Country Article / Postcards
Llamas, Coca Leaves, and Multi-colored Mountains
Date: 08/15/2005
In north-west Argentina, llamas are pronounced "jammas." Pedro, our driver, knows an absurdly cheap restaurant where I can satisfy my curiosity. I pay one peso ($0.34) for a llama empanada, a minced meat pasty. That’s followed by a 7 peso ($2.40) bowl of llama stew. The empanada is OK but the stew is a disappointment. Truth is, llama isn’t the greatest culinary experience. The 12 peso ($4.15) bottle of Torrontes white wine goes down far easier.
I’m on a 13-hour trip from Salta into Argentina’s Andean highlands, an area with more to offer than just llama sightings and shopping in Indian markets for $10 alpaca sweaters. Speckled with adobe settlements and ancient Inca fortresses, the landscapes are extraordinary: an artist’s palette of multi-colored mountain ranges, canyons, and desert. Some peaks are curtained with what appear to be ox-blood colored organ pipes. At Purnamaca, the Mountain of Seven Colors is layered with ochre, white, mauve, sage-green, gray, pink, and chocolate brown. It looks totally unreal.
Cardon cacti are everywhere. According to indigenous Indian myths, each represents a soul. (Even so, cactus wood is used as ceiling material in houses and churches.) We stop at Uquia whose church is decorated with strange portraits of Spanish conquistadores bearing white angel wings. Outside, local children plead for sweets. Pedro says it’s better to give little gifts like pens or colored pencils.
Next stop, Humahuaca village. At almost 10,000 feet above sea level, visitors may feel somewhat woozy. To combat the high altitudes, the locals chew coca leaves, the raw material for cocaine. In their unchemicalized form, the leaves are supposedly a mild stimulant--not yet class-A narcotics. But after cramming a bunch into my mouth and masticating them for an hour, the only effect is a slight numbing of the lips (and no more wooziness). A bag of coca leaves only costs 1 peso.
For a couple, this Humahuaca Valley trip costs 200 pesos ($69) through Argentina Activa (Zuviria 982, Salta). Ask for Andrea and Pedro as your guide and driver; they’ll answer all your questions about Argentinian life. For me, the chance to talk to locals was as rewarding as the excursion. Should you tip? It’s not expected, but I gave 50 pesos ($17.25). For more information visit www.argentinaactiva.com.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Editor, International Living
P.S. Don’t try bringing coca leaves back into North America. They’re considered an illegal substance.
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