Purmamarca

The kids had such a fun time playing with other kids at our campground we decided to stay another night. They did homeschool in the morning and then went out to play. I dumped the cassette and gray water and then we went out to hike as it became hotter.

It was noon and decided to go to the town square instead. There were vendors selling traditional Andes fabrics and even fake north face and Columbia clothing.

The kids played at the playground and I bought a quesadilla for them.

This town was very pretty and clean even with the dirt streets. I noticed a plaque indicating Purmamarca became a UNESCO heritage site in 2003.

A family next to us asked us where we were from. They wanted their 12 year old son to practice speaking English with us. They were from Buenos Aires and on a 10 day holiday. Our kids played with their kids and Christine asked them about mate cups and drinking mate as they were drinking from mate cups.

Christine went to buy some corn flour alfajores, type of dessert cookie sandwich of dulce de leches. They kind of fell apart easily.

We went to a small restaurant and had some tamales and a pumpkin jam with cheese and walnuts and another alfajores.

We walked around the square and went into a shop and Christine decided to get a mate straw, a bombadilla. It had a sieve on one end to filter out the mate leaves.

We went back to the campground and the kids were waiting for us. They brought over some empanadas type of biscuit for us to eat. They were filled with beef, onions, and lemon juice -- delicious.

They asked if we wanted to go for a hike across the river. There was a different hike around the seven colored hills but it had an entrance fee so they wanted to hike on the river. We agreed and joined them after we filled up fresh water.

We all headed off but the police told us we couldn't go the way they planned so we walked down river a bit more and then crossed a field and found a trail but then someone decided to start hiking up the mountain through the cacti.

I told the kids to come back. One of the dads and his 12 year old kept going. The rest of us turned back across the river and waited in the shade. They eventually came down but it took a while. We all walked back to the campground after that misadventure but it was fun talking to them. One of the daughters was planning on going to Miami to learn English next year. They were a big family of three sisters and their husbands and kids. There were about 10 kids it seemed. 

Back at the campground we discovered that some of them had picked grapes somewhere in the field and shared them with us.

They invited us to drink mate with them and they explained the different mates and yerba mate and how much tea to pack in the cups. It was surprisingly dense almost halfway filled with tea and then a little water poured in and a lot of sugar.

They share some llama salami and goat cheese and bread with us.

The salami was great. I started to get belly cramps possibly from the mate. The kids colored and drew and played uno and as it became dark they played freeze tag and red light green light.

Two pairs of cyclists rode in. One pair was from Belgium and had rode up from Ushuaia and said today was the hardest day with the elevation. They were heading to Peru via Bolivia. 

The kids playing and Christine made pasta for them and I went to buy some lentil soup for Christine.

We went in at 11 pm with the other family was just sitting down for dinner. They had made soup and empanadas and shared some with us. What a wonderful experience meeting these people.