Las Salinas

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Today was our adventure day out on our own. It came with a warning to Andrew that I only had a vague idea of exactly how we were going to get around and that a lot of it may be a guessing game. There seemed to be somewhat limited information online about getting to and from las salinas near maras unless you wanted to go on a tour. So, armed with my little bit of Spanish, we took off to find the mini buses. When we got to the street with the mini buses, I tried to haggle on the price, but they weren't budging. Then, I saw that the price was printed on a sign, so I assumed this was not a time for haggling and we jumped in one. This was an hour ride for $2 each, so what am I really haggling over. From what I read online, you take the bus until the turn off for Maras and then get out on the side of the road and catch a taxi. It made me nervous to jump out of the bus in the middle of nowhere in Peru and hope to find a taxi, but we did it. There was a nice man there that gave us and 2 other Peruvian men(all squeezed into the back seat of a little car) a ride to Maras for about a quarter each. Not bad. Through my little bit of talking with the driver, we discovered that las salinas is kind of far from town, so he drove us there for just a little more. My plan was to hike through las salinas to a path down the mountain that should lead down to a small town in the valley called Urubamba. There we should be able to catch another minibus back to Cusco.

Las Salinas was great and really, I think, shouldn't be missed on a trip to the Sacred Valley. It was beautiful and really interesting to see the salt terraces that have been continuously used since Inca times(I'm pretty sure..). After tons of pictures and tasting the water, we pretty easily found the path. So far so good. The hike down into the valley was beautiful. We saw lots of locals carrying the salt down from the terraces. Apparently, they take it all out by foot/donkey. So, at the bottom of the hill, we cross a bridge that I had read about and then I was unsure of which way to go next. Feeling a little overconfident in my Spanish, I ask a local guy how to get to the bus stop in Urubamba(thinking it was close/easy directions). He rambles out about 20 sentences of super fast Spanish, and not wanting to admit that I only caught about 1/3 of it, I say, it's just up here to the left. So, up and to the left(which was the only part I really understood), we find a road. Which way looks like town???? We pick left. So, we walk.... and walk... for about an hour. Finally, I see a woman in her garden and ask if we are going the right way to Urubamba. NOPE. So an hour walk back(and a tired, and nervous Andrew, who likes everything planned out is not very happy) and we are back to where we started. Luckily, a boy was waiting there and I asked if buses stopped there. Yes.. so there was no need to walk anywhere in the first place. But all of the minibuses were packed, so we ended up taking a ride from a guy heading to Cusco.

With the exception of the little hike to no where, it was a really fabulous day. Out in the countryside with really no one else around enjoying the beautiful scenery.

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