Relaxing in Purmamarca

After the harrowing drive through the mountain pass, Mark, Anne and HBomb made it to Purmamarca.  This was one of the "must see" stops on this road trip.  In fact, the Argentina side of the road trip was planned around this stop.  There is no big city up in this area (Salta is kind of big, not totally big, though) and the big attraction is the landscape.  There is a series of several small towns next to one another in this area and we stayed in one called Purmamarca, and then took beautiful, scenic drives to several of the others.

But first a word about the Purmamarca experience.  The big thing in this little town is the Piedra de los siete colores (~Stone of the 7 Colors).  There is a photo of it at the top of this post.  Here are some more:

Just before sunrise.

Surprisingly (or not), you could walk right up to it, but no climbing allowed.

The town is still small and not terribly busy, but there is a constant flow of tourists from the bus station to the town.  Other than the big rock, the town is known for local artisan markets and its historic church.  Mark very nearly missed seeing all of it.  Upon their arrival at the hotel outside of Purmamarca, Mark decided that he had arrived at the place he wanted to be.  The hotel had DirecTv and it was a Sunday.  After pushing a few buttons, we were chilling in Purmamarca with some NFL games on the tube.  We left it on the Spanish announcers option.  Even though they said "Gigantes" instead of "Giants" and yelled "Goooooolllll!!!!" instead of "touchdown," it was still better than listening to Aikman and Joe Buck.

HBomb administers nasal spray to a dozing Mark.

It had been a long drive through a high mountain pass, so we decided to spend the afternoon and evening in the very spacious room.  The hotel was like a motel, we drove up to our room and parked outside of it.  But it was very nice.  The room was like a suite and had a full size fridge and kitchenette.  The guy at the desk was awesome as well.  He didn't have room service, but he offered to cook up a pizza for us.  So it was looking like the beginnings of a very relaxing night....then the bikers rolled in.

About a dozen or so bikers rolled in as the sun was going down and took three or four of the rooms to our left.  Mark moved the car so that they could all park next to one another and then shared intel.  They had been road tripping from Brazil and were on the way to Chile (they were on the way to San Pedro).  We passed on our map of that area and told them that there was a gas station at the border but not another one for 160 km.  They gave us a little info about the drives around the area (we already knew it, but when a bunch of bikers want to give you some info, just listen and thank them).  Anyway, it turns out they weren't exactly Hell's Angels.  Once they figured out that we had a kid, they promised to get to bed early (and they did, mas or menos).  Thanks guys.

"To the Rescue!!!"

The next day we drove up the Quebrada de Humahuaca.  This is a valley in the province of Jujuy which mostly looks like the 7 colored stone pictured at the top of this post, but with different variations of color combinations.  We drove north to a small town called Humahuaca and found a small park for HBomb to work out some of his energy.  He went to this helicopter-go-round and demanded to ride for about 45 minutes.  As we went around in circles he yelled out "To the Rescue!" -  a line he knows from the SuperWhy program he watches from PBS.  In that show, the characters jump in spaceships (mas o menos) and go to the rescue, so he was imagining and playing.  Which was good.  Unfortunately, he pronunciation was terrible.  Somehow, the "res" in "rescue" had morphed to "effs" sound.  So it sounded like he was yelling "To the Eff-You!!!!!"

Gracias, amigo.

For the most part, Mark was the engine of the Copter-Go-Round.  However, Mark is no spring chicken, so when he needed a break, one of the local chicos stepped in to give HBomb a push.  You know what they say, the people are nicer up in the provinces.

After the playground time, the group went on to the next town.  One of the highlights of the very scenic drive was the cemetery on the outskirts of Maimara.  Maimara is a tiny little town, but on the outskirts of town was a very pretty little cemetery.  They have built up family crypts and plots on the side of one of the hills in a very pretty setting.

Finally, we needed to stop for souvenirs.  This place caught out attention on the way north, so on our way back to the hotel, we stopped in to check it out.

Although it looks like it could have been a subsidiary of Wall Drug or something on Route 66 in Arizona, it was actually a pretty sophisticated shop.  They had paintings, wine, cheese, ceramics, crafts and lots and lots of llama stuff.

Serious llama drama.

This is mostly because this area has lots and lots of llamas.  They use the wool to make everything from hats to shoes and it was available for sale here.  Unfortunately, HBomb was not in the mood to hand out with llamas on this particular day.  And since it was so hot and dry, Anne and Mark could not even imagine a possible use of wool.