MARAS MORAY - SALT MINES

This diverse tour gives you a taste of everything from beautiful view-points, salt mines to weaving, farming and agriculture.

This is a perfect way to gain some knowledge into the Inca culture, as the Incas were pioneers when it came to experimenting on how to get the best yield for their crops, the structure of their houses as well as their beliefs. The terraces gave the Incas the chance to see what grew best at what altitude and in what soil, sourcing seed from all over the South Americas to experiment on.

ITINERARY:

• We start the tour collecting you up from your hotel at approximately 8.30am

• The colourful community of Chinchero, who weave beautiful and bright textiles, showing traditional Inca techniques with natural colours and traditional customs, here you will have a chance to buy some ponchos or blankets to take home with you.

• We will see beautiful snow-capped peaks of the Andes and have time to stop at a viewpoint to take pictures.

• We continue towards Moray.An impressive agricultural archaeological center where the Incas used these terraces to experiment with different seeds from all over South America. Each platform was used to work out what seeds grew best at different altitudes and in what conditions and micro climate(over 20 different micro climates were able to be simulated at this site) so the information could be passed to the farmers, thus gaining the best crops possible.

• It is believed that Moray could have served as a model to calculate agricultural production not only in the Urubamba Valley but also in different parts of Tahuantinsuyo.

• Finally we will visit the salt mines of Maras where from the Inca times to the present day pink salt is produced