We thought the Cuestra de Lipán and the Salines Grandes were the best that this side of Salta had to offer: they were pretty spectacular, after all.
We decided to visit the Pucará de Tilcara – a re-built, 12th century, pre-Incan settlement – and a village called Humahuaca thinking they’d be easy, gentle visits for our last day in the Tilcara region.
We enjoyed the Pucará: it was interesting enough, although as we’ve been to Machu Picchu on this trip it was always going to
be “just OK”. Many of the buildings had been rebuilt using traditional methods:
Inside you could see how cactus trunks were used for beams:
Just the view across the valley was worth the modest climb up to the Pucará:
Originally we’d seen a temple-like building from below. We’d thought this was part of the settlement, although it turned out to be a monument to the archaeologists who had found the site, back in the early 20th century. The monument was built on top of remains of the 12th century…