Sunday, 14 September 2014
My friend Carlos agreed to take me to see 2 places on the outskirts of Cusco, Maras Moray and Salinera. We took a bus to Urubamba (they call it buses but it's really a van) but we stopped half way at the town of Maras. Here, we had to hire a taxi to go to Maras Moray and Salinera. There were 2 other people who wanted a cab, so we negotiated a fee for the 4 of us, which was pretty cheap, and we went to our first destination which was Maras Moray. If I had gone on a tour, it would've cost me a bomb so once again, luckily I have a local friend to show me how to go about it the local way.
Maras Moray are pre-inca terraces built in circular form, it is really beautiful. There are 3 'moray's altogether, which was supposed to symbolise the 3 parts of the world - the sky (condor), the earth (puma) and the underworld (snake). Of this, the puma was the biggest and nicest, having 13 layers of terraces altogether, because the earth was the most important of the 3. The other 2 had 7 layers of terraces altogether. So it is terraces built in circles, and it was for agricultural purposes. Each circle had a different crop, such as corn, potatoes, onions, etc. At the centre was the most important crop, probably plants that are hard to find from the jungle, which are cultivated here. The depth, design, and orientation with respect to wind and sun apparently created a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C between the top and the bottom. This enabled the ancient peoples to grow different crops of different climates, at the same time and same place. It is also possible that this place was used to create hybrids of wild vegetable species for the purposes of human consumption. The products are then reaped and kept in warehouses made of stone, and was used as food for the people. Possibly various rituals and ceremonies also took place at the centre of the terrace, such as sacrificing llamas and rain dances. The circles have a sophisticated irrigation system.
There are stone steps built by the ancient people to go all the way up and down into the morays. It is quite scary to climbing down because the depth from one circle to the next is quite high, and I quite liked the simplicity of these stone steps.
After this we went to Salinera, a natural salt formation. From a nearby salt mine, a river carries the salt to this place where it is naturally deposited, since ore-Inca times. I tasted the water from the river and it is damn salty. The people here have divided the salt formation into plots, and there are more than a thousand plots. There are about 50 families working here, and each family has about 5 to 7 plots. There are 3 types of salt produced here, white, black and rose. I have no idea what the difference in taste is, I can only see the difference in the colour. I bought a small packet of salt for 2 soles, I want to experiment with it for cooking purposes.
Then we took a bus (van) back to Cusco and I bought Carlos dinner for showing me around. Then my tour agent came to pick me up at the hotel at 7.30 pm because I had to take the 8.30 pm bus to Arequipa, I will only arrive the next morning. Before I left, Carlos gave me his flute, the one he was teaching me how to play. It is probably his most prized possession but he gave it to me, and I was so touched. I gave him my Stephen King book partly because he was learning English, and partly because I am running out of space in my bags. When I left Cusco, I felt as if I left a piece of my heart behind.
My friend Carlos agreed to take me to see 2 places on the outskirts of Cusco, Maras Moray and Salinera. We took a bus to Urubamba (they call it buses but it's really a van) but we stopped half way at the town of Maras. Here, we had to hire a taxi to go to Maras Moray and Salinera. There were 2 other people who wanted a cab, so we negotiated a fee for the 4 of us, which was pretty cheap, and we went to our first destination which was Maras Moray. If I had gone on a tour, it would've cost me a bomb so once again, luckily I have a local friend to show me how to go about it the local way.
Maras Moray are pre-inca terraces built in circular form, it is really beautiful. There are 3 'moray's altogether, which was supposed to symbolise the 3 parts of the world - the sky (condor), the earth (puma) and the underworld (snake). Of this, the puma was the biggest and nicest, having 13 layers of terraces altogether, because the earth was the most important of the 3. The other 2 had 7 layers of terraces altogether. So it is terraces built in circles, and it was for agricultural purposes. Each circle had a different crop, such as corn, potatoes, onions, etc. At the centre was the most important crop, probably plants that are hard to find from the jungle, which are cultivated here. The depth, design, and orientation with respect to wind and sun apparently created a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C between the top and the bottom. This enabled the ancient peoples to grow different crops of different climates, at the same time and same place. It is also possible that this place was used to create hybrids of wild vegetable species for the purposes of human consumption. The products are then reaped and kept in warehouses made of stone, and was used as food for the people. Possibly various rituals and ceremonies also took place at the centre of the terrace, such as sacrificing llamas and rain dances. The circles have a sophisticated irrigation system.
There are stone steps built by the ancient people to go all the way up and down into the morays. It is quite scary to climbing down because the depth from one circle to the next is quite high, and I quite liked the simplicity of these stone steps.
After this we went to Salinera, a natural salt formation. From a nearby salt mine, a river carries the salt to this place where it is naturally deposited, since ore-Inca times. I tasted the water from the river and it is damn salty. The people here have divided the salt formation into plots, and there are more than a thousand plots. There are about 50 families working here, and each family has about 5 to 7 plots. There are 3 types of salt produced here, white, black and rose. I have no idea what the difference in taste is, I can only see the difference in the colour. I bought a small packet of salt for 2 soles, I want to experiment with it for cooking purposes.
Then we took a bus (van) back to Cusco and I bought Carlos dinner for showing me around. Then my tour agent came to pick me up at the hotel at 7.30 pm because I had to take the 8.30 pm bus to Arequipa, I will only arrive the next morning. Before I left, Carlos gave me his flute, the one he was teaching me how to play. It is probably his most prized possession but he gave it to me, and I was so touched. I gave him my Stephen King book partly because he was learning English, and partly because I am running out of space in my bags. When I left Cusco, I felt as if I left a piece of my heart behind.
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