Purmamarca

The Quebrada de Humahuaca has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years, and the villages of its side valleys sat on routes that carried goods between the Altiplano and the lowlands long before the Spanish came. Purmamarca's name is usually read as Aymara: purma, desert or untouched land, and marca, town — the village of the virgin land. The settlement existed by the time of the Spanish conquest.

Under Spanish rule it became a small farming and herding village on the road west to the Puna. Its church, dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima, was built in 1648 of adobe and cactus wood, and still has its striking lintel over the main door and 18th-century paintings of the Cusco School inside. During the wars of independence the north-west was the front line against royalist armies from Peru.

Purmamarca long stayed off the province's main trade routes. Two changes brought it into the wider world: the paved road west over the Cuesta de Lipán to the Paso de Jama and Chile, part of a trade corridor to the Pacific, and the inscription of the Quebrada de Humahuaca as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. In 2006 Indigenous communities marching in the Second Malón de la Paz, demanding the return of their lands, gathered here before blockading the national routes.

Purmamarca belongs to the Andean world of the Quebrada, where Catholic and Indigenous traditions are woven together. Pachamama, Mother Earth, receives offerings of food and drink in August, and the cult of the dead is especially important to the people of the valley's villages. The patronal feast of Santa Rosa de Lima, at the end of August, brings religious ceremonies, sikuri panpipe bands and misachicos — small processions carrying a saint's image, accompanied by erkes, long Andean horns, and bombo drums.

Carnival is the year's biggest celebration in the Quebrada. It begins by unearthing the Pujllay, a devil-like spirit of fun, and ends days later with his burial, after music, coplas sung to the caja drum, dancing and much drinking.

The village is also known for its crafts. The market on the plaza sells handicrafts made in the village and hand-woven blankets, and local people have been keen to keep the village's adobe architecture and quiet way of life.

Purmamarca had about 900 people at the 2010 census, up from about 500 in 2001. It is a village of the Tumbaya Department, about 65 km from the provincial capital, San Salvador de Jujuy, and 22 km from Tilcara. The road through it is part of the Capricorn Axis, a trade corridor that climbs the Cuesta de Lipán to the Paso de Jama, a fully paved crossing to Chile that is open all year.

Tourism now drives the economy. Families make and sell handicrafts at the plaza market, run small guesthouses and restaurants, and organise tours, above all to the Salinas Grandes and the Laguna de Guayatayoc on the Puna. Small-scale farming and herding carry on alongside. Lorries heading to and from Chile pass along the road through the Quebrada.

The rhythm of the day follows the visitors and the sun. Visitors fill the village by day, and it grows quiet again in the evening. As elsewhere in the Quebrada, Indigenous communities continue to claim the lands that once belonged to their ancestors. Many residents are protective of the village's quiet, traditional way of life and its adobe architecture.

Food in Purmamarca is the cooking of the Andean north-west, made from maize, potatoes, quinoa, squash and llama. Empanadas are baked or fried; humitas are fresh maize paste with onion and cheese cooked in maize husks, and tamales are maize dough filled with meat. Locro, a thick stew of maize, beans, squash and meat, warms cold evenings.

Llama meat appears grilled or in stews, and Andean potatoes of many colours and quinoa have become staples again on local menus. Quesillo, a soft fresh cheese, is eaten with honey or cayote, a squash preserve. In summer the fields of the Quebrada supply the local market with maize of several colours, broad beans, squash and potatoes, and dishes such as humitas and tamales are often prepared collectively.

To drink there is api, a thick hot drink of purple maize, and chicha, a traditional fermented maize beer. Coca leaves, chewed or brewed as tea, are widely used in the highlands. Restaurants around the plaza serve many of these dishes.