Moray/Maras

22.8.2013

Am 22.8. traf mich die "Rache der Anden" - Ann fuhr daher ohne mich nach Moray/Moras.
Die Bilder zeigen von den Inkas angelegte Versuchsgärten- Salzgewinnung aus salzhaltiger Quelle-und eine Wollspinnerei.

While photographer-in-chief lay in bed wrestling with Montezuma, the co-photographer set out alone, armed only with a simple camera, on an outing to Moray/Moras.

Hotel garden in Ollantaytambo - early morning lawn movers

 

Urubamba - town in the sacred valley of the Incas, named after the Urubamba river

 

Terraces at Moray - here the Incas experimented with the effects which different micro-climates had on the growth of crops - a sophisticated 15th century environmental laboratory.

 

Photo shows where restoration work is in progress on the site.

 

Viewed from above: the saline terraces at Maras, started by the Incas and still used to produce salt in the region today,

 

 

Once you get down to walking there, you realise how steep the terraced salt basins are laid out.

 

The spring from which the salt water flows; source of salt unknown but according to theory the water first flows through a saline environment inside the mountain.

 

To walk, you have to balance along the narrow salt ridges which separate the steep basins.

Visit to a handicraft co-operative to see demonstrations of dyeing and weaving by Andean women. On the way in - stop to see who's on the menu today. As mentioned earlier, the guinea pig is the absolute delicatessen in Peruvian cuisine (but talking from experience, I can say it's nothing more than a mouthful of bones,)

 

 Dyeing the wool

 

Animal bone used as tool in weaving

 

 

Weaving loom

 

 

 Mother and child