Northwestern Argentina Bicycle Tour, Day:
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Side Trip: Peru Bucket List Adventures
Argentina: Day 4
Pictures and Stories about Bicycle Adventures
Argentina Bicycle Tour of
Northwest Provinces
September, 2016
We had a Day Off Bike Cycling and Rode a Truck to Purmamarca
(to see Cerro de Siete Colours / Hill of Seven Colors)
First, Higher Altitude Argentine Pasacana Cactus
(like North American Saguaro Cactus but only Grows Above 1000m/3000' Altitude)
Above: Tall slender Pasacana Cactus growing amongst tall slender columns of rock (between San Salvador and Purmamarca, Jujuy, Argentina).
Above: Close-up of Pasacana Cactus.
Purmamarca, Jujuy Province, Argentina
Cerro de Siete Colours / Hill of Seven Colors
Above, the Color Mineral Source:
Green - Phyllites and Copper Oxide, 600 Million Years
Red - Iron, 3-4 Million Years
Yellow - Sulfur, 80-90 Million Years
Purple - Calcium Carbonate, 80-90 Million Years
White - Limestone, 400 Million Years
Pink - Red & White Sandstone & Mudstone Mix, 3-4 Million Years
Brown, Dark - Lead &/or Manganese, 80-90 Million Years
Brown - Lead &/or Manganese, 1-2 Million Years
The Hills are also known as the Seven Skirts because the Hill Colors match some of the local Skirt Colors and Zig-Zag Patterns. This is more readily identifiable in another picture taken about 10 kms south of here (see the following picture).
Above: Seven Skirts Pattern.
Arriving at Purmamarca's Highway Turnoff
Above: Geology Explanation Signs (which had seen better days).
Purmamarca Town Limit
Purmamarca Town Cemetery
Above: A cemetery guards the road south to the Seven Colors Hiking Trail.
The Seven Colors Hiking Trail
(AKA Paseo de los Colorados / Walk of the Red Colors)
Above Left: Sandstone Erosion in a place where rain is rare.
Above Right: Cobra Figure.
Above Left: Succulent Plant.
Above Right: Thorn Bush.
Above Left: Some sort of Notes using a paint brush, likely Position oriented.
Above Right: Interesting rock shapes.
Above Left: A bush fence is growing where a barbed wire fence exists.
Above Right: The first building is a shop which uses local building materials.
Above Left: Poking fun at Julio Cortazar's Quote 'Purmamarca Destino Absurdo' as they make a living servicing tourists that visit Purmamarca. Elevation, about 2500 meters above mean sea level.
Above Right: Ladders used for construction work.
Above Left: Tourists being clever. You should see my Leaning Tower of Pisa tourist humor pictures.
Above Right: Colors from construction using local materials.
Above Left: The local color changed from Red to Purple.
Above Right: Colors from construction using local materials.
Above Left: Colored strata.
Above Right: Wood roof support, staind red over time from rain.
Above Left: Escuela means School.
Above Right: We were supposed to meet Federico next to the town church. Terry was asking where the Church or Catedral was located and they did not understand, 'Iglesia' was the word that we needed to use. We figured it out, the funny thing is that will return here today, to this same restaurant, for a late lunch.
Above Left: We found the main plaza and the only Church/Iglacia.
Above Right: Plenty of native crafts, tourist trinkets, and lama wool clothing. We were already briefed that if we were going to Peru, and we were going to Peru, that everything cost less in Peru. In fact, what the locals do here is go to Peru and buy Peruvian products for less and resell the products here in Purmamarca and other parts of Northern Argentina. So we did wait until we went to Peru to buy some jewelry.
Above Left: Chess: Inca versus Conquistador.
Above Right: Plenty of native crafts, tourist trinkets, and lama wool clothing.
Above Left: Sophisticated Artwork and Mural.
Above Right: Two birds hiding nests in adobe brick gaps.
Above Left: A very good photographer takes a snapshot of his parents.
Above Right: Vicuñas are Wild Lamas. Tomorrow we will see four different herds of Vicuñas on our way cycling to Salina Grande. Interestingly Vicuñas have the same color markings as Wild Antelope in North America.
Above Left: Rheas are large flightless birds, native to South America, threatened but not extinct, and related to the ostrich and emu. Rheas are reported to habitate in the wilds of this geographic area.
Above Right: La Diablada is a Restaurant where we will eat and try some wild lama meat. Diabla is the feminine version of Diablo (Devil) and it is used to connote hot and/or spicy foods.
Above Left: The Roof material is dried Pasacana Cactus wood traditionally covered with adobe dried mud.
Above Right: The Roof material is Bamboo (common along river beds) covered with adobe dried mud.
Above Left: Bread (Pan) and two dips.
Above Right: Vicuña Stew, the meat pieces were too large and the texture was dense (difficult to chew).
Above Left: 1. The symbol is a stylized Rhea (also common in ancient art).
2. The diamond symbol on the back packs (for sale) on the extreme right side is the Inca Flag (rotated 45 degrees). The Inca (or Inka) Flag contains multi-colored squares arranged in a symmetrical Rainbow pattern. The Inca flag has been unwittingly adopted by some Gay Rights Activists (who's Flag typically has Rainbow Lines) - See image immediately following.
Above Right: Mural Art.
Above: Inca Flag on Backpacks.
Above: A walk about and adobe walls.
Above: Iglasia Santa Rosa de Lima.
Above: Iglasia Santa Rosa de Lima.
Above: Cafe Foods
By-the-way, we had a problem all over Argentina finding a place to eat in the evening as all restaurants open at 8 pm and the places that serve simple snack foods close around 6-7 pm. We're usually asleep around 8 pm. I think that we only ate in a restaurant (after 8 pm) maybe twice in Argentina.
Above Left: Pasacana Cactus Wood panels in the garage door.
Above Right: Exterior Gateway.
Above: Mural Art about Town.
Above: 700 year old Algarrobo Tree. Algarrobo Trees in Argentina are like Oak Trees in North America and they are often mentioned in written history for meeting places.
Above Left: Algarrobo Tree viewed from the other side.
Above Right: Talmal (singular of Tamale).
We had a pleasant day.
Tomorrow we ride at 4000 meters altitude and we look forward to sleeping tonight.
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