Today we saw some pretty amazing things.
After literally seeing four weddings and a
funeral in the tiny town of Chinchero, we
headed to the Inca ruins at Moray. The only
known circular terraces in the region, it is
believed that they were used for agricultural
experiments since each of the terraces has its
own microclimate!
On the way back to Cusco, we stopped at a way
out of the way place called Salineras. Here
was the one of the strangest operations I´ve
ever seen. A huge salt gathering/producing
site that dates back to the Incas and is still
in use today. The workers fill the ¨boxes¨
with a naturally salty spring water and when the
water evaporates, they gather the salt and
package it for sale. Our driver, Carlos, bought
40 kilos of it for his own use and to give to
relatives since it´s about half the price of
salt in Cusco. He gave us a kilo as well. What
he´s going to do with 40 kilos of salt, I have
no idea!
During the entire trip today we were right next to
some of the highest peaks of the Andes in Peru
with peaks all over 5000 meters. Pretty specatacular
scenery.
3 comments:
Salty spring water? Is there an underground ocean leaking up or is the water picking up minerals? My understanding is that mountain water is usually pretty pure.
~Sarah
Norfolk VA
Spring water can contain a number of minerals and salt can be one of them.
Sodium and chlorine are pretty abundant elements, that's why we use them. Often present together in the form of sodium chloride, known commonly as table salt.
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