7 attractions in 7 hours (Part 2)

So after the four ruins close to Cuzco (within 15 minutes) we drove about 45 minutes to a site called Chinchero. On the way, we were able to see quite a bit of the city of Cuzco and the countryside. We climbed to elevations of ~4000 meters at times and saw several snow-capped Andean mountains, trees, deserts, plains, and Peruvians living life. The poverty here is significant. Estimates range from 30-45% of the population being in poverty. People work very hard here and earn very little. It's hard for us to see children, dirty and with chapped skin. It's even harder to see them begging. This ride from Cuzco demonstrated some of the harsh realities of life here in Peru, where despite 10% economic growth year-to-year, the poorest are no better off (certainly a trickle-down economic fail.) There is a particular instance that stands out in my mind, where a three/four story building was crumbling on one side with trash spilling out, yet, in the top floor, it was someone's home. It would certainly be condemned and demolished here in the us, and if an earthquake were to strike, it will definitely fall, but in Peru, sub-standard and dangerous living conditions are the norm for 40% of the population. Many people here are hoping for something better and working hard toward it, unfortunately, circumstances make that difficult. Also, the health + wealth gospel doesn't seem to translate well into developing/3rd world countries like Peru that are primarily Christian.

Anyway, sorry for the rant... moving on. The ride was adventurous, with several near misses on single-car only roads, but our driver was excellent. He got us to our destinations safely and quickly. At times we drove fast, at times we dodged dogs, at times we barely traveled 20mph up large winding mountains. The sights were breathtaking. It was spectacular. We saw dogs, hundreds of dogs, sheep, pigs, cattle, llamas, chicken, ducks, etc... you name it, they raise it here in Peru.

Incredible views of the Andes in between our stops at the ruins

Eric in front of the ice-capped Andes mountains

Amy in front of the ice-capped Andes mountains

Our taxi pulled over for an aerial view of the Salt Mines (see below)  - check out the narrow road and our little taxi!

Sheep & donkeys

Close-up of sheep we passed in the middle of the road

Sheep and herders in the background

Beautiful farming land

See the winding road? 

Our fifth ruin of yesterday was called Chinchero. It was in a little town about 45 minutes from Cuzco. When we got to the city, the something really weird started happening.... it started to sleet/hail. It seemed like no big deal to everyone else, but it was very strange for us to witness sleet in 50 degree weather. Perhaps altitude plays a big part in this. Anyway upon arriving at the ruins we were lucky to find a "Tourist Toilet" and we gladly paid the 1 sole (35 cents) to use it. These ruins were actually within a functioning city, which is atypical. We got our Boleto Touristico's stamped and headed up a city street. Fortunately, many of these ruins have little wooden arrows pointing toward the attraction, this led us to the site. Chinchero had huge terraces for growing corn and potatoes. The Church at Chinchero is incredible. Despite being built on an old Incan foundation, it was exquisite. The Church had a half-dozen large carved statues of Jesus and some of saints. They had giant murals and paintings and gold embellishments were visible throughout the church. It felt like we were in some ancient church in Europe, the ceiling was probably 50-60ft. high and the decorations were ornate. It was breathtaking. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures, they were prohibited. It started raining after we left the church and we discovered that one of our ponchos was actually a reflective vest (both were taken from our emergency car kit). We walked slowly back to the car (slick rock steps during rain) and bought a Coke at one of the many stands that occupy the entrances of all of these ruins.

After Chinchero we drove another 30 minutes or so to the Salt Mines of Maras, called Salinas. These aren't a ruin per se, since they’re actively worked. They were created by pre-incan civilizations so they’re actually well over a thousand years old. They are made up of hundreds/thousands of shallow pools that are fed by salt-rich natural springs. The mines are massive, probably several miles long by a mile or so in width. There are several houses/warehouses built at different locations on the road that runs along the mines. Appaently, anyone can mine, free of charge, they just have to abide by the mining rules and take care of the whichever pool they work. This was Amy’s favorite attraction of the day. Check out the pictures!

Moray was our last stop of the day. It was about twenty minutes away from Salinas on the Maras plains. Moray is a collection of three “crater holes” in the plain with dozens of terraces around the edges. In fact, some speculate that the largest site was actually created by a meteorite and then utilized by the Inca (they seem to have been an extremely adept at turning natural features into usable structures.) The largest “hole” is nearly 500 feet down. In the center of the holes were fountains. Moray was used as a plant laboratory to breed different types of crops. Supposedly, the altitude-resistant corn and potato breeds used in the Andes today were cultivated at Moray. The site is simply massive. The temperature difference from the bottom terrace to the upper terraces can be as much as 41 degrees F, in fact, every terrace has a different “micro climate” that the Inca used to conduct agricultural experiments. The extreme size of the ruin, the cold wind and the impending sunset kept us from exploring the ruins further. You can get a small idea of the scope of the site with the pictures of me waving in the ruins.

Eric providing a scale to see how enormous this site truly is!

After Moray, our driver took us into Ollantaytambo (Ollanta to the locals.) The ride down the mountain to the valley was crazy. Our driver drove quite fast to the corners and then slowed to a near stop around them. The zig-zagging roads are necessary for climbing at such a steep grade in the Andes. The views of the sun-setting on the maras plains with the Andes Mountains in the background was stunning. The distance to the town, however, was misleading. We could see a town from the top of the plain and it seemed as it it would only take 10 minutes or so to reach it, but zig-zagging down a mountain is slow-goings. I looked at my watch at 5:15 and it was another 40 minutes before we reached the road to Ollanta. We were so grateful for our taxi driver, who drove us around all day and got us safely to our destination.