TOUR CHINCHERO - MARAS - MORAY

Chinchero’s Sunday market was originally set-up so that people living in the valley and the surrounding hills could trade produce. No longer is it just a local affair. Visitors now come from far to browse superb handicrafts produced by the indigenous weaving community here. Chinchero’s weavers are artisans in the truest sense; they harvest wool, produce their own plant dyes and hand weave their textiles.

This stepped, amphitheater-like pits are believed to have been used by the Incas to experiment with groundbreaking agricultural methods. Because of the different elevations, the temperatures between each layer of the pit can vary by several degrees. These distinct microclimates allow different types of vegetables and cereals to grow, which couldn’t otherwise survive in the harsh Andean environment.

Salineras de Maras is located along the slopes of Qaqawiñay Mountain, at an elevation of 3,380 m in the Urubamba Valley, 46km outside of Cusco, Peru. This salt mine is a complex network of nearly 3,000 salt pans, shallow pools that are filled by a hyper saline underground spring. These salt pans are believed to have been developed in pre-Inca times (pre-1430 AD) and today are active hand-harvested by local families during the dry season, May through November. The naturally pink salt gets its beautiful hue from trace elements in the spring water, including calcium, magnesium, silicon, and potassium.

Geologically speaking, Salinas de Maras lies above the Maras Formation in the Cusco Department of the Andes. The source of the spring water is believed to be from a deep halite deposit within the Maras Formation, dating to 110 million years ago. Geologists believe that millions of years ago, an ocean covered much of central Peru. During the Andean orogeny (mountain building event), these ocean waters were trapped inland, and through evaporation, formed halite deposits that are now the source of the hyper saline spring water, and Salt of the Earth.