Day 1: Full day tour
At 08:00 AM you will be picked up from your hotel, the transportation will drive for 40 to 50 min, through fascinating landscapes. Our first gem to visit will be Chinchero was the first Inca town that was built on the road to Chinchaysuyo (considering that they built their towns within a day of walking). It is a populated centre that, at present, maintains cultural manifestations of the Inca and Colonial times; for example, there are the remains of the main leader’s palace that were discovered by Manuel Ballesteros in 1960. In the same way, the semi-square agricultural terraces are observed and following the configuration of the high mountains, which are considered the most beautiful of Inca architecture, due to the quality and configuration. In Chinchero, we can observe the complement of the Inca and Colonial architectures, in the same way, you can still see the Quechua (Inca) and Catholic religious syncretism, so the Catholic Church was built on the foundation of the Inca palace, which currently preserves lithic walls of the Inca period. The population of Chinchero from the hand of Mrs Nilda Callañaupa recovered ancient Inca techniques of spinning, dyeing and weaving garments, which is why visitors can enjoy beautiful works of textile art in the area. After our guided tour in Chinchero, we will continue to Moray, where we will visit the archaeological site which is thought to be an Incan agricultural research station. Let us share with you abstract from Mr. Ken Wright´s research about this amazing place. "... from Halfway between Machu Picchu and the city of Cuzco, Peru, lies a civil engineering wonder that has captivated and puzzled researchers and travelers since it was first photographed in 1931. Situated on a plateau, the ancient Inca site of Moray consists of many terraced circular depressions in the earth, the largest of which is 30 meters (98 feet) deep. The difference in temperature between the top and the bottom of the circles can be as much as 15 °C (27 °F). What are the mysterious concentric circles? What do they mean? Was this a religious site? An agricultural research station?. us concentric circles? ... " Our final stop will be in one of the world's most famous and recognize salt mines: Maras. The origins of the Salt mines of Maras (Cusco - Peru) date back to the Pre-Inca era. Nowadays there are more than 3600 pools of salt, all of them feed on water from an underground spring that, according to some hypotheses, would have its origin in freshwater but then would pass through a large salt mine. The salt harvesting system is manual and with traditional tools, it begins when each pool is filled with the spring water up to approximately 20cm high, then they allow the water to evaporate for 30 days, as a result, three types of salt are obtained: the upper layer is white salt, the middle layer if the Famous and world-renowned Pink salt, finally the last layer is dark salt. From here, we will hike back to Cusco city. The Tour ends approximately at 04:00PM.
