MAIMARA

Of gentle and vigorous climate, the town of Maimará is the ideal summer vacationing place in the Quebrada de Humahuaca Gorge. It is placed against the imposing backdrop of the Gorge and the principal characteristic of its landscape is its multi color mountains.

The Río Grande flows only a few m away. There are vegetable plots and orchards to supply the neighbouring areas.

The old church and the town museum are certainly worth a visit. During the Santa Ana Feast on July 26th, it is possible to find all kinds of miniature objects and foodstuffs, a custom common to most peoples of the Quebrada Gorge and the whole Puna highlands.

Its typical cemetery, on one side of the road, will show us the special relationship that the people of the Puna have with death.This necropolis is one of the most interesting that can be find in the whole area. Of special interest is its special architecture with vaults from the start of the XX century, with pointed, curved and mixed line roofs.

In ancient times the Maimará and Tilcara ethnics inhabited this area.

Northeast of the town there is an attractive mill called the Molino de Chicapa, an old corn mill, on the other side of the Río Grande, in a place called La Banda. Built in 1888 with local materials and grinding stones brought from Iruya, its production served to provide a large area with flour and also to brew chicha, the traditional maize corn beer used in the region during its traditional festivities.