Salt pans and dancing ladies
Trip Start
May 03, 2011
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6
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Trip End
Mar 22, 2012
Cuzco, Cusco, Peru
Friday, May 27, 2011
Our plans were to get out and about on Saturday and visit the two places that the guinea pig festival diverted us from and on Sunday to have a quiet day in Cuzco.... Well we almost managed to keep to the plan.
Saturday saw us heading out into the sacred valley once again to visit the salt pans at Sallinas followed by the terrace circles at Moray. The walking route to Salinas is across the river Riobamba and up a steep hill to where salt has been mined for centuries. The walk up brought beautiful views across the valley and we came across just about the whole village out mending the path, Inca style (rolling huge boulders down the hill and then stacking them in neat terraces below the path).
The salt pans were very impressive, not least because they made very interesting photos but also because of the sheer hard work that went into building each terrace, flooding it via an intricate system of irrigation and then scraping up the salt once the water had evaporated off - a process that seemed little changed from its inception; no use of modern technology here.
After taking "a few" photos we headed back down the hill and stopped at a lovely little outdoor cafe by the river for lunch of quinoa soup (much nicer than it sounds). We had spent so long at the salt pans that we were running out of time and decided to leave Moray for another day.
On Sunday, up early and after our usual march up to the top of the hill and down again, plus breakfast, we took a stroll down to the main plaza de Armas with a view to doing a bit of people watching as the church services ended. On reaching the plaza, we realised that it was anything other than a normal Sunday; brass bands, big wigs, dancing children, the square was full of life. We watched and photographed for about an hour and then moved on to a smaller square where I was on a mission to spend some money on silver earrings in the market. However the market was closed and the square full of people of all shapes and sizes in all manner of different costumes. It turned out that this was the 'holding area' for the parade and we were treated to a feast of colours and dances. Three hours and 170 photos later I was nearing exhaustion with the effort of trying to take it all in; an amazing morning (we found out later that the people all worked in the big market and this was their big day off). Since then we have seen several small parades in the square, with June being the big month for festivals, so we have many treats ahead.
Talking of treats, tomorrow will be 28 on the 28th for us.... no, not my age (I wish) but our 28th wedding anniversary! I can't really conceive that I am old enough to have been married that long, but there you go! We have searched out all the nice places in town for food treats, so it will be one big eat and chill out...... and then on Sunday, finally it's time to put on the walking boots and get out on the Inca trail, I can't wait - see you in a weeks time!
Comments
Hi, and lovely to read all your news. Great pictures, too. Brings back lots of happy memories. Sounds as though you're doing really well with the Spanish. Have a great time on the Inca trail - maybe try Huayna Pichhu?!
Enjoying your blog and looking at all the Pics - it all looks so stunning and vibrant and the geography is amazing.