>> Tilcara (2,939 meters over sea level)

Tilcara is so called for the tribe that used lived there. Regarding the primitive population, no documentation has been found about their origins.

The impressive Quebrada de Humahuaca, a paradisiacal landscape of our country, declared Estate of Mankind, is the axis of this picturesque area through which the Grande River runs, and where there are interesting archaeological deposits. All the houses in the area are made of clay, where the towns of the colonial times developed in relation to significant pre-Hispanic settlings.

A defensive line of pucarás, gives testimony of an amazing agricultural culture capable of building fortresses to protect themselves from the pickers of the East; and maybe to resist the Inca Empire in the North, though they formed part of the Inca Collasuya as from the end of the XV Century.

Spattered all over the area, are countless ruins of that past, pucarás, antigales, cave paintings and they can be visited. Visiting the fortified town of Pucará, and its Botanical Garden of the Heights, is very interesting, and it is also very important to reach the so called Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) to appreciate the Depression in its full extension. A visit to the solar ovens, and the ecological houses is also recommended.