Maras salt mines and Moray are incredible places. Maras is home to salt mines. Moray has ruins in the form of the Roman Coliseum. This site was used to for experimentation and investigation of many different variety of crops.
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ITINERARY
Departures every day - Half day Maras Moray Tour - Itinerary:
We leave from Cusco at 8am. Our first stop is Maras, from which, we can get to the salt mines. The salt mines display a bizarre spectacle of beauty. Located on a wide-open hill above the Urubamba Valley, a natural salt water stream runs underground. In pre-Incan times, they have been evaporating the salty water from this stream in order to obtain the salt that gets left behind.
How it works: The highly salty water emerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the underground stream. The flow is directed into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the water runs gradually down onto the several hundred ancient terraced ponds. The water, which is exposed to the sun, leaves salt on the land. Viewed from the peak, the myriad of rectangles look like an enormous painting designed by nature.
After visiting the salt mines near Maras, we continue on a short distance to the Moray ruins. The ruins are composed of three coliseums, which are thought to have been used by the Incas as a sort of open air crop laboratory. The coliseums consist of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 30m/98ft deep. The purpose of these depressions is still uncertain but their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C/27 °F between the top and bottom. This large temperature difference was possibly used by the Incas to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. The terraces are arranged in concentric circles and are reminiscent of an ancient Greek theatre.
The older Cusqueños say that the best frutillada is found in Maras. Nevertheless, throughout Cusco you will find a specific frutillada whose flavor is particular to that neighborhood, whether you are in Cusco or in the Sacred Valley. Everyone loves it because of its sweetness and the touch of strawberry.
You might find a street vendor selling it or you might find it in one of our city’s chicherías. In them you will find three types of chicha: that made of quinoa, with corn, or one of corn mixed with strawberries. The latter is our favorite we call frutillada.
In the afternoon, we will return you back to your hotel in Cusco.