missed it. Angela had wondered why the churches were closed some places we visited, here we got the answer. After a piece of jewelery was stolen from one of the statues, the churches are now only open when someone is around to supervise.

This grave is very different from the the average grave in Norway

And this doesn't remind me of a graveyard at all... It has too many colours and looks too joyful

An other graveyard a long the road that was very special. The colours and shapes of the mountain in the background was also typical.

Jujuy
In Jujuy we just did some quick sightseeing around the plaza before we had to get on the buss again. The first thing we saw were the statues that had been moved from BA after the women of BA had found them inappropriate. Apparently because of the nudeness of the statues and especially the female ones. I must disagree, what do you think?