We took one of the local 4x4 excursions across the desert valley in hopes of seeing part of the petrified forest in Tio Punco, of which I had heard on my previous visit to Quilmes, when I stayed with members of the indigenous community. However, it turns out that the majority of the petrified remains of the site have, unfortunately, been removed by vandals. This is lamentably a very common occurrence in the indigenous and natural sites of the area. Nevertheless, the trip across the desert basin was interesting, with impressive views of coloured hills and interesting rock formations along the valley, with the two towering mountain ranges as a backdrop behind. In several areas, wild burros wandered freely and apparently a local pastime is heading out on horseback to try and round them up.
Crossing back over the dried-up Santa Maria river bed, to the route, we pased by several isolated small farms with adobe constructions (like the majority of buildings in the Valley) and small enclosures made of branches and cactus to keep in the goats.
We stopped off in El Bañado, a sector of Quilmes, to see a local gaucho festival put on by the criollo population. Basically it consisted of a small gaucho procession to install the statuette of Our Lady of Luján, a couple of folklore dances by local children in ponchos and bright red outfits, and then an afternoon of eating and drinking in the dusty field, listening to folklore music and watching one local couple--half drunk of course--loll about dancing in the dust.
After about 3 hours of this, we headed on out, since there was a gathering thunderstorm over the mountains. Getting back on the route, we passed by the Sacred City of Quilmes and, after urging on the guide a bit, went up a side road into the mountains behind the ruins, to a site he had mentioned that contained cave paintings.
After about 30 minutes on this little-traversed mountain lane, we halted beside the ruins of a small indigenous settlement, probably a small town that was a satellite of Quilmes at one point. None of the buildings have been reconstructed as with Quilmes, and scattered about all over the place are bits of the typical kiln-baked pottery of the Diaguita culture, some still bearing traces of the original paint used. These are at least 500 years old. Crossing over a small river gulch, we headed over a rocky, cactus-strewn landscape for about 20 minutes up the slope of the mountainside, towards a cluster of boulders. All around the thunderstorm gathered, and one could see the rain squalls move along the valley, in a quite impressive vista.
Once we arrived at the boulders, we crossed around behind the largest and saw what we had come to marvel at...an overhang with a variety of cave paintings, representing humans, guanacos (a relative of the llama), birds and pumas. It was the first time I had ever seen cave paintings in person and so was quite impressive, despite the small scale of the site. The fact that it is little known and well off the beaten track made it all the more worthwhile. Unfortunately some of the earlier visitors to this site, too, had defaced the cultural heritage by attempting to chip away at some of the figures. Yet what remained was impressive and I took some pictures to later send on to the tour guide, who said it was only the second time he had gone there, after hearing about it from some locals.
There are many, many sites like this in the Calchaquí Valley that are little known about or explored, as my indigenous hosts remarked to me in an earlier visit. Hopefully once their culture is better recognised and respected they will begin to open up more and allow responsible and eco-friendly tourists to come and marvel at these historical gems.
On the descent back to the valley, it was interesting to notice how the entire coloration changes with a rainstorm overhead. Instead of the seeming bleak sandy valleybed, everything appeared much greener, as the clouds brought out the colour of the scrubby vegetation. Even the mountains towering behind the Quilmes ruins took on a greenish hue. Down close to the ruins, three guanacos crossed our path, which wander around the area close to the ruins to greet tourists visiting the area. I tried to feed one a biscuit but it seemed uninterested and went on lolling about beside us for a bit.
On the route back, we stopped into a small cooperative of local craftspeople selling their weavings, sculptures and local sweets and delicacies.
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