Purplelake: Day 9 – Jun 30, 2019 Huacalera, Argentina

We drove 6 hrs from Cafayate back north and past Salta to the small village of Huacalera in the region known as Quebrada de Humahuaca. From Southern Peru to Bolivia to Northern Argentina, the Andes Mountain splits into the East and West Cordillera with the Antiplano in the middle. Quebrada de Humahuaca is the deep valley carved into the East Cordillera by Rio Grande in Northwest Argentina. I was worried when we were about an hour from our destination past the city of San Salvador de Jujuy. The sky was cloudy and it started to rain lightly. But as the road started to climb into the mountain, the sun slowly emerged and the clouds started to dissipate. It was amazing that the mountain ranges here are so high (4000 to 5000m) that it could actually block out the clouds. It was like two totally different worlds just minutes apart! We were told that from April to Oct, there would be absolutely no rain here. The rest of the year even with rain, you are guaranteed sun every day.

It matters a great deal to be sunny here since the main attraction of Quebrada de Humahuaca is its colors, specifically the colors of its mountains. From early inhabitants to the Europeans who came later, everyone who first set eyes upon these mountains would be amazed by the display of the colors. It is rare in the world to have a place which captured the geological revolution of our planet for the past 600 million years. Rarer still are those ones that can tell this history with such a display of shapes, textures, and hues!

We arrived in the late afternoon and just in time to see the first one of these amazing displays, Paleta del Pintor (Painter’s Palette) in the town of Maimara. You have to plan carefully when to see which attractions since the sun shines on different sides of the valley depending on the time of the day. We were not disappointed. Even I am color deficient, I could still see many different shades and hues in the light reflection off the mountain.

We have to stop to admire the strangely eroded rock formations after we entered Quebrada de Humahuaca

It is a valley formed by the cutting actions of Rio Grande

Colorful hues on the mountain everywhere you look

It hardly rains here due to the high mountains on both sides blocking out the clouds

The Painter's Palette by the town of Maimara

Panoramic view of Painter's Palette and Maimara

How many colors can you see here?

We had to climb up this hill to get a good view of the Painter's Palette

Our hotel in Huacalera is located on the other side of the river, away from the town and is quite secluded. It is owned by a French artist and his Argentinian wife. The whole place is tastefully decorated with the owner’s art. Since we were the only guests here for both nights, we felt we were pampered. The host even cooked delicious dinner for us (at an additional cost of course). They have 3 hectares and have a garden to grow their own vegetables, plus fruit trees to make their own jam and preserve. They even keep bees to have their own honey! There is a studio for his work and a brand new gallery to display his works later this year. The property and our room has a fantastic view of the multicolored mountain range in the distance. A romantic dinner by the fireplace overlooking such beautiful mountain with my lovely wife. What more can you ask for? We also had a fireplace in our bedroom, excellent for a warm sleep under the cold Andean starry night!