Story, photography and videos by Ray Waddington.
But what does that mean?
When the Pucará de Tilcara fortress was rediscovered by archaeologists, it was a collection of scattered stones on the ground, much like those pictured on the left at an un-reconstructed part of the site. It has greater significance to archaeologists, historians and anthropologists in that un-reconstructed form. But it attracts more tourists in its reconstructed form.
I shot a few videos in the town of Humahuaca. They are available on our YouTube channel at the link at the bottom of this page.
Early one evening in Tilcara I came across a band of musicians performing while parading through the streets, many of whom were playing pan flutes. When I asked them why they were doing this they told me it was to keep indigenous traditions alive in their community.
Earlier in the day I had visited the museum of archaeology in Tilcara. While the museum features mainly artifacts from the pre-history of the region, it also has information about the town's gaucho (cowboy) festival. Horses are not indigenous to the region, so it is scientifically incorrect to include references to Argentina's gaucho culture in the museum. But it attracts more tourists by doing so.
Perhaps the main reason people visit the area is for the scenery, which is so spectacular that no guidebook could do it justice — although most of them try to. Many of them also make the mistake of comparing the towns in the region on a scale of "indigenousness."
Traditional and Modern Indigenous Andean Music (short film on YouTube).
Photography and videography copyright © 1999 -
2022,
Ray Waddington. All rights reserved.
Text copyright © 1999 -
2022,
The Peoples of the World Foundation. All rights reserved.
Waddington, R., (2016) On Being Indigenous. The Peoples of the World Foundation. Retrieved
May 24, 2022,
from The Peoples of the World Foundation.
<https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/travelStory.jsp?travelStory=indigenous>
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