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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: -13.3111, -72.1152
Today we spent a full day exploring the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was near the town of Maras. In a valley is the salt mine of Maras. Our first view was from above as w wound our way down the mountain. This area has a salty spring which emerges from the mountain side. The local farmers, following the Inca tradition, dry out the water in a complex of salt pans. We walked down the hill to see them up close. Because it was the wet season there was just a series of brown muddy pools but in the dry it is a mass of white crystals.
From there we drove through the town and to the impressive Inca site of Moray. This is set in a valley and is a series of concentric circular terraces descending to the bottom. The Incas used these for experimental farming, rotating crops through the levels to see which grew best in which conditions. Seen from the top this is certainly spectacular. We then drove to the town of Pisac. Here we walked through the streets to the central square through many market stalls. Jesus took us to a silver shop above which was
a restaurant specialising in Empanadas. These were inexpensive and delicious. Fletcher and I shared four of different fillings. We then went downstairs where we looked through the shop. I bought some earrings for Melissa as her birthday present and a pair for me too. Lovely. We then wandered through the market stalls. I bought a bright yellow tablecloth embroidered with traditional designs and some pretty bowls made by a local artist.
We then drove up into the hillside, far above the town. Here was another Incan site, this time a burial place. There were the familiar terraces but in the hillside were many caves and smaller openings in which they found mummies, sitting upright, two or three together in each tomb. Some came from up to 500 miles away. Our last stop was at Awan Kancha. This is a South American camel farm. Here there were varieties of llama, alpacas and vicuna. These are very tame so we got up close to the animals. We were given grass to feed them and they attacked that with relish. There was one very small Alpaca who was very sweet. The local women were weaving intricate patterns and one of them showed us how
they use the cochineal beetle to produce various shades of red and purple to dye the wool. The shop had wonderful scarves and jumpers but they were far too expensive for me.
Then it was back to Cusco, an hour or so drive. That night we went with Jesus and the rest to a restaurant called The Fallen Angel. The décor was OTT and quite bizarre but the food was good and it was a fond farewell to Peru, for the next day we flew from Cusco to Lima and then Lima back to Santaigo
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