Maras

We rented a car for just 2 days to explore the Sacred Valley and see a few more sites. The driving here, luckily, is not as crazy as in Lima but we will need to use our horn wisely. Our first stop is the small old village of Chinchero, built in the mountains. Its main attraction is an archeological site which is a series of agricultural terraces and a church complex dating from the Spanish period but built on top of an Inca base. It was nice to see a less touristic place and we even had a quick chat with the local police who interested to know if we liked their town, or maybe they were just happy to see some tourists had made it here.

After a bumpy ride we arrive at our second stop, the ruins of Moray. This is a peculiar site constructed down into a gully with fully circular terraces. The site dates from the pre Inca times and its use isn't known for sure. Theories range from an alien landing site to an agricultural research site. We tend to believe the latter but we will never know! What we know is that this site looks quite unique and different from the others we have seen and its location in the middle of the high mountains is magical.

Another bumpy ride (the way back) and we reach the village of Maras a very old little rural village. The main square is very small and very busy, there is a line of women in traditional clothing and a lot of them with babies on their backs queuing for something...when we get closer we saw that they were all waiting to get live guinea pigs! It is considered a delicacy here, a meal mainly eaten for festivities. After a nice lunch, without Guinea pig, we take to the road again to see a salt mine. Very different from the one that we visited in Colombia, this mine was constructed pre Inca times. They use a salt water spring which comes straight out of the mountain and with a series of irrigation canals, direct it in different pools. Once the water evaporates the salt is collected and the pools refilled. The sheer amount of pools cut into the side of the mountain create a surreal landscape and a huge quantity of salt! Very impressive!

Last stop of the day, Urubamba down the valley where we are spending the night. It's nice to be below 3000m for a a change, the air almost feels lumpy! After a quiet night we're back on the road and heading back up the Sacred Valley to the town of Pisac for, you guessed it, some more Inca Ruins! Built during the 15th century it was thoroughly looted by the Spanish during their conquest, all of the treasures were removed but the site, high up on the mountains still has one of the largest agricultural platform structures as well as impressive housing, temples and even some ceremonial alters carved into the granite. It's quite high up so there are some impressive views down into the valleys as well.

Next stop is to an animal sanctuary further up the valley, it is always sad to see animals in cages but these animals have all been rescued and are in the process of rehabilitation in the hopes of finally being released back into the wild. We had a little tour from one of the keepers and it is instantly obvious that the staff here really care about the animals and their welfare. They shelter houses all kind of animals, some Vicuña, Llamas and Alpacas (we expected) , but they also had some macaws, that needed to sleep inside at night because of the cold! The most impressive animals they had though were Condors (that flew very close to us!) and spectacled bears!

Back in the car and we're heading back to Cusco for the night before we move on. Our little trip around the Sacred Valley has been thoroughly enjoyable, it was nice to see some local towns and villages and get a sense of what life is like in this part of the world, both today and in the Inca times. We're sad we didn't have longer here but there is always something else to discover.Read more