The Road Less Traveled

We got up at a decent hour today and left the fabulous Casa de Wow after breakfast. We had previously arranged a guy with a van to come and get us in Ollantaytambo and take us through Moray and Salineras on our way back to Cusco. This didn't work out. At 10:00 we met our driver in the square and he was in his car and had hired another car to come with us. We were told that the road through Chinchero back to Cusco was closed and the van was unable to make the trip (this is only a bummer because there are 6 of us and without the van we can't all ride and chat together). After arranging a price, we rode out of town in the two cars - myself in the lead car.

Half-way back to Urubamba, my driver pulled off on the side of the road toward a very rickety looking bridge. I would have assumed, before we drove over it, that it was only for pedestrians. In fact, I'm no expert in the local langage but I'm fairly certain that's what the sign said above the entrance. We crossed anyway (maybe the pesky sign was just for the foreigners) and I held my breath.

The road on the other side wasn't paved, but the track was well worn and fairly smooth. It climbed up into the hills affording spectacular views up and down the Sacred Valley. How lucky we were to have hired the local driver as the second car - he knew all the back roads! We stopped for photo ops of the fantastic views and then headed on to Moray. Most of the land we were passing once we climbed the hills was farmland. This is the time of the year when crops are coming in and we pulled over to check out some local crops of cereals and potatoes.

As always, Moray does not disappoint. Naturally formed deep depressions were improved upon by the Incas creating terraces, some of which are almost 100 feet deep (30m). The way they are situated allows for a temperature difference from the top terrace to the bottom of almost 27 degrees F (15 degrees Celsuis). There is wild speculation that the Incas used these terraces to try agricultural experimentation.
Personally, I heard from a guy here who talks to the locals (its kind of his calling) and he says that a woman from Maras told him the terraces were for drying Moray potatoes (hence the name, Moray). Who knows???

We left Moray on our way to Salineras, a set of salt pans set up from a saline spring coming out of the mountain. This area was used by the Incas for the salt as well, but not during the rainy season. Unfortuneately, the rainy season means the water coming out of the mountain is part rainwater and there is no way to cover the salt pans so the salt can't dry like its supposed to. Although it was very pretty, it was totally different than the last time we were there (in August) because the salt pans were dirty and full of mud, instead of pure white like dried salt. We purchased some snack food to tide us over and headed back down the mountain into Urubamba for lunch. We stopped at a VERY touristy restaurant that was practically empty. There was a guy playing the Quena (Andean flute) but the large restaurant was a ghost town and the food overpriced.

After lunch we returned to the cars for the long ride back to Cusco. Because the route through Chinchero was closed, we added another 45 minutes to our 1-1/2 hour trip. The Sacred Valley is a beautiful area and the pleasant taxi driver and I chatted about the area and some ruins off the road outside of Lamay. I cannot wait to go back and hike up there! Hopefully I'll be able to sometime soon.

Upon our return to Cusco, we were all wiped out and needed a rest. We had a small dinner and a glass of wine and got right to work on the puzzle. It was the end of a fantastic weekend and we were very grateful to have had such a wonderful weekend away.