Maras, Moray and other towns in the Sacred Valley
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sacred Valley, Peru
Had a very nice buffet breakfast this morning, best so far. As usual, we also had coca tea to start the day. Pilar and Wilbur picked us up at 9 AM and after traveling through beautiful country surrounded by snow covered peaks we reached our first stop, the salt pans of Maras. There are over 3000 ponds managed by 250 families. When you see the small divisions between each pan and the steepness of the layout you wonder how the workers can carry heavy bags of harvested salt up the hill to the trucks. Everything is done manually. Next we went to Moray to see the Inca agriculture laboratory. The Incas constructed circular terraces to experiment with different crops. The way the terraces are constructed, each level formed its own micro climate. Had lunch in the small town of Chinchero (in the only restaurant). Then we went to see a demonstration of Incan weaving techniques from the washing of the wool with crushed roots, to dyeing the wool, spinning the yarn and then the actual weaving. Very tedious process, but they are trying to keep the old methods alive today. The last stop of the day was at the Kuoda supported after-school program in the village. We presented the teacher with pencils and pens along with a sheet of "happy faces" for the children. We took a group picture with them. Got back to the hotel around 4 PM and started getting ready for the trip to Machu Picchu since we are limited to 16 pounds each on the train (this proved not to be true anymore, but who needs more for one night).
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2025-02-06