Well, who knew? The Internet is truly everywhere, including at 10,000 feet up into the Andes! We«ve just arrived in Humahuaca, a beautiful little town high in a valley surrounded by peaks twice as high as it is. The bus trip through the canyon is simply stunning. Forget what you know about mountains by living in Colorado. These mountains are gently sloped, rounded, huge and long. Just as you get into them, there are more ahead. They are often separated by vast plateaus and these are spotted with tall cacti. It is an arid high desert; cold and windy today, but sunny.

The town is built of mud/adobe bricks and cobbled streets are throughout. It surrounds a small plaza where the church still stands from the 1600s. Just outside the plaza, native women have set up a small market where they sell gorgeous sweaters, hats and scarves made of alpaca wool. Given the temperature, we«re seriously eyeing them. Many of the women wear the traditional clothing and they are right out of the pages of National Geographic. This is definately the South America we had hoped for.

The Italian accented Spanish of eastern Argentina is gone and it sounds much more familiar here. We’re relying more and more on Robert’s broken Spanish but so far we’ve managed pretty well and everyone responds with good humor and patience. We found a small hotel right away and for about $18 for two people it can’t be beat. It has a wood burning stove, which will come in handy if we can figure out how to use it or can figure out how to ask how to use it! We both a bit hungry after the trip but, as in many Latin countries, everything shuts down from about 1 pm to about 5 pm so we may have to wait it out. Until then, we’re going to explore a bit more of this tiny town and try to stay warm before dinner. It won’t take long to stroll around, but at every turn it is so picturesque that we’re sure to get lots of pics that can’t be missed.

We’re glad that the Internet has found it’s way here, so we can share more of this great place while it is in front of our eyes. Stay tuned.

Chow,

The Boys