Salinas de Maras Cusco

Today is the day to visit a place recently open to visitors. It's called Moray. The site contains unusual Inca ruins, mostly consisting of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 30 m deep.

The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun …

So this was the unofficial last day of our Machu Picchu trek. It was really more of a day spent meandering our way back from Ollanta to Cusco in non-lycra based clothing (which was pretty exciting, let me tell you. One can only handle so much sportswear without feeling like they're stuck in a lame Nike commercial).

Tomas kindly toured us …

For my last day in Peru, I booked this day trip ages ago. I had seen a picture of Salineras and I wanted to go there.

I also so so wanted to walk in the countryside.

We agreed to meet Christian at 8:30 and we were to take a combination of public buses and cars out to Maras and then onto Moray before walking across to Salineras. …

Hello from Peru!

After an 18 hour delay, a night in LA, an extensive wait at the Lima Airport, a plane ride to Cusco, and a long van ride to Ollantaytambo, we made it! We did not have much time to rest as Amber and I were in catch up mode. Luckily, the day was fairly open for the rest of the Mazama group. We arrived mid-morning, settled …

After choosing this destination for our vacation we faced the daunting task of trying to choose where to stay - the beautiful city of Cusco or closer to our main attraction (Machu Picchu) in the small village town of Ollantaytambo which is located in the Sacred Valley. Knowing that we wanted to get to Machu Picchu at the earliest possible time …

On s'était habitués aux bus de nuit, mais apparemment le trajet Arequipa-Cusco vaut le coup d'oeil, alors va pour un départ matinal. C'est vrai que les paysages sont beaux, on traverse des plateaux enneigés, des lagunes, des troupeaux de lamas... mais n'empêche que 10h de bus c'est un peu long, et nous ne sommes pas les seuls à le penser. À chaque …

I am very exhausted so forgive me if I'm not as eloquent in my writing today.

We started our tour of The Sacred Valley in the town of Chinchero. This town is at 11,000 ft and is really beautiful. Here, we were given a textile demonstration by some local women. They showed us how they turn the alpaca fur into yarn and how they make the …

... Nous avons pu ainsi visiter deux sites magnifiques: - Pisac : Forteresse d'Altitude perchée sur d'improbables terrasses en pleine pente - Les Salinas de Maras : Un ensemble de saline en terrasse, bloqué dans une vallée etroite ou coule une riviére ...

... apparently a highly sophisticated series of Inca crop terraces with a complex irrigation system. We also walk around the Salinas de Maras (salt mines) which are equally beautiful but hard to describe. They're essentially a honeycomb of interlinked ...

... haben) auf eine Tour durchs Sacred Valley.  Neben der Fahrt durch eine traumhafte Landschaft besuchten wir die Salinas de Maras, wo Salz in Becken, die terrassenfoermig angelegt sind, nach alt herkoemmlicherweise gewonnen wird. Zudem schauten wir ...

... It was quite a bizzare thing to see (see photos when posted) Finally, and most interestingly we visited Las Salinas de Maras. Not surprisingly, theses are also Inca constructions. We particularly liked this site. It´s basically a tiny salty stream ...

... in traditional garb and set their wares on blankets around the main square. In the Sacred Valley near Urubamba is Salinas de Maras where thousands of individual ancient salt mines form unique terraces in a hillside. The mines are in reality small pools ...

... look so awesome. After we had exhausted ourselves and the ruins, we hopped back in the taxi and headed out to the Salinas de Maras. I wish I could have gotten some better photographs of them, but it was really freakin' windy out there and the shade was ...