Moray and Salineras

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At the lovely Acupari Language School we had a field trip last Thursday to Moray and Salineras. It was great except for the snow, everyone speaking German, and the rain. Moray is this amazing Inca agricultural experiment. The Inca built terraces at different elevations in circles to achieve slight differences in climate. Then they planted different species of crops and different variations of each crop in an effort to develop better plant genetics in the foods that they were planting. It is both visually and intelectually amazing. Our stop was cut short by a downpour and I nearly fainted trying to run back to the bus at that altitude.

The next stop was Salineras. It was a great sight to see. Essentially what happens there is that the river flows out from underground in an area where there are huge amounts of salt in the rock. The water is very saline and the people divert the river into a series of pools. Once their pool is full, they block off the water flow and wait paitently for the water in the pool to evaporate, leaving the salt behind. For 500 years the people have been colecting salt and trading with people from all over the region, even into the rainforest. It is a very interesting place and I reccommend a visit. ´

From Salineras, we walked down into the valley and crossed the Urubamba river where the bus met us on the other side. We stopped in Urubamba for a buffet lunch and my mom would have been mad because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Oh well, it was delicious. On the way back out of the valley headed toward Cusco, the mountains behind the Sacred Valley were covered in fresh snow. The rain that we got at just a slightly lower altitude was reflecting the emerging sun. Beautiful.

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Photos

Salineras
People work to rake up the salt in their pools. Each pool belongs to a different family.

Comments

[Evonne P R]

Salineras
Your trip to South America looks like you had a great cultural experience. I found your blog on Salineras to be very intriguing. I think its cool how they allot their citizens a certain number of the plots and keep the profits of the salt that is packaged and sold. And its even cooler that after a family member passes those slots stay with the families from generation to generation. And the photos you took are very professional and look like you had a great view of the site.

[Jocelyn R]

Moray
Your trip to South America sounds very fun and intriguing. I found the blog about your trip to Moray to be interesting. It’s 500 feet total from top to bottom. It’s amazing how engineers from that early could build something so extravagant. It makes me wonder what kinds of tools they used to dig it out. You must have had a great view of it because the picture was eye catching.

[Dan K.]

Nice Job
I just wanted to say what an awesome job you did on explaining the history and information about Moray and Salineras. It was cool to find out how the Incans where able to do things like experiment with different plants, and collect salt through water that flows through the ground. I also wanted to say how cool your pictures where, nice job.

[Chelsey M]

Moray
The blog about Moray and Salineras was very interesting. Even though I haven’t been to South America, I feel like I know a lot about the area now. It sounds like you had a lot of fun doing your visit. I read on Leap Local that in the terraces of Moray the temperature varies between terraces at different levels, did you notice that when you were there?

[Samantha R.]

Would you go back
Do they put anything down on the ground before he water or is it a pool of water on dirt. Is the entire thing on the ground all man made? Is there any place that you want to go back to and just take another look at it fine out more about different things? How was this place when you went there is there more things to see when you are there and would you go back there? Is the salt they get is it for us to use or is it for the ice on the ground?

[Tyler W.]

Nice
I would like to know if you were ever able to climb down the Moray, and if you did was it tiring? I would also like to know if the air near Salineras was salty or not?

[Alex W.]

Quick questions
How long ago was the Moray actually made? And what types of different crops did they have? Did the carving of the land actually help change the climate for them?

[nev a.]

Nice Job
It looks like your trip to south america was very fun and full of culture. I found your blog very interesting.The Moray and Salineras seem like kind and dedicated people. By the way your pictures are amazing.

[ProfeWick]

Moray and Salineras
Thanks! I love taking photos and sharing them with other people. I think that one of the most amazing things about my experience in Peru was the amount of work that the Inca people were able to accomplish in only a few hundred years. Everything from Moray and Salineras to the ruins at Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu. If only my high school students worked like Incas (JK).

[ProfeWick]

Alex
Moray is over 500 years old and was constructed in large part for the Incas to research the hundreds of species of potatoes that they grew in a myriad of different climates.

[ProfeWick]

Tyler
Hello and thanks for your question, Tyler. I did get to climb into the bottom of Moray and it was a long way back out. It was early on in my trip and I wasn't used to the altitude, so I was wiped by the time I got back to the top again! As far as the air at Salineras, it was humid and rainy and the air did have a similar feel to the air near the ocean although you couldn't really taste salt.

[ProfeWick]

Samantha
Great questions! I did see that in some of the pools the owners had lined them with tarps, other pools were more natural with only a simple dirt floor. The whole structure is man made and there are canals that lead the river into each pool. These pools have been producing salt for 500 years. The salt is used for many things. In a culture that does not see much snow, I think that it is probably used for food, but because it is not treated from the pools, it must go through a process of cleaning and chemicals before you can actually use it on food.

[ProfeWick]

Chelsey
Yes, I did notice that it was cooler at the top than it was at the bottom.

[ProfeWick]

Dan
Thanks for your comments. This blog was created for high school students to be able to learn about the Inca culture in a cool new way!

[ProfeWick]

Jocelyn
Thanks for your comments. We were able to explore the entire area, and 500 feet doesn't seem like much, but what a hike!

[ProfeWick]

Evonne
Yes, we did have a great view! In some places, we had to walk on the walls between the pools and they were slippery, I almost went for a swim!!!!

[Dan F]

Question
Hey, I would like to know how much salt they get when they pick it up. Do they use it just for themselves or do they sell it for profit?

[Alix]

Your trip Salinera sounds amazing, you said they have been doing the salt pools for over 500 years. To think they get passed down from generation to generation is amazing keep up the good work and good luck.