Jujuy there mate

Jujuy came and went in a flash! This post will hopefully explain all the pics I've uploaded.

I was in town for 4 days and met up with a friend from Wellington, Louise. Louise's husband Trent was posted on a student exchange to Jujuy in the 90's. They've been back before for a visit but this time Louise wanted to learn the language solo.

We spent a day in Yala hanging out with her "family" at their weekend house.
Took a day trip up to Humahuaca and Purmamaca which involved a 4 hour return bus trip.
And a couple of visits to the comedor that Louise and Trent have supported.

Humahuaca

This town was particularly amazing. It's a Spanish
colonial town founded in the 16th century next to the Grande River at 2940m in a gorge with the same name. It's really dry here, hence the cactus, which grow at 1cm per year.  Before the Spanish, a number of different indigenous people lived in the area, possibly as far back as 10,000 years! They travelled as far as Upper Peru to trade (in 2009 it takes 40+ hours of busing to get to Peru). There are still Incan ruins in the valley, unfortunately I didn't get to see these.

The town was also important in the war of independence between 1814 and 1821 - a number of battles happened in the area. Now its a great place for tourism without being overly touristy. You can buy some amazing arts and crafts, eat the best empanadas in Argentina (we had way too many!) and see some great examples of Spanish Colonial architecture.





An hour down the road is Purmamarca which we also visited. Amazing coloured mountains are the standout of this area plus more arts and crafts.

Comedor
The Comedor is an eating and study place for kids in a very poor area of Jujuy. The majority of kids in Argentina either do morning or afternoon school, so the local kids come when they aren't in school.

Despite some pretty tough stories, these kids are battlers and thanks to some Kiwi support the Comedor now has a leak proof roof and a secure wall to keep out petty thieves. Unfortunately, their homes aren't as waterproof and on one of the wet days that I visited, most of the kids weren't there because their homes had been flooded.

                                                                                                   Outside the Comedor

P.S. If the photos look out of line with the text, its Bloggers fault!