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.
PLACES TO VISIT
Maras salt mines
The salt mines which has about four thousand pools in 5 square meters each and the water seeps into the pools and evaporates by the action of the intense sun, causing the salt crystals to appear thick. Maras salt mines are fed by a single hot salty subterranean spring, which is fed into an advanced system of tiny channels that feed several hundred ancient terraced shallow ponds. Once a pond is full of this hot salty spring water, the water channel is blocked; over the next few days the sun evaporates the water, leaving crystals of pure salt that are scraped up. The water channel to the pond is reopened, and so the process continues.
Maras community
after visit salt mines we will head to the Andean village called Maras where many of our Quechuas live . The ponds are each owned and farmed by members of the Maras community, whose efforts are run as a cooperative.
Moray
INCLUDED
Include:
- Private English speaking guide (Private VIP service only)
Private tourist van (Private VIP service only)
First aid kit and oxygen bottle
Tour price include government sales tax (19% as know IGV)
Not Included:
- Lunch (optional if requested at least 1 day in advance $10)
- Cusco Tourist Ticket This ticket is required for the entrance to Moray
- Maras entrance additional 8 soles
- If you do not have a tourist ticket it can be purchased at Moray ruins.
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