You are here: Home » Articles » Jujuy and Cerro de Siete Colores, Argentinean Watercolor
Jujuy and Cerro de Siete Colores, Argentinean Watercolor in ArgentinaFebruary 13, 2009
By Mariel Lizana, journalist
Jujuy is a beautiful province located at Argentinas northwest. One of its main spots, Purmamarca, was called by the aymaras a city lost in the desert, but Jujuy has many wonderful natural places, impressive mountains, mysterious mountain ranges and a landscape with thousand of colors.
Jujuy limits with Bolivia, Chile and Salta, and offers many kinds of climate zones, like ravines and mountain ranges; and other more exotic like the cloudy jungle or yunga, where is the baritu, some kind of mist that creates a deep vegetation, making the perfect habitat for wild animals like tapir, monkeys, foxes and hurons.
Other climate zone is the "puna seca", generated by the heights over 4000 meters, which produces hot temperatures at the day and very cold nights, when the visitors can discover the wonderful starry skies of the zone.
Some of the greatest attractives of Jujuy is the Humahuaca ravine, which has 155 kilometers and is bathed by the Grande river. This is an important zone because was a place of exchange of commerce and culture among the populations since the Incasic period. That is why Humahuaca Ravine was named Patrimony of Humanity by the UNESCO.
Though the capital of Jujuy is San Salvador; the most interesting place of the zone is Purmamarca, a beautiful town surrounded by colored hills and where all the traditions of the zone are kept. The city still has its houses of adobe (a mixture of mud and straw used in construction) which were built around the ancient church Santa Rosa de Lima, from 1648, that also has the same decorations from then.
Purmamarca has a huge artisan fair with many handmade products like wood carvings, containers and medicinal herbs. There are also traditional celebrations where the catholic devotion with the indian cults are mixes, like ceremonies for Pachamama and the deceased, for saints and at Christian dates, such as Holy Week and Christmas.
Other main festivity is the Carnival, celebrated in february. This are two weeks of dancing, celebrating and enjoying of exquisite local foods like corns, lamb barbecue and empanadas, with traditional music performed with instruments such as erke, sikuris, erkencho and charangos.
But is the Cerro de Siete Colores (Seven Colors Hill) one of the main attractions of the zone. This geological formation from more than 75 millions of years old, is located at Humahuaca ravine. Its incredible combination of colors is produced by sediments from sea, lakes and rivers, elevated by the earthquakes of the zone. This is the postal of Purmamarca, and there are many activities to discover it like trekking, horseback riding, mountain bike and photographic safaris.
Among this attractions, Purmamarca has the Archeological Deposit Huachichocana, where the visitors can see old caves with paintings. And in Tilcara, there is the famous incaisic Pucara, with old houses, corrals, a graveyard and ceremonial places.
Tilcara is a city that the visitors cannot miss during their trip to Jujuy. Here they will discover a Botanical Garden in Height, with many medicinal herbs, the archeological museum Eduardo Casanova and the Medardo Pantoja Foundation, where are many paintings of this artist, showing the beauties of the landscape and the people of this zone.
Because of the deep religious devotion of this zone, the main spot in Tilcara is the Sanctuary of Abra de Punta Corral, where is The Copacabana Virgen. At the Easter, every year come a peregrination with people from all Jujuy, with traditional music, dancing and the construction of eremitas, which are representations of scenes of the Bible, decorated with flowers and seeds of the zone.
Jujuy is a mysterious land and invites its visitors to get in its culture and discover the interesting and magical traditions of this zone, under the attentive look of the wonderful Cerro de Siete Colors, the guardian of the secrets of this city of mountains and deserts.
