Tilcara, Argentina

We head down to our 4 star breakfast, which includes yogurt and fruit. This is rare and a change from just sweet stuff, which I eat anyway! I leave my big bag at the hotel, we are heading to Tilcara about 4 hours north of Salta for 2 nights so just taking my day pack. Our return bus fare is around £20 and the bus leaves promptly at 10.30. We manage to stretch out into spare seats and time passes easily, I must be getting used to these drives. About an hour from Tilcara we start climbing up, out of fairly green vegetation and into a more rugged desert like landscape. This is quite dramatic, and the rock colours change periodically. There are also lots of cactus, which look great and lend us to nickname the region as the ‘Wild West’. Our bus drops us at a small terminal and we walk about 15mins up to our hotel, Villa del Cielo. This place is magical, lovely plush cabana rooms that look down on the town and across to the valley. We think we have about 4 hours of sunlight left and so figure a taxi to Pumamarca will be a good trip. Our driver takes us 30minutes down the road for £10 which seems a lot but it turns out about right. Pumamarca is a pretty town with a central square – 9 de Julio, which has a artisanal market around the edges. I see Inka’s face light up, and I start to see her passion for shopping as she excitedly chatted to traders. We opt to walk first and then shop, the sun is fading and it is actually getting cold. Pumamarca is famous for the Cerro de Los Siete Colores (hill of seven colours), which it transpires is best seen in the morning. We trek the Paseo de Los Colorados, it’s a path that winds behind the Cerro for 1hr and there are many types of rock. We even feel like textures of the rock change as well as colours, with some looking like wet mud or clay. It is a really nice walk but it is very cold in the shade, so we walk at pace and take a few short cuts. We finish on the other side of the town, passing the cemetery before hitting the plaza. Inka is going home soon and therefore buy a few things. It is all lovely stuff and I am sad that I have no space, but we enjoy chatting to the people as she buys a fluffy sweater and socks. (Llama patterns). We taxi back to Tilcara and we are relieved to enjoy piping hot showers to warm us up. Dinner in town is Llama fillet and Salta beer. Llama is tasty, light flavour, like pork I think and not the strong meat I was expecting.