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A non traditional circuit that in the last years is
gaining importance is visiting the Maras town, Moray, the "Salt Works"
and Pichingoto; they are visited all together or separately.
Maras is a district of the Urubamba province, possible to be reached
through a paved road from kilometer 50 on the road Qosqo - Chinchero -
Urubamba. It is located towards the west of Qosqo at an altitude of 3300
mts. (10824 feet); over a plain that in prehistoric times was a huge
plateau, from which it is possible to observe the range of mountains of
Urubamba including the snow capped mountains of Weqey Willka (today "La
Veronica", 5682 mts., 18641 ft.) and " Chikon" (5530 mts., 18143 ft.).
It seems that in Maras there was a pre-Inkan settlement with subsequent
discontinued occupation. All over this zone there is a large amount of
pottery pieces of the "Chanapata" culture, as well as obsidian scrapers
and knives. The town was founded in colonial times by Pedro Ortiz de
Orue, and its important occupation began when the Cusquenian Inkan
noblemen were dispossessed of their palaces in Qosqo and had to move
settling some other small towns such as San Sebastian and Maras.
Likewise, during the war started by Manko Inka willing to recover his
Quechua nation, it served as stronghold for invaders that raided against
the Ollantaytambo town that was occupied by the Inka during 2 years.
Many of its houses are emblazoned with Spanish nobility coats of arms on
their lintels, which indicates the importance gained by the town in
colonial times. By that time, it was an obliged way for muleteers and
their mule droves transporting tropical goods and especially coca leaves
from the higher jungle for supplying the markets of the city and the
country. It was declared " Villa of Saint Francis of Assisi of Maras"
(Villa: city or town that had certain privileges). By that time it had
much more importance than the Urubamba settlement; but, today it is a
town that languishes due to its isolation and development of modern
life. It has a church made with sun dried mud bricks, typical of the
village religious architecture, in which front patio is a cross carved
in granite. Inside the church are Cusquenian school canvases
representing the Apostles, and some other very nice ones, the artist
being Quechua painter Antonio Sinchi Roqa Inka. He was native from Maras
and painted carefully for its church; he was contemporary of bishop
Mollinedo y Angulo and became famous by the middle of XVII century.
About 7 kms. (4.3 miles) away southwest from Maras is Moray, a very
unique archaeological site in the region. It is possible to reach it by
car through the dusty road and the path departing from the town. Those
are enormous natural depressions or hollows in the ground surface that
Inkas used for constructing irrigated farming terraces around them. What
is surprising is that the difference of average annual temperature
between the top and the bottom reaches even about 15°C (59°F) in the
main depression that is about 30 mts (100 feet) deep. In those natural
formations, nature has created an environment, conditions or micro
climates that in modern times people create in greenhouses or hothouses.
Moray, because of its climate conditions and many other characteristics,
was an important center of domestication, acclimatization and
hybridization of wild vegetable species that were modified or adapted
for human consumption. Therefore, it is a prototype of a greenhouse or
experimental biological station, very advanced for its age that helped
so that the ancient American Man could leave for mankind about 60% of
the vegetable goods that are consumed; so that the Andean Man could
consume three thousand different potato varieties, one and a half
hundreds of maize, and many other rich goods. Nevertheless, there are
still many enigmas about this site, enigmas that rise because of the
lack of serious scientific researches that could clear present doubts.
Structures found over here are typically Inkan; although, some authors
suggest that they are earlier ones, at least in the lower terraces. One
of the enigmas is the way how drainage for water flowing through the
aqueducts worked; it is suggested that there must be underground
channels built by the depressions' bottom allowing water to drain. It is
also argued that the bottom is over a very porous natural rock formation
that enables water filtering toward the earth's interior; the truth is
that even today, in the depressions' bottoms there are no floods neither
inundation in the rainy season. It is indispensable to carry out serious
palynology studies; that is, divers analysis of the pollen samples that
are found in Moray, thus it will be possible to know the nature,
species, quality and some other characteristics of the vegetables
cultivated over here.
Towards the northwest of the Maras village are the famous " salt works",
which are possible to reach walking by the trail or by car through a
dusty road that is almost useless in the rainy season. The Maras "salt
works" to which some people call "salt mines" are constituted by about
3000 small pools with an average area of 5 m² (53.8 ft²), constructed in
a slope of the "Qaqawiñay" mountain. People fill up or "irrigate" the
pools during the dry season every 3 days, with salty water emanating
from a natural spring located on the top of the complex, so that when
water evaporates the salt contained in it will slowly solidify. That
process will be carried out approximately during one month until a
considerable volume of solid salt is obtained; about 10 cms. (4 inches)
high from the floor. That solid salt is beaten thus granulated, then
packed in plastic sacks and sent to the region's markets; today that
salt began being treated with iodine, thus, its consumption is not
harmful.
Going on, from the "salt works" through the trail towards the Northwest
and following the small valley one gets to Pichingoto that is located
already in the Sacred Inkas' Valley. It is also possible to reach
Pichingoto walking from the "Rumichaka" bus stop, about 7 kms. (4.35
miles) away from Urubamba on the road toward Ollantaytambo. Pichingoto
is a Quechua community dwelling in the base of the basalt "Qoriq'aqya"
Mountain; the houses have facades that are made with sun-dried
mud-bricks, but, which entrails are carved in the mountain. They are
small caverns or caves inhabited even today by the beginning of the XXI
century; although, their occupants are already educated or have some
instruction level, they have a small Catholic Chapel and even
electricity inside their houses. Some authors suggest that the name
comes from "pichinco" (bird), and "q'oto" (goiter). It is argued that
goiter (an enlargement of the thyroid gland visible as a swelling of the
front of the neck; supposed to be a consequence of lack or scarcity of
iodine) was very common among its inhabitants who consumed non treated
salt from the "salt works"; but, all that is not probable because today
the local population that consumes the same salt do not show any goiter.
Possibly its name comes from "Pichinco"= bird, and "T'oqo"= hollow. Its
inhabitants believe themselves to be descendants of birds and apparently
until the first decades of the present century they lived in caves on
the other side of the mountain and on an upper level where they climbed
with the help of ropes and ladders. The origins of this community are
lost in the past's darkness and it is believed that some time ago they
lived in Maras.
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