This tour is designed for photography lovers, offering a unique experience interacting with the local culture. It provides exceptional opportunities to capture portraits and document the ancestral textile processes of the local community, which preserves and revalues the customs and techniques of the Chinchero women, direct descendants of the Incas. We will also be able to admire and photograph the stunning landscapes that surround us, providing unique opportunities to capture the landscapes through our lenses.

Salt Mines of Maras

Maras (3,028 m.a.s.l), is a picturesque village located at 54 km (1 hr) north of Cusco by paved road, belonging to the province of Urubamba and is located in a plain that since ancient times was an important plateau from where we can see the Sacred snow-capped mountains, including the snow-capped Veronica (5,682 m.a.s.l) or «Waquey Huillca» and Chicon (5,530 m.a.s.l).

The salt mines, which have been exploited by the Inkas since ancient times, are made up of more than 5,000 small ponds. The process of obtaining the salt consists of filling them with salt water (the water comes from a natural spring located in the upper part of the complex), until the water evaporates and finally the salt is crystallized. At present, the «Salt of Maras» has become a brand, highly valued and required in the most prestigious hotels and restaurants nationwide, due to its high quality and filtration process, which makes it unique.

Moray

The Moray Archaeological Complex (3,300 m.a.s.l) is located 49 km from Cusco, according to historian Edward Ranney, the Incas designed the terraces of Moray, as a place for the development of specialized agriculture, perhaps for the adaptation of their most prized crops, such as corn, coca leaf and chili; as well as to develop various studies of adaptation of species for human consumption from different ecological levels.

Due to its sheltered position, each of these terraces represents approximately 1,000 meters of altitude under normal farming conditions. In its totality, the complex would contain twenty or more miniature ecological zones. The Moray complex could also have been used by agronomists-scientists to calculate the annual production in the different regions of Tahuantinsuyo.

Highlights:

• Ancestral weaving techniques
• Moray Inka site
• Salt mines

Cusco – Chinchero – Agricultural Laboratory of Moray – Salt Mines of Maras – Cusco 

In the morning we will pick you up at your hotel to head to the Chinchero district (Tupac Inca Yupanki Palace), current area of large-scale production of the famous Andean tuber «potato».

We will visit a handicraft production and exhibition center, where the finest textile art is practiced with ancient techniques, revaluing the technique and iconography of the most remote times, which has earned it worldwide recognition. Then we will go to the Moray Archaeological Complex «Andean Agricultural Laboratory», where we will be able to analyze and understand the amazing scientific knowledge, grouped in a set of 03 systems with a functional structure that are imposed on the fertile surface of the earth; the same that were used for the adaptation of various species of plants of high importance in Inca times. After our guided tour, we will have lunch optionally in a restaurant on the route.

At the end of our lunch, we will head for the Salt Mines of Maras, located 7 km from Moray, and northwest of the town of San Pedro de Maras, where we will find the famous salt mines composed of more than 5,000 small wells with an average area of 5 m² each.

At the end of our activities, we will return to the city of Cusco

Includes:

• Private transportation
• All entrance fees
• Professional bilingual guide and photographer
• Snacks
• Ozonized water (we will provide it in all the tour, but you must carry your own canteen)
• Lunch 

Not Included:

• Tips for staff
• Services not mentioned.

To enjoy our tour, don’t forget to bring:

• Passport or ISIC card OBLIGATORY
• Photographic camera
• Lens 50/80mm F1.8 or F2.8
• Lens 24-70mm F2.8
• Lens 70-200mm F2.8 (recommended) or other similar.
• Tripod (recommended)
• Sun block SPF 45 – 90
• Small backpack (canteen, snacks, etc.)
• Extra clothes
• Hat or cap for the sun and sunglasses
• Repellent
• Raincoats or rain ponchos (all year)
• Slippers or tennis shoes
• Extra cash in (soles and dollars, optional).