August 7th - Moray & Salt Mines

OK, so here I sit trying to remember where I left off....Lets see. Ah yes.

Today was Moray and the Salt Mines. Today was an early day and we started by going to see Moray. Steve managed to snag the front seat (and as his dutiful wife - pardon while I wipe my mouth off) I sat with him. After a little ride, we ascended to an altitude of 3,400 meters or 11,154 ft. Moray is located in the Maras District of Peru in the Urubamba Province. (for those interested) Anyway, what Moray basically seems to be is a set of field crop circles set on different terraces. The Incans basically planted crops on this different terraces and studied the various growing methods. Each level's temperature varies by up to 5 degrees and the final level is about 50 meters or 164 ft from the top level. I will include pictures of what the original site looked like via a model that I saw at the Incan Museum in Cusco.

I was aware of the different levels and that it would be hard but dumb-ass me had to prove to myself that I could handle the climb down and more importantly...the climb up. So I was fine, but I digress a bit. We wee joined by our local guide - Rudy - who by the way was very nice and informative and quite knowledgeable. I would love to see a "discussion" between Rudy and our other Disney guide Ernesto. Both are locals (from Cusco) and both are well-informed. So, at the top, Rudy leads us to various levels of terraces. At the mid-way point, those that wanted to seperate could and of course, I went down. Which really wasn't the problem folks. We get down to the bottom terrace and you look up to see all the majesty of the Incan workmanship. Part of the bottom terraces are in reconstruction mode and you can see where the pipes from a water aquaduct were set. Very similar to the Roman aquaducts. Anyway, we decide to climb back up and that dear friends is where this author decided to suck wind and brought up the tail end. I managed to climb 2 sets of 3 terraces with no problem but had to stop after the first set of 3. Waited 1 minute and proceeded to the next level. I thought I was done only to find out that instead of taking the same gradual climb down, we were taking a dirt path up the mountain which just about nearly killed me. LOL - I swear my heart was beating about 180 beats per second. For those that know about my Halloween adventure a couple of years back, I was taken to the hospital for going above my heart rate zone. Not my fault folks, I told my trainer I needed to like down but she didn't think it was a good idea. So, I nearly keeled over dead. No harm was done, I was just taken to the hospital and checked out as there is a history of heart disease on my side of the family. I checked out alright as you can see but I definitely leaned on my walking stick that our Disney guide, Armando so graciously bought for me at the Ollantatambo ruins. This handy dandy walking stick became my best buddy over the next couple of days.

Anyway, I finally brought up the end just in time to climb onboard our white Adventures by Disney bus and proceed to our next location, the Salt mines. Here, I nearly accosted a local Andean woman when I saw she had Gatorade which really ended up helping me with any residual altitude dizziness I might still be feeling. After buying the Gatorade, I paid my one Nuevo Sol and asked her to pose. She did and then we procceeded on our salt mine tour and then our climb down to the base of the mountain. Along the way, Rudy, gave us some information on the "salt co-op". There salt mines are owned by local families that literally "mine" the salt that was left thousands of years ago by the ocean. Each family owns no fewer than 50 "plots" and the richest owns about 2,000 "plots"

In essence, here is what happens. A small plot of land is readied and water poured into it. It is harvested only after the water evaporates leaving only the salt behind. This process takes about 30 days and a "quicker" method has been devised using tarps but this only hastens the process by about 5 days. And according to Rudy, the small profit gained by using the tarps is superseded by the cost of the tarps needed to facilitate the drying process. Once the water has evaporated, the local in charge of the plot will bag it in burlap bags and hoist it onto their shoulders and carry it back up the hilldside. This will make more sense when you see the pictures of the mountain.

So, after a small talk, we proceed to walk through the salt mines and down the hill where I again used my handy dandy walking stick. I believe that Armando paid 3 Soles for it which is basically $1 US dollar. He suggested after we had our use of it to either return it to a local vendor or leave it in the hotel room as we are not allowed to bring it back on the plane with us. So, as a souvenir, I brought the cloth handle and left the stick. Oh, did I mention how one of our group came to be known as "Salty?" Needless to say, in bending down to taste the salt, he managed to tenderize his leg and therefore the rest of the trip was known as "Salty". LOL

At the bottom of the hike, we ran into some local children that are rather ingenious in getting us to part with some Soles, it is customary to "donate" a small amount after taking a picture. Down at the bottom I managed to snap an adorable picture of 3 siblings with their pet dog sitting down. I will see if I can upload that picture later. I caught our guide giving them some candy and I gave the sister a Sol. Not much to see if it helps them later.

We caught up with the bus made our way back to Cusco where we had lunch at the Sol & Luna Lodge but at the other end. We were entertained with 3 local dances and got to see some wonderful horses practice their moves. Apparantly the local Peruvian horses have a rather infamous gait. THey were truly a wonder to watch. After lunch and a wonderful dance, we played the local game of Sapo, (I guess better likened to a game of toss) and it was Adults versus the Little ones. By this time, I was tired and elected to go back to the room where I promptly proceeded to catch up on some zz's (not very successfully though) and then at 3:30 we went to a local pottery place where we were demonstrated by the local artisian, Pablo Semanario. This local artist and his wife have been around for over 30 years and their local work has become world renown. We managed to snare ourselves a small lamp (for my mother-in-law) and a couple of picture frames along with a couple of little oxen for my rooftop. It seems that every house in Peru believes that in order to prosper, have good health and the legacy of grandchildren along with wealth, each house should have 2 oxen and a cross adorning their rooftops. So, I bought mine. Although the grandchildren part can wait as long as they have too. LOL

After the pottery demonstration, we walked through town were we were amazed at the various comings and goings. On the way back to the hotel, some of the kids took a motorized taxi back to the Sol & Luna Lodge. We, meaning Steve and I have had our fair share of harrowing taxi rides so I elected to use the Disney van and made it back in one piece. They did too but at least I didn't suck on any exhaust fumes as we passed them on the way into the lodge.

Dinner was on our own and we ended up having a special dinner (my stomach was starting to bother me by now) of broiled chicken and white rice. Steve elected to have the same thing and let me tell you, it was actually one of the better meals I thoroughly enjoyed. Did I mention that I only had a small piece of alpaca? Steve had a couple of pieces and while not bad, one taste was enough for me.

OK - thats about it for now, off to look at the rest of the pictures to update the rest of the days.