- Duration: 1 day. From 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. approximately.
- Travel: 520 km.
- Main attractions: The Monument to the Heroes of Independence – Cathedral Church and Municipal Building.
A visit to the destination enshrined as Natural and Cultural Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO) crossing the homonymous Gorge, discovering exceptional landscapes, towns and cultures. The change that occurs in the vegetation as you ascend is notorious; the cloudiness that covers the hills gives way to the eroded living rock of the slopes and the solitary cardones appear.
Unique towns such as Purmamarca, famous for the setting of Cerro Siete Colores, visible from its scenic streets and from the craft market gathered around the main square.
Maimará, with colorful slopes called Paleta del Pintor. Its cemetery is also surprising, “suspended” on top of the hill and visible from the road. Tilcara stands out for its local festivities (Carnival and Holy Week) and for its Pucará (fortified city) whose ruins have been partially reconstructed and convey a notion of pre-Hispanic development and way of life.
Further north, in Huacalera, you cross the Tropic of Capricorn, identified by a white monolith. Uquía shows its chapel, built in the 17th century with the oldest altarpiece in the region, worked in laminated gold, being one of the 2 existing in Argentine territory decorated with oil paintings from the Cuzco school, “Los Ángeles Arcabuceros” nine in total, testimony of Peruvian colonial architecture.
Humahuaca gives its name to the Quebrada and is its largest population, with cobbled streets and iron lampposts on the corners, it is also the highest point of the route, almost 3000 meters above sea level.< /span>
Entry to the province of Jujuy. It passes through the cities of Palpalá and S.S. from Jujuy although there are no stops. Entering the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the towns of Reyes, Yala, Lozano, León, Volcán and Tumbaya will be visited, arriving at the junction with the R.N. 52 and through it to the town of Purmamarca.
In Purmamarca the first stop is made with free time of approximately 30 minutes where passengers can tour the main Church and the Cabildo with the Cerro Siete Colores in the background. Continuing with the route through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the towns of Hornillos, Maimará and Tilcara are crossed; In the latter, the second stop of the tour is made, in the Pucará de Tilcara where passengers have the possibility of entering this archaeological site and learning about the history of the ancient cultures that inhabited the region (Omaguacas and Incas).
Then it will continue through the towns of Huacalera, making a brief stop at the sundial that indicates the crossing of the Tropic of Capricorn, Uquía and finally the city of Humahuaca where the Lunch and free time to visit the monuments and places of interest.
After this, the group meets and returns along the same route with stops in Uquía to visit the San Francisco de Paula Church and the access to Maimará where passengers can take photos photographs of the so-called “painter’s palette” that is located in the Tilcara mountains.
(Does not include museum tickets and lunch)
