In August 2004 I spent a few days in a charming, remote village called Iruya in northwest Argentina. Imagine my surprise when I recognised the town in Guiness’ latest TV ad. A quick search on google confirmed that the location was indeed Iruya, that the ad is Guiness’ most expensive to date, and that the entire campaign cost a colossal ten million pounds (approximately 20 million US dollars).

The ‘making of’ video (see below) reveals that the makers of the ad spent a month in Iruya, 150 crew were there for two weeks and that they bought in 130 extras from 5 neigbouring villages. This is in a town with a population of only 1000 people.

The ad agency (AMV/BBDO) that made the video are from the UK. They used a Dutch company called Domino Domain to create the domino tipping sequence. Iruya’s a long way from Europe, fairly obviously, and to get to there you first need to fly to the Andean city of Salta (approx. 14 hours) , then take a bus to the town of Humahuaca (approx. 5 hours) then finally another bus to Iruya, which is 48km away on a narrow dirt track (approx. 3 hours - it’s hard going).

Then there’s the altitude. Humahuaca is 3000 metres above sea level, Iruya is a little lower at 2780 metres, and the road in between at one point reaches 4000 metres. That means that the people in Iruya are nearly three kilometres or two miles up in the air. There’s planes that don’t go that high, I’m sure, and trust me, until you acclimatise, it’s hard to breathe.

Not only did they have to get all the people involved in the project to Iruya, but all the equipment too. This included all the camera and filming equipment, 10 000 books, 7000 dominoes, 400 tyres, 50 fridges, 70 wardrobes and six cars. For this they needed 26 trucks.

So, after spending 10 million pounds and making all that effort, was it worth it? Take a look at the video and decide for yourself:

And this is the ‘making of’ video:

Now, in one way I’m kind of sad to see the ad because one of the wonderful things about visiting Iruya for me is that it’s such a remote and magical place. I hope it stays that way.

Here are some of the black and white photos that I took when I stayed in the village. Incidentally, the room that I stayed in cost me only 7 argentine pesos a night. That’s a little over one pound or two dollars.

And someone spent 10 million pounds making an ad for Guiness there? I don’t know about you but I think that’s a little crazy.

Photo Essay: Iruya, Provincia de Salta, northwest Argentina

This is how Iruya looks when you approach it along the dirt road from Humahuaca.

This print can be purchased from Imagekind.

The village’s main plaza.

Photos from the village.

I took these photos on a the edge of the village in the late evening. The dirt track leads to the next village, San Isidro, some 5 kilometres away. It’s only accessible by 4WD or by walking. In the summer, which is the wet season here, the road is impassable for vehicles and supplies are taken to the village by donkey.

I met these children while walking outside the village.

Kids playing football on a dusty field. No grass here.

The village’s cemetery.

The day I arrived in Iruya coincided with a local festival. I’m not sure exactly what the purpose of it all was but I know that the fiestas in this region date back to before European settlement. The people in these villages are descended from the indigenous peoples that lived here before the Spanish came. Their festivals typically are a combination of pre-colombian and catholic elements.

All these photos are Copyright © Andrew Gibson and are available for use under Rights Managed licenses. Please contact me for further information.

Everywhere Mag is the latest creation from the publishes of JPG Mag. The basic idea is the same, the site’s registered users can upload photos and articles, other users vote for them and the best make it into the printed edition. But where JPG Mag covers all types of photography, Everywhere Mag is about travel.

It’s a cool concept that I like. Here’s my Photo Essay on Everywhere Mag:

La Fiesta de Casabindo, Argentina: Man Vs Bull

And here’s the article:

La Fiesta De Casabindo, Argentina: Man Versus Bull

So, my journey began. I gathered information when I took a day-trip on the Tren a las Nubes. One of the guides had been there. “Listen,” he said. “I went two years ago. I had a great time, but the only way to get to Casabindo, if you don’t have a car, is to hitch a lift on a truck from Abra Pampa. The trucks provide transit for people who have things to sell.”

Casabindo, I was learning, is a difficult trek. It’s breathless - 3500 metres or so high in the Argentinean Andes, in the remote province of Jujuy. The only access is by dirt track.

I made my way to Humahuaca, the nearest town on the tourist trail, and was fortunate to not only find a room, but a tour company taking a car to Casabindo. We arrived Sunday morning, after a bumpy three hour drive, in a small village of primitive mud-brick huts and a large crowd that included market vendors, photographers and even a TV camera crew.

Following a morning of ceremonies, the bullfighting commenced. Picture the scene: a lone torero (bullfighter) in the middle of a dusty plaza, a ragged piece of cloth in his hands, surrounded by people sitting jammed together on a low stone wall that surrounds the square. A large, black angry bull stares at the torero, dust billowing as it scrapes its front hoof on the hard ground.

The object is not, like in Spain, to kill the bull, but for the torero to prove his bravery by snatching a red headband sewn with silver coins (the vincha) from between its horns. The vincha is later given as an offering to the Virgin.

As the torero crouched, cloth in hand, he moved closer to the bull. Dressed in plain blue jeans and an old jumper, the bullfighter wasn’t a trained and sequin-suited showman like the Spanish bullfighters, but an ordinary villager.

Head lowered until its horns nearly scraped the ground, eyes glistening, the bull charged the torero. The first two bulls had been quite tame, almost disinterested, and the toreros had easily taken the vinchas. But this one was big and angry! The torero had a problem and I couldn’t see how he could get close enough to grab the vincha without being hurt or even killed. We watched awestruck as the torero approached the bull again and again, each time narrowly avoiding slashing horns or flaying hoofs by spinning away or fooling the bull with a wave of his cloth. Then, perhaps frustrated at not catching his prey, the bull turned towards the stone wall on the other side of the plaza, and charged, jumping it with a single powerful leap. He went straight through the spectators atop the wall, sending them flying backwards in a tangle of limbs, where they crashed to a landing on the other side, out of our sight.

We couldn’t see what was happening, but we heard screams and saw panicked movement. After about ten minutes all grew calm. Evidently no one was seriously hurt, because another bull was driven into the plaza for the torero. None of the other bulls were as angry or dangerous as the one we’d just witnessed and the bullfighting and vincha grabbing continued relatively peacefully until dusk.

This is a journey that will always remain etched in my mind.

Scenes from the Toreo de La Vincha, Casabindo