Off the beaten path

a view from the "Garganta del Diablo" hike

Off the beaten track. The road less taken. The photos on this blog will help explain why I love to go down the road less taken. After researching a bit about the Quebrada de Humahuaca area in Northern Argentina, I came across a place called Iruya online (a unique idigneous town of 4,000 people nestled in mountains.) This is a place you probably won't find in any travel guides, but I believe to be the hidden gem of the Quebrada de Humahuaca region. 

driving into Iruya

A very interesting thing about this town were the indigenous people. They wear beautiful clothing, but one thing that appeared a bit odd to me were their shoes. Most of them had brand new white converse shoes.  Bright colored clothing, hand woven baskets, babies in a sling and brand new converse shoes.

 My favorite part about the trip there was the ride in. After a 4 hour (90 mile) drive on a dirt road, patiently waiting for a place we know nothing about, we finally arrived at our destination. While, still an hour away from Iruya, the destination for me was the drive into this small town of Iruya. I have been on some beautiful drives throughout the beautiful mountain ranges in America, but nothing comes close to the road to Iruya.  For an hour, I had my head out the bus window just admiring the deep valley below. I didn't care about the abundance of dust from the dirt road, or the weird looks I got from the others on the bus. I just couldn't believe my eyes, as we drove down this windy road through the mountains, valleys, and canyons, that surrounded it. Mountains of shapes and colors I have never seen before.  On the road we passed donkeys, llamas, sheep, cows, and horses. 

Pucara - the ruins & cactus field

The day before that we stayed in Tilcara.  We stayed in a very "homely hostel", called La Albahaca.  Despite the fact, that all the workers were chain smokers, we had a pleasant stay, and they made us feel at home.  The one guy taught me a traditional Argentinian folk dance.  There we met Santo Gonzalo, a nice, but a bit crazy guy from Buenos Aires. He took on the role as guide for us on various hikes.  We walked to the "Garganta del diablo", which we apparently did wrong (according the guy at the hostel), but nonetheless it was still a beautiful hike to a waterfall and a canyon. After that we went to Pucara (the ruins) & the cactus field.

Today is our last day in Argentina. We are staying in Humahuaca, the most populated area of this region with about 60,000 people.  Tomorrow - Bolivia!!

** NOTE: Please check out the rest of my photos on my facebook. Wi-fi is hard to come by in these parts, and when it is accessible, the connection is slow.  It is much faster to upload pictures to Facebook.