Michał

personal website

Tyszka

THE CAPRICORNOS

Argentine Andean villages – Jujuy

The Tropic of Capricorn is a latitude perfectly tailored to me. It’s exactly the kind of climate where I feel at my best.
And it just so happens that this tropic passes very close to the village of Tilcara, which I know like the back of my hand, cutting right through the center of Argentina’s Jujuy province.

This tiny, atmospheric mountain province—Jujuy, the northernmost tip of the country wedged between the borders of Chile and Bolivia—is Argentina’s numero uno when it comes to diversity.

On barely 50,000 km², Andean five-thousanders share the landscape with deserts, salt flats, picturesque valleys, raging rivers, hot springs… The monumental, rugged chains of the Andes plunge here in steep slopes straight into the subtropical rainforests of Calilegua National Park, home to a rich array of fauna (jaguars, pumas, tapirs…) and flora, including many endangered species.

Andean peoples and relatively numerous Indigenous communities have found their place to live here—often fighting for their survival in opposition to the government, working to protect local natural resources from reckless exploitation. Environmental conflicts are fairly common in the province, driven by the explosive growth of mining in areas rich in lithium and other minerals.

Completing the picture are the cool, 90s-Poland-vibes bars of San Salvador and the cowboy villages straight out of Tarantino films—forming the cultural backbone of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, where during Carnival the whole country gathers to enjoy life and celebrate hard!

Local roads, due to frequent landslides and collapses where the Andes drop into lowlands, can be a real adrenaline challenge. For the first time ever, right here, I didn’t manage to get through—and twice. Two out of three flat tires this season also happened on Jujuy’s roads ;)


ALL TEXTS