A Journey Through Peru - Part 7 - The Sacred Valley

Today we set off from Cusco to travel through the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The Sacred Valley was not only of deep religious significance to the Incas but agriculturally too. It is a rich fertile valley and there are many great examples of the Inca and pre-Inca terraces used to farm crops on the steep mountain sides.

Agricultural terraces of the Sacred Valley

We stop in Pisac to wander through the town and the lively and colourful market to see if I can add to my growing Alpaca socks collection.

Pisac Market

A brightly decorated restaurant in Pisac

We're back on the road again and heading for a unique place, the Salineras de Maras, a system of thousands of man-made salt pools that pre-dates the Inca empire. Sometime around 700 BC local families created pools to capture water from a spring that emerges from the mountain at Maras. This underground river flows through a huge rock salt deposit and, as a consequence, is loaded with dissolved salt. To extract the salt, the water is left in a shallow pool for two to three days and when the water has evaporated the salt crystals can be gathered and the pool re-filled. Not only does this incredibly pure salt get distributed and sold all around the world but it is such an amazing sight that tourists come here to see this unique man-made landscape.

Salineras de Maras

We leave this extraordinary place behind us and head for Ollantaytambo where we have a few hours to kill before catching our train to Aguas Calientes from where we will make the short, if rather vertical, journey to see Machu Picchu. For now, however, it is a pleasant place to wander.

Colourful decorations adorn the narrow streets of Ollantaytambo




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