Maras and Moray

On my third full day in Peru, I took my third and final tour with Denomades, which was a tour of Maras and Moray. These two places are both located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, but they are usually visited in a separate tour, while the Sacred Valley tours cover Písac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero.

After doing the Sacred Valley tour the previous day, I wasn't sure if this tour might be rather similar, and I wondered if I should have done the Rainbow Mountain tour instead, which I'd decided against when planning my trip, as it involves a very long and difficult hike, and the famous pictures of it are heavily photoshopped (Google "Rainbow Mountain photoshop" and you'll see!). But in fact, the Maras and Moray tour was quite possibly my favourite out of the three tours I took. These two sites are truly incredible, and I'm really glad to have visited. (And maybe I'll do the Rainbow Mountain hike on a future trip!)

The tour started off in the town of Chinchero, where we went to a different wool workshop to the one I'd visited the previous day, but where we listened to almost word-for-word the same presentation! But luckily we weren't there for too long, and soon afterwards we were arriving at Moray archaeological site.

Moray is comprised of three circular agricultural terraces, and is one of the most photogenic sites in the Cusco area. A lot of people just visit the circle nearest to the entrance, as it's the biggest and most impressive, but we visited all three on our tour, which was nice. The third one is also great for photos, because it has amazing views of the mountains and glaciers behind it, which are really stunning.

Moreover, the history of Moray is fascinating; it was basically a huge scientific laboratory. The Incas used the different levels of the terraces to experiment with growing various crops at different temperatures. It's a great example of how they used ingenious methods to build a huge empire all across the Andes, which is not a naturally hospitable area.

Overall, Moray was a stunning place to visit - I like how it looks like something out of a science fiction film, although it was made by humans hundreds of years ago!

Next it was time to go to Maras salt mines. Before visiting the mines themselves, we went to a small museum in the town of Maras, where we listened to an interesting presentation about how the salt is harvested and how the different layers of salt (brown, pink and white) are used. Amazingly, the mines have been in use since pre-Inca times, and their salt is the highest quality in the world, along with Himalayan salt.

After the presentation, we tasted some chocolate flavoured with Maras salt and then we went into a shop next door, where you can buy all sorts of products, all made with Maras salt, of course. I bought a bag of the pink salt as a present for my mother-in-law, as well as some of the chocolate to take back to Chile.

Then it was time to go and visit the mines. The first glimpse we saw of them was from above in the minibus, and it was really incredible just to see how many of them there are - apparently there are at least 3000!

The entrance to the salt mines costs 20 soles (five dollars) and gives you access to a few different viewpoints where you can watch people harvesting the salt and take some nice pictures. There were lots of people (myself included!) trying to get the perfect shot for social media - so many people that I had to crop the picture our guide took of me by quite a large amount! Maybe the touristy nature of the place detracts a little bit from the beauty of the site, but all the same, it was absolutely incredible to see these mines stretching out between the mountains as far as the eye can see.

Afterwards, it was time to go back to Cusco, where I had quite a relaxing afternoon seeing a bit more of the city, and buying some small souvenirs and gifts in San Pedro market. To be honest, I hadn't been sure how much I liked the city during my first evening and morning there, but by the end of this third day, I was growing quite fond of it. However, the next morning, it was time to move on; I had a train to catch to Aguas Calientes. The most adventurous part of my trip was about to begin!

Sacred Valley of the Incas

I was really excited about seeing the Sacred Valley of the Incas on my second full day in Peru - it's one of the most important places to visit in the Cusco area if you want to discover Inca architecture and Quechua culture.

Although Machu Picchu is technically part of the Sacred Valley, most of the tours of the Sacred Valley cover the area between Písac and Ollantaytambo. (You can't get to Machu Picchu by road, so it's something you have to do separately.)

The tour I went on took us to the archaeological sites of Písac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero, but first, we stopped off somewhere very special: a sort of zoo of South American camelids! Here we got to meet llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicuñas, and give them some food. It was really nice to see so many of these gorgeous animals - there was even one llama there who was only one week old!

