Maras Salt Mines
Maras Salt-mines 10 Km. / 6 miles from Maras town (30 minutes by car or 2 hours hiking). Also called Salinas de Maras, these salt-mines have been used since Inca time in the Tahuantinsuyo. The people channel the salt water that bubbles to the surface from a spring called Qoripujio towards men-made wells. From the exposure to the sun, the water evaporates and the salt remains on the surface to be transported later to the market to be sold. The view of this complex of nearly 3000 wells is spectacular. The local people happily demonstrate the ancient techniques to visitors, even allowing them to participate in them. It is a bizarre site. Area located at 60 km. (37 miles) from Cuzco and 7 Km (4.3 miles) of Moray, where layers of beige and white salt pants are still used to crystallize salt from water. Visit from Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Maras Plateau |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Maras Salt Mines |
Moray Inca's Archaeological Complex
Moray is a strange place. Area located at 53 Km northwest of Cuzco, highlights an admirable Inca experimental farm, where a natural depression has been transformed in enormous terraces superimposed in concentric form with a shape of a great coliseum, achieving up to 150 meters in difference of height levels. The purpose of these depressions is 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 Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. In other words, Moray was perhaps an Inca agricultural experiment station. As with many other Inca sites, it also has a sophisticated irrigation system.
Moray Plateau |
Moray |
Moray |
Moray |
Moray |
Moray |
Moray |
Moray |
Photos © J. Mazzotti
Our gratitude to the Hotel Libertador Palacio del Inka that allowed to obtain these photos
CUZCO PHOTO GALLERY...
- Andahuaylillas Chapel
- Archaeological Park Sacsayhuaman
- Chinchero Indian Market
- Cuzco City
- Cuzco City by Night
- Flowers in Sacred Valley
- Maras and Moray
CUZCO TRAVEL GUIDE - SEE ALSO:
- Cuzco Travel Guide
- Historical Centre of Cuzco
- Cuzco - World Heritage Site
- Museums in Cuzco
- Archaeological Places in Cuzco
- Around Cuzco
- Sacred Valley of the Incas
- Inca Trail to Machu Picchu