Humahuaca
The Quebrada de Humahuaca is located in the northwest of Argentina, in the province of Jujuy. It is an Andean valley 155 kilometers long, flanked by high mountain ranges and painstakingly dug by the Rio Grande, located more than 2000 meters high. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003.
The ravine is crossed by the Río Grande, a subtributary of the Río Paraguay. It belongs to the sub-region of the Eastern Cordillera, and is limited by two cordons: the western and the eastern.
It presents a marked north-south course, with increasing altitude towards the north. For this reason it is considered a natural access route to the Altiplano, a function with which it was used since pre-Columbian times.
Physiography
The ravine is an arid area of scenic beauty and rich in cultural heritage, which is evident in the localities that host it from south to north: Bárcena, Volcán, Purmamarca –where the Cerro de los Siete Colores stands out, Maimará, Tilcara -where the Pucará with the same name is located-. Perchel, Huacalera, Uquía, Humahuaca and Tres Cruces.
The weather conditions make winter, cool and dry, the ideal season to visit. The height of the valley varies between 1,600 and 4,500 m s. no. m. The climate is dry and windy, it rains more on summer afternoons and it has a very marked thermal amplitude with night frosts and days with scorching sun and temperatures that can exceed 30 °C.
To the southwest and to the south, the Quebrada de Humahuaca descends in altitude and is related through intermediate valleys such as Lerma, with the Quebrada del Toro that descends from the West (that is, from the Altiplano) and with the also famous Valles Calchaquíes.
Toponymy
The most accepted version for the name Humahuaca refers to the auto-ethnonym of the Omaguaca ethnic group that inhabited the region. The self-identification of such an ethnic group is still difficult to verify, although it is traditionally related to the Arawak group; This would be a possible phonemic mutation of arawak since, in effect, the Omaguaca ethnic group was the product of a mixogenesis that included the Chané —the southernmost Arawak sect — with the Lickanantai, Chichas and Paziocas (or "Calchaquies").
A second version attributes the name to the Quechua language in the form: uma waka, giving it the meaning of "head" (uma) and "treasure". However, it can be seen that the name huaca (from waka, "sacred place") for treasure is post-Hispanic in the region.
There is also another meaning of Humahuaca: "head" (huma) and "cry" (waqay); therefore, the translation would indicate "head that cries". Some historians maintain that the name refers to the place of head burials or tombs of prominent heads.
History and culture
The towns of Quebradeño link history and traditions with ancestral roots. It is a unique cultural landscape in the world, since the Indian peoples of the area preserve religious beliefs, rites, festivals, art, music and agricultural techniques that are a living heritage, an important reason for it to be declared a World Heritage Site. by UNESCO in 2003. Its current inhabitants are mostly of the Quechua ethnic group. The ravine was the scene of different 10,000-year-old ancestral cultures, among them the "omaguacas", which gave the place its name. "Humahuaca" It is usually translated as "Sacred River", an ancient symbol of what only changes to remain the same. There are also sites such as the area of "Inca Cueva" (relatively modern name) where signs (petroglyphs, carved stones, etc.) whose antiquity is estimated at 10 millennia were found.
In the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the Quechua descendants of the ancient settlers still exist, calling themselves original peoples, and they live coexisting with nature, Pachamama (Mother Earth), the Sun god, the god of thunder, lightning and all the living beings they respect.
Among its attractions is the monolith that indicates the crossing of the Tropic of Capricorn and the Pucará de Tilcara, a fortification built by the primitive settlers erected on top of the mountains.
The Humahuaca ravine served as a route for the Incas, it was an obligatory passage for expeditionaries and colonizers and an important commercial route in the viceroyalty period. The towns of the colonial era acquired great importance since they developed together with the ancestral settlements of the place, in addition to producing a cultural exchange with neighboring territories in South America, an interaction that began 10,000 years ago and persists today. Its real importance lies in the fact that the ravine has functioned as a permanent means of interaction, linking distant and different territories and cultures, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Andes to the southern plains. It was also the scene of many battles during the War of Independence and during the war against the invasion of the Peruvian-Bolivian confederation.
