Maras

Terraced Inca salt fields in a valley, still in production today. Salt has been harvested from the briny waters of the Salineras spring for thousands of years. There are around 3000 family-owned salt pans nestled in a canyon, which are used to evaporate water to extract the salt. All are filled, dried, and harvested on a rotating basis. They are not mined on Sunday. It is interesting to see the pans being mined by people in traditional garb, but if you go on an off day you are likely to have the whole place to yourself. The top-quality salt, flor de sal, which is much sought-after by chefs, is sold for S/4 per kilo, or S/10 for 3 bags.

A fabulous depression in which, experts theorize, the Incas built concentric terraces to grow crops in different microclimates. Moray sits six hundred meters above Urubamba and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Moray was the Incan agricultural laboratory that was likely used to cultivate resistant and hearty varieties of plants high in the Andes. The site is not on the typical tourist agenda; however, it is included in the boleto turístico offered in Cusco. This ticket covers 14 sites in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and cost S/70 for one day, or S/130 for ten days (Mar 2018). Moray is on the way back from Machu Picchu between Ollantaytambo and Pisac.