A few kilometers away from Cusco stands the Sacred Valley. Stretching roughly 60 kilometers, it formed the heart of the Inca Empire. I decided to do a cycle loop there for 2 days with Annika, a german cyclist I met in my hostel in Cusco.
We left Cusco in the morning and headed to the plateau that separates the city from the Valley, and we quickly took some dirt roads to avoid traffic on the main one.
We first stopped in Moray to see the Inca ruins, consisting of several terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is approximately 30 m deep. It’s believed that those ruins were used as an agricultural laboratory. Due to their design, there can be a difference of temperature of 15°C between the top and the bottom. The Incas may have used them to test crops and experiment with them.
We then arrived to the famous Salineras de Maras , a thousands of salt pans that have been used for salt extraction since pre-Inca times. A hot spring at the top of the valley discharges a small stream of heavily salt-laden water, which is diverted into salt pans and evaporated to produce a salt used for cattle licks.
Back in Cusco after another day in the valley, we did some wheelies on the Plaza de Armas for #wheeliewednesday.