Lares Valley and Salt Mine

Wow! Ok, I loved Cancha Cancha (camp #2). Here we met with a local woman in her home. She is 70 and lives with her husband in a 1 room house typical of the high Andes. They have 1 light which was installed a year earlier. They pay 12 soles/$4 month for limited use. Guinea Pigs (cuy) run free in the house and are saved for Christmas and birthday meals 😳 In the photo you can see the kitchen (kittens warming by the ashes and a cuy with his glowing eyes literally hiding in the stove) and one bed as well as the only small table. As pictured, this woman makes cloth from Llama and Alpaca to sell. Later, Araceli and I brought a piece of cake to the house to say thank you, in at least a small way, for letting us into her home. She also gets a small amount of money for allowing our tents in her pasture.

This community is a 2 to 4 hour hike (downhill) to the nearest town. For us, it took 4 hours. Along the way out of the mountains we passed several more children all looking after their animals. We handed out colored pencils as small gifts whenever we could. The hike back up the mountain would have easily taken me a whole day, it's a very steep trail and a very remote community.

Once out of the mountains we had our last lunch with the porters, horsemen, and chef. Although we certainly paid for the privilege, I think all 3 of us guests battled with some guilt about the disparity between our accommodation and experience compared to that of our porters and even our guide Lucio. We did tip the team well and were careful to choose (to the best of our ability) an ethical company but the fact remains that at 1 point a porter was carrying the toilet- no bueno. The porters also wore sandals (not boots) and were only given sleeping bags (no blankets or pads). Also, the porters had simple meals and then were given whatever we couldn't finish. One upside, since we were just the 3 amigos+ Lucio, we had TONS of leftover food so the boys actually ate rather handsomely. Alex easily cooked 4 courses+ for a party of 6 or 7. Perhaps my view is a little skewed and the team only views these differences as customer vs employee? Our team was humble and shy but hopefully, we were able to communicate our gratitude for providing such a comfortable and enjoyable experience in a demanding environment. They did deliver an A+ service, truly :)

After saying farewell to the camping staff, Lucio took us by bus to the salt mines of Maras. Yummy!!! These mines were active in Pre-Inca times and are still operating using the same evaporation method. No machinery required to harvest salt from the 3000 pools. The spring fed pools are not as salty as the ocean but still pretty darn good. I bought some salt for the kitchen at home!Read more