At the zoo, there were also guinea pigs, whom I was very excited to see, as I used to have two pet guinea pigs when I was younger (Fluffy and Piggy)! In Peru, guinea pigs are eaten, which makes me sad (obviously, as a vegan, I find it just as sad that pigs and cows are eaten too). I hoped these particular guineas weren't destined for the dinner plate.

On our way into the gift shop, we saw this interesting statue, which certainly provoked some laughter!

In the gift shop, we listened to a presentation about the types of wool that the camelids produce and then we had a look around at the different products on offer.

Afterwards, it was time to visit the first archaeological site of the day: Písac, which was a place that really blew me away. After we showed our tickets, and entered the site, we were greeted with amazing views of mountains, Inca buildings and agricultural terraces. Then we climbed up to the top of the hill, where we could look inside the old houses and enjoy even more incredible views of the citadel and the Sacred Valley. On reflection, I would say this was the second most impressive archaeological site I visited during my trip (the first being Machu Picchu, obviously).

If I remember correctly, the next part of the tour involved going to a jewellery shop in the town of Písac and listening to a presentation about different stones, but I couldn't pay much attention to it, as I'd hit my head getting out of the minibus and it really hurt!

Afterwards, we drove across the valley to the town of Urubamba. On our way, we passed this beautiful waterfall in the mountains, which I did my best to get a picture of through the bus window.

In Urubamba, we had lunch at a hotel restaurant, which we paid for at the start of the tour. The cost was 30 soles (less than 8 dollars) and it was an "all you can eat" buffet, so like most things in Peru, it was good value (especially compared to the way things are in Chile and the UK at the moment!). The fact it was a buffet was very convenient for me as a vegan, because I could just load up my plate with vegetables, pasta and quinoa. For dessert, I had some stewed apples and something called purple porridge (mazamorra morada) made from purple corn. It looked like purple gloop, but tasted really nice!

Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, which is probably the most famous of the three archaeological sites we visited on the tour. I've heard it described as being the best alternative to Machu Picchu, but I actually preferred Písac (and also Moray, which I visited the following day). Ollantaytambo was definitely the most overcrowded of the sites I visited, and it's spread out over a huge area, so you don't really get a classic panoramic view of it like you do with Machu Picchu. However, despite this, it was still a super impressive place to see, with innovative architecture, a Temple of the Sun, and even a face carved into a mountain!

We walked up the steps to the top of the site (which was quite a workout!) to see the Temple of the Sun. As you can see from the picture of me, it was incredibly windy up there, but the views were great!

At this point, about half of the group on the tour stayed on in Ollantaytambo in order to catch the train to Aguas Calientes, and the rest of us continued on to the final stop of the tour: Chinchero.

First of all, we went to a workshop, where we drank some muña (Andean mint) tea, and local women gave a presentation on how the wool from different animals gets made into products. Afterwards, we had some time to look around the shop and buy things. As I'd only taken a normal-sized backpack with me for the week in order to save money on my plane ticket, I didn't have space to bring back any large gifts or souvenirs, so I felt a bit awkward not being able to buy anything. But on the plus side, there were some cute guineas and a pretty cat to coo at!

The final place we visited on the tour was Chinchero archaeological site, which is similar in some ways to Koricancha, which I visited the previous day in Cusco, as it's a site from the Inca period with a Spanish colonial church built on top of it. Here you can see many agricultural terraces and great views of the mountains.

Overall, I had a great day on the tour, and felt really immersed in the Inca history, Quechua culture, and beautiful landscapes. Many people come to this part of the world just to visit Machu Picchu, and while it's definitely the most spectacular attraction in the area, I would definitely recommend touring the Sacred Valley too, as it just gives you a broader picture of the history of this region. And its archaeological sites are pretty amazing in their own right!

As it happens, I would be back in the valley again the following morning to explore two more of its most incredible places: Maras and Moray...