Chinchero Andean Village, Maras and Moray
Daily from Cusco (best market day Sunday)
Full day, includes picnic lunch
A beautiful drive, with the snow-capped Andes as a backdrop to the village of Chinchero.perched high on a plain ovberlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Here, on Sunday market day, women in traditional costume nestled in trapezoidal niches sell chicha (maize beer) from earthenware jars.
There is an interesting barter market where hardy cereals from the uplands are exchanged for more succulent fruit and vegetables from the valley.
Continue to the crater-shaped agricultural research station at Moray - a natural amphitheatre adapted by the Incas into a series of circular terraces, presumed to have been used to create hybrids and to maximize crop yields.
Continue to the charming church at Maras, and beyond to the salt pans, glittering on the tawny plain. Here, salt has been collected for centuries, relying on the sun’s heat for evaporation.
Return to Cusco. (The road is sometimes difficult in the wet season - Nov to Mar).
Includes: Lunch.
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