To make an appointment with the artist in Salta and Jujuy, let yourself be guided by the color and Andean culture: Salta capital with its museums and its colonial center, Purmamarca and the Cerro de los Siete Colores, and Tilcara with its markets in the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The date is a weekly outing alone to nourish your creativity, and the Argentine northwest feeds it with unique landscapes and traditions.
The northwest: color, height and Andean tradition
The Argentine northwest—Salta and Jujuy—is a separate region, closer to the Andean world than to the pampas. Here the hills are painted in impossible colors, the towns preserve adobe architecture, the pre-Columbian culture is still alive in the markets and festivals, and the altitude gives the light a special quality. For an artist, it is one of the most stimulating regions in America.
Julia Cameron calls an “artist date” a weekly outing, alone, to do something that nourishes your imagination. It is not tourism or a productive task: it is an act of care for your creativity. While the morning pages empty the mental well each morning, the artist's quote fills it again. In the north, the landscape and culture fill it to the brim.
The secret to doing it here is to open your eyes wide and slow down. The region combines the colonial heritage of Salta capital with the telluric force of the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Alternating the city and the landscape keeps the well full of very different stimuli.
Salta capital: Linda and its museums
They call Salta "La Linda", and the nickname is earned in its historic center: one of the best preserved colonial architecture in Argentina, with the Cathedral, the Cabildo, churches with colored facades and the main square surrounded by galleries. Walking through this center slowly, observing the colonial detail and the movement of people, is a first-rate appointment by the artist.
Salta keeps a jewel for the artist's appointment: the Museum of High Mountain Archeology (MAAM), which preserves findings from the Inca sanctuaries at the summit of the Llullaillaco volcano. It is an overwhelming museum, which connects directly with Andean spirituality and altitude. Visiting it in silence leaves a mark that is difficult to forget.
The cable car to Cerro San Bernardo offers views of the entire city and the valley, a perfect viewpoint for a contemplative date. Bring a notebook: between the museums, the architecture and the views, you will have plenty of material. It is the same observer muscle of the morning pages, applied to the north.
Purmamarca and the Hill of Seven Colors
Already in Jujuy, going up towards the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the town of Purmamarca lies at the foot of the Cerro de los Siete Colores, a geological formation that seems to be hand-painted with an impossible palette of reds, ochres, greens and violets. Contemplating it in the morning light, when the colors are most vivid, is a visual experience that reorders the sense of the possible.
The small, adobe town has a plaza with a fair of Andean crafts—weaving, ceramics, silverware—that is a feast of color and texture for the observant artist. Walking through it without haste, letting yourself be surprised by the geometric patterns of the textiles, is a quote from the textbook sensory artist.
The Paseo de los Colorados, a path that surrounds the hills of Purmamarca, allows you to walk among that impossible palette. Walking slowly surrounded by so much color, in silence, is a powerful contemplative appointment. Perfect fit with our guide artist quotes for the five senses.
Tilcara, Humahuaca and the Quebrada
The Quebrada de Humahuaca, a world heritage site, is a corridor of Andean towns, each with its own character. Tilcara, perhaps the most artistic, preserves a reconstructed pucará (pre-Columbian fortress), museums, artisan workshops and a notable creative scene that attracts painters, ceramists and musicians. It is an ideal destination for a date with the artist with Andean roots.
The Quebrada markets are overflowing with crafts, coca, quinoa, textiles and sikus and quenas music. Walking through them activates all the senses and connects with an ancient visual and sound tradition. For a creative, soaking up this living culture is pure nourishment. The carnival, the pim-pim and the songs of the region are popular artistic manifestations of extraordinary force.
La Quebrada rewards contemplative appointments in front of the landscape: the multicolored hills, the silence of the height, the immensity. Sitting down to look at a hill with a notebook and letting your mind wander is one of the most nutritious events that exist. If you find it difficult to allow yourself these moments, perhaps it will help you to read about resistance to the appointment with the artist.
How to make your artist appointment in the north without spending
The Argentine north is rich in free dates. Strolling through the colonial center of Salta, contemplating the Cerro de los Siete Colores, visiting the Purmamarca and Tilcara fairs, walking the Paseo de los Colorados or simply sitting and looking at the Quebrada costs nothing. Some museums, like the MAAM, charge a modest entrance fee that is worth it.
The rule does not change: chosen solitude, without productive objectives. In the north it is advisable to add one: without rushing, and with respect for the local culture. The height invites a slow pace that is just what the artist's appointment needs. A quiet half hour is enough at first; The essential thing is perseverance and enjoyment.
The region is for sensory and contemplative appointments rather than big expenses. The color of the hills, the textiles from the fairs, the Andean music: all of this is free or almost free, and of incalculable value to the artist. If money is tight, our guide to zero budget dating fits perfectly here.
The complete method: pages, appointment and twelve weeks
The appointment with the artist is one of the two daily pillars of Julia Cameron's method. The other is the morning pages: three handwritten pages each morning, unedited. Together they form the engine of a twelve-week process designed to unlock your creativity, whatever your discipline.
The Argentine northwest, with its color, its height and its living ancestral culture, is a powerful setting to travel that path. The region naturally invites contemplation and wonder, which are the raw material of all creation. The state that the Andean landscape induces is similar to that sought by the morning pages.
If you want to get started, our free twelve-week course guides you step by step. And if you are interested in how the method is experienced in other Argentine cities, read about the appointment with the artist in Buenos Aires or explore dozens of ideas for your weekly date.