Maras and Moray

We will meet at the indicated time at our meeting point, and then take the vehicle that will take us, passing through an artisan community in Chinchero where we will see the treatment of llama wool, to our first destination: the Salineras de Maras located 7 km from Moray, we will pass through a Typical Spanish Town called Maras. Towards the northwest of the town of Maras are the famous salt mines known by some as “salt mines” they are made up of about 3000 small wells with an average area of ​​about 5 m², built on one side of the slope of the “Qaqawiñay” mountain “, which during the dry season are filled or “irrigated” every 3 days with salt water that emanates from a natural spring located in the upper part of the wells so that when the water evaporates, the salt contained in it gradually solidifies. This process will continue for approximately one month until obtaining a considerable volume of solid salt, about 10 cm. high from the floor, which is later beaten and thus granulated; the salt will then be bagged in plastic sacks and sent to the markets of the region; today that salt is being iodized so its consumption is not harmful. After all this cultural adventure ends our tour of Maras.
After that, we will go to the traditional Moray circuit, a unique archaeological group of its kind. These are gigantic natural depressions or holes in the surface of the land that were used to build terraces or agricultural platforms with their respective irrigation canals. What is striking is the difference in average annual temperature between the top and the bottom of the depressions, which reaches up to 15°C in the main depression, which is about 30 meters deep.
Moray, due to its climatic conditions and other characteristics, was an important center of domestication, acclimatization and hybridization of wild plant species that were modified or adapted for human consumption.