Currently many of these aspects go unnoticed, the native peoples mentioned above are in a continuous conflict with the provincial government claiming the land that once belonged to their ancestors.
Two towns in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, Purmamarca and San Francisco de Alfarcito, were integrated into the Authentic Towns Program, carried out by the National Ministries of Culture and Tourism. with the aim of enhancing the identity of towns with unique characteristics throughout the country, promoting the appropriation of the local community and the revaluation of natural and cultural heritage.
Authentic Towns are defined as populations that are characterized by preserving their identity and idiosyncrasy, embodied in different aspects related to their natural and/or cultural heritage, their architecture, traditions, gastronomy, landscape, history, religion, crafts, and the origin of its inhabitants.
San Francisco de Alfarcito, south of Cochinoca, on Provincial Route 11, very close to the Guayatayoc lagoon and the Salinas Grandes.
Its main economic activities are llamas and sheep farming; and agriculture, but it stands out for the great production of handicrafts with traditional materials from the region.
Of pre-Hispanic roots, its population is small but constantly on the move: nothing like settling in for a few days and living its daily rhythm.
At more than 3,500 meters above sea level, the height imposes the walking time and the types of crops that can be grown, among which Andean papines stand out.
The second destination is one of the best known. This is Purmamarca, installed on international itineraries thanks to its Cerro de los Siete Colores, the undisputed star of the postcards that leave from Jujuy to the world. This town is an obligatory stop for those who want to experience the northern carnivals to the full and, from there, enter the Quebrada de Humahuaca and the Puna of Jujuy.
With colonial architecture and a gastronomy in which dishes made collectively (such as humitas and tamales) abound, this town has dirt streets and many of its houses still show their adobe walls. Every day, in the main square, a crafts fair is displayed that tourists visit until minutes before 12 noon, when upon hearing the bells of the Santa Rosa de Lima Church, they are attracted by its wooden frames and old design.
Hydrography
The Omaguaca River, which further down the river changes its name to Río Grande, is the most important of the Quebrada, which he has excavated. It receives numerous tributaries such as the Chorrillos, Ovaras, Coraya, Churcal, Pinchayoc, Uquia, Capla and Volcán streams, along with the Yacoraite, La Cueva, Rodero, Coctaca and Calete rivers. The Río Grande joins its waters with the Río Perico and more forward with the Lavayén River, from where it was joined by the San Francisco River. This dumps its waters into the Bermejo River, which drains into Paraguay that integrates it into the La Plata Basin through the Paraná.
Flora
In the Quebrada de Humahuaca we will find steppes with bushes, scrub, small grasslands and few churqui and queñoa forests, swamps and riverside environments, there is also a great variety of plants, some typical of the region and others very well adapted to the environment. Among the first is the cardón (typical cactus whose wood is used for the interiors of houses and crafts, today it is a protected species), trees such as molle, chañar, carob, among the second we have the poplar and the weeping willow. Shrubs such as chilca, muña, añagua and cortadera abound.
Wildlife
There are numerous wild animals that are generally found in the highlands and less inhabited by man.
The vicuña, the smallest of the camelids (protected species), the llama (currently it is domesticated and provides wool, meat, milk and as a pack animal), the chinchilla, and the three varieties of flamingos that frequent the Lagoon de los Pozuelos and other lagoons of the Puna, the taruca (deer declared a natural monument). Among the birds of prey, the condor, the owl, the hawk, the hawk, etc. Also birds like the blackbird, calandria, the negrillo, the red chest, the yacto, a variety of hummingbirds, thrushes, quetupies, sparrows, doves, parrots and waterfowl such as ducks, calves, seagulls, herons, parinas, guallatas, gordillos, and you use them It should be noted that the hunting of vicuñas is prohibited by Law No. 3014/78, and its regulatory decree 5096.
Agriculture
In the Quebrada de Humahuaca during the summer the production of fruits and vegetables that supply the market is obtained, such as peas, chard, onion, corn, broad beans, potatoes, lettuce, squash, chaucha. Fruit; apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, apricots, grapes, quince etc. You also get the smooth potato or "ulluco" it is a green, red or yellow tuber, also called "Andean potato", corn also of different colors, "quinoa" for flour, etc.
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