First of all, yestreday i made a mistake, Jujuy was the 3rd Spanish city, not Salta. Jujuy has another interesting thing, the exodus jujeno, when in 1812 General Belgrano (you remember, the handsome who invented the flag) ordered the evacuation of teh city because of the indipendence fights..
TIlcara, is as well in the valley of Humauaca
TIlcara, is as well in the valley of Humauaca
There are 4 kinds of llamas! You cannot ride any of them because they suppor up to 30 kgs.
Llama as in the picture is the sweetest (it looks like toy) and with alot of hair.
More hair has only the Vicuna, cleaning the floor
La alpaca s small and sweet.
And the guanaco is aggressive with less hair. It looks more aggresive in fact
About the indigenous folks. Before coming here, i wasnt really interested in inca and these stuff, they all looked so far, part of history. However, i have to say that it is present even nowdays...or in archeological museums, or in the faces of the people here ( here in the north they only mixed with the spanish, no other folks - actually i almoast cant see anyone completely with white skin), or in the ruins around. There is some feeling here, in the middle of these high colourfull mountains, where you are seperated from the sea by the Andes (cordillera) or thousands of kilometers on the other side.
The people here are proud of their origins. It is strange coz they almoast never know the exact nation/tribe from which the descend, but talk about the history in trems of "we". We were killed - said the guide in Quilmes even if he probably doesnt have Quilmes ancestors. There is a common phsyche among the indios, it doesnt matter the differences, the conquista wiped away this barriors. Before the conquista, many many small nations lived here in the mountains, there are signs of life10000 B.C - usually they were doing agriculture on the mountain terraces. The Inca empire was expanding from Peru occupying alto Peru (now Bolivia) and got great part of Argentina as well around 1400. They imposed their kechua language , their gods (sun and moon) and collected taxes, but in other things the folks could stay free more or less. All the nations who lived here in North Argentina and Bolivia are called also kollas, because in Inca administration they bared this name. LAter, in the end of the 16th century and during the 17th century, the Spanish were arriving from north as well (the inca empire was decaying already, so they had it easy), and continously all the folks here in the mountains got conquered. I told you about the quilmes (which by the way is the most popular beer here), that they were one of the most resistant and for this reason were they punished to walk till Buenos Aires.
Here in Tilcara, there ios the Pucara, which in kechua means fortress. It is an amazin village bulit on ahill, from where they could observe all the valleys around, no wonder they could resist the Spanish quite long. Here, after being conquered, they were 'just' ordered to live in the nearby village downstairs.
On the other hill in front was another fortress, and if something happened a fast running guy was passing the news - they say they arrived in 2 weeks to Peru - think of todays post service...
They buried their deads first in a cemetry and then when only thebones were left, they put them next to the house - to have them near.
The cactuses (or here they are called cardones) served for material like wood, and also to pretend men standing on foot on the top.
There is a ridiculous monument for the 2 archeologists who did all this :)
We talked with a man, he said all the indios are still angry somehow (enojados) - their lands have been taken and they live in the poorest condition... Okay, this is purely economic reason, but i can understand very well theta they get pissed off if Kristina presidenta calls Spain "madre patria"...
Pachamama is the same as the Virgin here - it made a fusion with christianity like Bajofondo with electronic and tango music. If you like gotan project, check out Bajofondo right now!
Okay, i never took pictures of nature, but the cactuses here are just amazingly funny
this is bob marley if he were a cactus
this is called oldmans head
Today we go to Bolivia. I am curious.
I wanted to show you some photos of the incredible cemetery in Pumamarca
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