Colalao de Valle

Colalao e Valle

Roughly the same distance away from Quilmes as Amaicha but to the North, Colalao de Valle had none of the exuberance and spirit of its neighbour. Senora Gallega’s house and garden where we stayed was a bucolic bower of vines and ripe grapes, but an enclosed, private space. The rest of the village was dull with a faint sense of disquiet. We were served the worst meal we had eaten in Argentina by an unsmiling indigenous couple, most unlike the hospitality we had experienced before in the region.

             Later I saw a crowd of children and adolescents being led by young people with the European looks of Southern Argentineans’ carrying guitars and singing evangelical songs. It seems the missionaries have not given up their business of convertion, except rather than Jesuits backed by conquistadors, it is the North Americanised version of this old tune. It had been pleasant in Amaicha not to see the buildings with banners advertising salvation, which have become a new epidemic in South America, but instead together with the town church a cairn of stones, altar to Pachamama in the main plaza.

Sacred City of Quilmes

Sacred City of Quilmes

We took the bus to the nearest point on the Road to Quilmes and walked the 6km along the track that winds its way through the desert to the entrance of the sacred city. It seems strange that the conquisadors should have had any interest in this dry unfertile land let alone enough to spend 150 years before taking it.

            Only parts of the buildings and fortifications remain today. The low dry-stone walls marking where structures were rise in tiers up the slopes of the semicircular ring of hills that is the backdrop to the city.

            I took the fortification route, a path that circle around the city and along the ridges behind, which include fortified vantage points from which defenders could hurl missiles down on intruders. From above, the layout of the city looked like a strange alphabet with different shapes of oblongs connected to a few circular constructions by slender walkways. The meanings of these shapes eluded me. It was difficult on the whole to perceive what use each area might have had.

            I made my way back down the hill to meet up with Paola and to hear how her route through the centre of the city had gone.

Amaicha de Valle

JAN 24TH

We have been in Amaicha de Valle for a few days now. Reaching this town of 5000 in the middle of an arid valley 2000 metres above sea level you follow the mountain Road through what is known as ‘El Infernillo’, inhabited by liitle more than goats.

            Amaicha is the oldest indigenous community in Argentina, having been granted the, land through a government charter in 1953. It is a short distance from the ruins of the sacred city of Quilmes, which resisted occupation by the Spanish conquisadors for 150 years before the remaining inhabitants were shipped to Buenes Aires. Now days, the feeling is that this defeat is being reversed. In fact, Amaicha has the feeling of a victory being celebrated. The bright patchwork ypala flag of the Pan-American indigenous movement flies proudly from commercial establishments and private house all over town.

            The town’s proximity to Quilmes has allowed tourism to flourish, adding an extra income to the traditional ways of making a living, but unlike similar places that attract tourism, there is no encroachment by large hotels and other big money. The ubiquitous blandness of corporate cultural sanitation has been kept at bay and the energy of community enterprise and individual creativity has been allowed to grow unchecked. It is illegal to buy or sell the land, a situation, which has prevented the dubious benefits of large outside investment. The town is not mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide, but word of mouth brings plenty of visitors.

            The place has a strong feeling of soul. The combination of a nearby sacred site and a large whiff of freedom and self determination has made the town a minor mecca for bohemians, artists, romantics and a young Argentine hippy set. A large museum of indigenous art dedicated to the earth-mother goddess Pachamama is being built at entrance to town, an ambitious project of the sculptor Hector Cruz, which may catapult the town into being a major artistic centre. A sizable part is already open to the public. It is a maze of terraces built with traditional stonework embellished by Cruz’s own work. It is impressive on the outside like an indigenous Gugenheim, if -at least for the time being- a little lacking in exhibits on the inside even more so than its counterpart in Bilbao.