Church, Chinchero, Moray & Mara

Church * Chinchero Ruins * Market * Moray * Maras

Today is our last day in Cusco. It’s been nice to have been at the same hotel for 4 nights. Our next 3 nights will be spent in 3 different locations. Lucky for us the church was a quick 3-minute walk down the street. We weren’t the only visitors in church today, there were a couple of other gringos hanging around. We stayed for both hours, sending Charlie to young mens by himself. He said the lesson was on dating and the law of chastity. Good to know those topics are important around the world.

We started our touring immediately after church heading to the town on Chinchero to visit the market and ruins. As we were walking to the ruins, we passed a processional of mountain people in traditional clothing playing music on a drum and violin. We weren’t sure what that was about, but it was fun to watch. When we arrived at the archeological site, we quickly looked at the Catholic Church and then noticed a group of worshipers outside in traditional clothing, separated by gender. It looked like there were having some sort of Catholic, traditional religious ceremony. At this sight we also got another glimpse of the Inca Trail.

After an hour ride along bumpy dirt roads with a few wrong turns we arrive at the Moray archeological site. This is an amazing display of circular terraces in this area, all built into a recessed area of the mountain. We walked around getting a overview of the impressive structure.

Our lunch was amazing today. We drove into the town of Maras which looked like other run down, Peruvian towns, only to be surprised with a beautiful home behind a secured gate. It was elegantly decorated with a gorgeous view of the Andes. We enjoyed a delicious, private lunch which we needed! (It was already 3 pm)

The final stop of the day was the Maras salt mountain. First, we visited a little family shop where their darling 16 yo daughter gave an explanation of how the salt mines work and what different products can be made from the salt. We tasted chocolates and smelled all sorts of salt rubs. Of course, we had to buy some chocolate. Afterwards we visited the impressive sight were 500 families own the hundreds of salt ponds. During the dry season, the ponds fill with water from a nearby saltwater springs. As the water evaporates, the salt is collected and harvested to be sold all over the world. The salt ponds are hundreds of years old.