Day Trip to Moray

I realize that I am overdue a good post describing my exciting new work.  However, having been busy and just slightly overwhelmed these first two weeks, its been difficult to sit down with anything other than a technical report or a memo draft.  I will be sure to describe my work in greater detail soon!

mis comprades!

That being said - I had probably one of my best days ever yesterday!  I accepted (after a bit of hesitation due to being exhausted at the end of the work week) to join my colleague (Melissa) and a visiting field ecologist (Varum) to grab a day trip to Urubamba and tackle a 4.5 hour hike from nearby Incan ruins Moray.

Moray

The Moray architectural is incredibly interesting - it definitely ranks high for my favorite sites. Though this is my third time in this region, I had yet to visit the ruins. I'm glad I took advantage of an invitation to check it out - something about it is particularly silent and beautiful. It also hurts your eyes and brain to look at it - some sort of large-scale optical illusion.


First, six concentric terraces surround a central circular ‘arena’ which forms the lowest and most central area.  Each ring is connected by stone ‘steps’ that are installed in the retaining walls in a radial pattern - making them similar to stairs.  Six more terraces surround this central area in an elliptical shape, while eight eight more stepped terraces circle the perimeter. The structures are enormous in size and descend to approximately 150 meters, to the circular bottom that is so well drained it never completely floods. And this is only the main section - there are more such elliptical terraced hollows adjoining this one and two other circular locations are located near by (thought not nearly as elaborate).

This is an adult woman

The original use of this structure remains uncertain.  The widest consensus today is that this site was used as an agriculture laboratory of sorts. The strongest evidence for this is the amazing aqueduct and draining system (mentioned above), which allowed a balanced in- and out-flow of water, likely relaying on underground streams and porous materials.  Recent pollen studies indicate that soils from different surrounding regions were imported to each of the large circular terraces, supporting evidence that the Moray terraces were used to experiment with crops. One of the most notable site feature is the temperature difference between the highest and lowest terraces - which can be as much as 15°C (59°F). The difference in temperature created micro climates similar to today's greenhouses.

We will probably never know the full uses of this site, which makes speculating (and visiting) it even more fun.

Maras

After walking for about 2.5 hours from Moray, we finally encountered the town of Maras.  And it was just our luck they were having a festival this day, complete with costumes, music, dancing, street food, and chicha (fermented corn drink - called 'A-ha' in Quechua).  As soon as we found the center, we bumped into a woman selling chicha.  I happily requested a glass and one for my friend Varun, and, after we got approval from the group (meaning 'salud' or 'cheers' from the women while we tapped glasses), we sprawled out on the grass next to some other chicha indulgers.  This ended up being a great hour long break - our dog followed us into town from about two hours out and found food, we got some street food, rested our legs, drank chicha, and joked around in a mix of Quechua and Spanish.  I left with renewed energy and highly motivated to improve my language skills.

The "Salt Terraces"

After leaving Maras and continuing our trek north, back to Urubamba, we enjoyed some more vistas before hitting the "salt terraces" or "salt mines" or "salt works". Constructed in the eastern slope of the "Qaqawiñay" mountain, the terraces are formed by about 3000 small pools with an average area of 5 m² (53.8 ft²).  They are all quite shallow and none exceed a depth of 30 centimeters. The source is an underground salty stream that runs along the top of the entire installation (it was amazingly warm to the touch and left your hand crusted with salt once dry).  Water is diverted from this main stream through an intricate system to fill up or "irrigate" the thousands of pools with the salty water, so that when water evaporates the salt contained in it will slowly solidify. That process takes about one month (depending on how dry it is) until a considerable volume of solid salt is obtained (usually about 10 cm. high). 

salt stream

It is estimated that salt has been obtained here since pre-Inca times, using some form of evaporation.  However, it appears the master engineering is a result of Incan expertise in terracing and water management. All pools accept a carefully controlled and monitored flow of water. The community works together to maintain the feeder channel, side walls and the water-entry notch, the pond's bottom surface, the quantity of water, and to remove accumulated salt deposits.


 As water evaporates from the sun-warmed ponds, the water becomes supersaturated and salt crystals form on a pond's earthen walls and floor. A caretaker then closes the water-feeder notch and allows the pond to slowly dry. Within a few days the keeper carefully scrapes the dry salt from the sides and bottom. The color of the salt varies from white to a light pink (both edible) or brownish tan (used for medicinal purposes).

I have read that by tradition, access to the salt mines has been available to anyone wishing to harvest salt as there are usually many unused salt pools available. An interested person  must consult with the cooperative, locate an available pond, learn how to keep a pond properly, and start begin to harvest salt. We purchased some salt at the nearby gift shop and chatted with the women working there.  She explained that general income is rationed to families by length of heritage involvement and the number of children.  

Salt in storage

I couldn't help but imagine that, while beautiful, this was probably incredibly difficult work. Salt is highly corrosive and would be damaging to have long-term skin exposure.  It must eat through leather and rubber boots in mere weeks.  Next time I visit, I'd like to learn more about the day to day activities.  

After the salt terraces, we cross the Sacred Valley river (by precarious bridge) and found a few beers on the other side.  Unfortunately, they were lacking in food so we pooled our snacks.  


Overall, it was a lovely exhausting, high-altitude day (I have the sunburn to prove it).  We took about 7 hours from the Urubamba overlook to porch beers but I appreciated our relaxed and open approach.  We really took in the landscape, chatted with many people, took too many photos, and saw some amazing Incan developments.  

 
I'll definitely be doing this hike again!