Artisans' Road

The original poncho from Salta

After strolling around Seclantás and enjoying the ancestral cuisine offered by Casa Díaz, we set out to visit the famous artisans of El Colte.

It is reached by the route that runs parallel to National Route 40, directly connected to Provincial Route 42, that is, the beautiful ride known as Los Colorados. As a stopover in Los Cardones National Park, we were finally able to settle the debt of knowing the most traditional textile village of Salta, located in the exact center of the Camino de los Artesanos.

Our initial stop was the store of Paulina Francisca Canavides, who told us how the whole family participates in weaving production. In her workshop, the awards and recognitions received by this valuable producer stand out.

A couple of kilometers ahead, right in El Colte, in front of the houses we saw ponchos, saddlebags, blankets and pashminas in a great variety of colors and textures, which we soon learned were the work of the same family branch: all relatives of Tero Guzmán. This is the most famous weaver artist in the history of Salta, whose Salta ponchos were worn by Popes John Paul II and Francis, as well as by several celebrities from Argentina and the world.

In the first store, run by Eduardo Choque and his wife Nilda Guzmán, Tero's sister, @tripticity_ was tempted by a barracán, an authentic northern design, which requires skill due to the difficulty of its manufacture.

Next, we visited the stand of Tero's eldest son, Arnaldo Guzmán, where the different stitches and techniques were explained to us.

Just in front, his mother's workshop, Vitalia Herrera, who, living up to her name, showed us her vitality as she showed us her creations and, also, a lot of mischievousness as she remembered her husband's trips to Cafayate. We won her heart when we told her how surprised we were by the poncho-like curtains that the Hotel Asturias has, made by El Tero shortly before his death, commissioned by Don Susín Ávila. At that moment, two of Vitalia's twelve children appeared, ready to travel to Colomé, where the soccer championship was waiting for them: one played for the Molinos team and the other for the Seclantás team. Things that happen in these small towns in the north of Argentina, which speak as much of the uninhabited as of the fraternity of its people.

Vitalia turned out to be quite a character and persuasively urged us to wear her pieces, so it was impossible not to get a light summer blanket, in a nice walnut shell color.

A last purchase of a pashmina at Terito Guzman's was necessary before returning. Then yes, satiated with the valuable acquisition, we started our return proud to boast garments made by the artisans of El Colte, products of laborious skill and testimony of the ancestral art of our land.