Sacred Valley

We went to Bamba experience to ask few questions about the upcoming Inca Trail and to check if they would have Sacred Valley and Rainbow Mountain tours. They offered us a three or five site tours. They told us that the five site option would be quite hectic and that we wouldn’t have that much time in each place but the other didn’t contain the Moray (the famous round Inka terraces) nor Moras (salt mine/farm) and we wanted to see at least Moray so we choose the five site tour.

The circles of Moray we wanted to see

We started early in the morning and our firsts stop was at a small touristic fabric waving mill. They told and showed how the yarn is colored in the traditional way and how a blanket is waved. It was interesting to see how it is done. After that we continued to Chinchero, an Inka place where the Spanish conquerors built a church on top of Inka ruins. The church was painted inside from bottom to top and even the inside of the roof. We haven’t seen any church painted so totally. It was also full of flowers and we heard that it’s the locals who bring the flowers there every day as a kind of offering gift. The yard was semi big and the local women were selling blankets, bags and other fabrics. Even the polices were buying blankets from them 😊

Locals coloring yarns and waving blankets

This was the best picture we got from the church because there was a guard who 

checked that nobody takes photos 😉

The big yard where the locals sold blankets, bags and other stuff

Local police forces buying blankets

From Chinchero we continued towards Maras on the beautiful mountain roads. We could see snow-covered mountains on the way and cows, horses and pigs on the fields. When we arrived to Maras, we had to pay a small entrance fee because it is a private mine/farm. There were around 4000 salt ponds owned by private persons. Each family/person owns usually 2-3 ponds so there are a few owners 😉 The ponds are small and a bit like terraces that go down. There is a small stream that comes from the volcanic mountains and goes through a salt reserve and out to the ponds. Of course we had to try the salt water and yes, it was very salty!😜 The water in the stream contains around 30% salt and it is lead to the ponds where the water is evaporated in 1-2 weeks and the salt is ready for collection. It is in three layers. The first is the normal white food salt, the second is pinks salt (kind of deluxe salt with more minerals) and the third one is bath salt that contains a lot of minerals.

Locals at the salt "farm"

Most of the salt ponds in the picure

After Maras we continued to Moray, the famous Inka circle terraces. They are believed to be to be a kind of agricultural laboratory and that the Inkas found out that the circle terraces enable temperature differences that makes it possible to grow different things in the same place. We walked around the place and it was quite fascinating to see the big circle terraces and hear stories about Inka time.

One kiss 😉

When we were ready with Moray, it was time for lunch. We had lunch in Ollantaytambo but first we climbed to an archeological Inka site where we could see a big Sun Gate. There are many big stones, and big means several thousand kilos. Some of them are marble and it is unclear how the Inkas could move the huge stones or how they have been cutting and shaping them when they used only copper and gold as metals. The Peruvian government did even an experiment with the stones. They had a similar stone with the same weight as the Inkas have on the top of the ruins. They had ropes, poles and hundreds of people but they could move it only few centimeters with human power. The Inkas had taken the stones from the next mountain and it is a total mystery how they have been able to take them first off, then down and then back up.

Few steps up 😜

The Sun Gate at the top. And who did carry it there!?

After our lunch in Ollantaytambo we continued to our last site, Pisac. It had terraces and other ruins and we came in the last minute there, because they close the gates quite early. We wondered around the site, took photos and got back to the bus. Next to our bus the locals sold blankets and other Peruvian souvenirs and we found a nice Inka-Spanish chess to one of Markus’ friends who had asked for it. The rest of the trip was just sitting in the bus, enjoying the views until it got dark. It was a hectic day with tight schedule but at the same time it was nice to see so many different places 😊

More terraces

Inka ruins and terraces in Pisac