An Argentine Gem Hidden No More
EVERY August, the people of Jujuy pay tribute to the earth goddess Pachamama. Families prepare elaborate dishes — tamales, stews, llama or lamb — and then bury the food in a backyard or field, along with abundant hard liquor, coca leaves and even cigarettes. They believe that these offerings will satisfy the deity’s appetites and thus bring them good fortune and an abundant harvest. It’s an ancient Andean tradition that remains strong in this province in the northwestern corner of Argentina.
In a country likened more to Europe than the rest of Latin America, Jujuy stands apart.
Here, pagan rituals overshadow Catholic beliefs, medicine men are sometimes preferred to doctors, and everyone, regardless of ancestry, embraces an indigenous heritage that dates back to the 10th century.
“The culture of Jujuy has little to do with the rest of the country,” said Héctor Tizón, a renowned Argentine writer born in a small town near the province’s capital, San Salvador de Jujuy. “The culinary arts, the music, customs and architecture are autochthonous.”
But perhaps the most singular aspect of Jujuy is its dramatic landscape: more than 20,000 square miles of salt deserts, untamed jungles and an endless maze of multicolored rocky mountains rising up to 16,000 feet, threaded by a scenic ravine called Quebrada de Humahuaca — a onetime Inca trade route leading north to Bolivia, now a Unesco World Heritage site.
Until recently, Jujuy (pronounced hoo-HWEE) remained in relative obscurity, visited mostly by adventure travelers. With no major cities to speak of and few flights arriving at its modest international airport, anonymity wasn’t hard. But Argentina’s financial crisis in 2001 led