Salta, Cafayate and the Rainbow Rocks

The city of Salta, located in northwestern Argentina, is considered one of the most beautiful in the country and is highly recommended to any South America traveler.

In addition to its colonial-era downtown area and the many parks and green spaces in the center, the southern Canyon of Cafayate and the 'piedras coloradas', or 'rainbow rocks', are particularly worth seeing.

Another special feature of the city is that it houses one of only 2 museums in the world that deal specifically with the sacrificial rituals of the Incas.

Before the continent was conquered by the Spaniards, the Incas had spread from Colombia to northern Argentina and left their traces everywhere in the form of huge road systems, ruins, and ceremonial sites and objects.

One particularly gruesome tradition was to ask the gods and Mother Earth for reconciliation between two warring tribes by selecting a child from the upper class of each tribe, drugging them in a ritual, and burying them alive on a mountain peak.

The victims were given burial gifts that show that death was by no means the end of life for the Incas, but rather a threshold to transition into another world.

Although it is difficult for us to imagine today, being chosen for this ceremony was considered an honor back then...