Cusco, Peru: Incan Textiles, Moray, and Maras

Today we got out of Cusco and headed north to see some of the countryside, as well as some sacred Inca sites.  On the way, there was some construction, and there was quite the back-up.  Instead of waiting, our driver--along with some others--decided to take a shortcut through the field next to us.  This was definitely something Dad would've done on his own (he was really excited).

Our first stop was a local Inca community, where we learned how the women make the beautifully colored textiles.  Everything is done using things found in nature, from washing the sheep's wool (a root that creates a natural detergent), to coloring it (lots of roots and bugs and leaves that are natural dyes), to spinning it (done on bones of alpacas and condors), to weaving it (also done on animal bones).  It was really interesting to learn about this process, and to see the women in action.

Our next stop was Moray, an Inca site that was built between the 1400-1500s.  The Incas built these terraces in a natural hole in the mountain, then put a different kind of soil on each level so that they could experiment with different varieties of corn and potatoes to see what grew best where, and at what altitude.  They also built aqueducts for irrigation from a hot spring high up on the mountain, as well as a complex drainage system under the terraces.  Finally, they used this place as a temple to Mother Earth, and they would leave offerings in the center.  It looks very impressive from above...

...but when you are climbing down into it (these stones were built in to the walls by the Incas as access routes)...

...you realize how large this experimentation station actually was!

Climbing back out was good practice for our hike tomorrow, too--the elevation at the top of this site was just over 14,000 ft.

The last stop of the day was the salt flats at Maras, which was where the Incas gathered their salt for the entire region.  These are fed by a hot spring that runs through salt mines farther up the mountain, so when the spring hits these man-made pools, the water is really saturated with salt.  These salt pools are currently owned by the Incas' descendants, and each family owns anywhere between 10 and 40 pools (there are 3,000 pools total). 

Unlike anything either of us had ever seen, the salt flats were a great end to our day.  After one harrowing car ride back to Cusco, it was time to pack and energize...because tomorrow, we hike!