Moray y Maras

In the time of the Inca people had experimented and built upon many methods of farming and agriculture and they were very thankful to the gods above who helped provide them with the food they were given.  In the land of Moray one can find the remains of a very ambitious project set forth by the ancient people to cultivate many different crops at different altitudes.  

This is a photo taken from Moray and shows the different levels of farming.  Each level has an amazing ability to descend in temperature allowing different varieties of potatoes, cocoa, coca, and corn to be grown.  Deeper in the circles you can feel the temerature change.

Even though there is a great rainy season in this part of Peru this land is not affected.  The land is agriculturally engineered so well that it will never flood.  Water is filtered through many small rocks of gravel and is evenly disperesed into the next layers.  The circles are perfect and have baffled many archeologists for decades.

Before entering the greater circles one must participate in a purification ceremony which is much representative to practices of ancient times.  My local guide raised three coca leaves to the sky each representing the condor, the puma and the serpent, the three sacred animals of the Inca.

The famous site of Machu Picchu is designed as a condor.  The condor is meant to represent the heavens which is why the site is so far in the sky.  The ancient city of Cuzco (or Qosqo) is designed as a puma which was the symbol of the land upon which we live.  The rivers of the area represent the serpent whereas the serpent represents the underworld.

A hole in the center of the purification circle containing coca leaves and gifts to Pachamama, the sacred Earth Mother.

I did not get any photos of the purification ritual whereas I was too involved in the experience.  We held hands for a few minutes and were told to ask the Earth Mother a wish from the bottom of our hearts.  I asked the Earth to forgive us for all the damage we have done to her and to teach us to respect her better.  In the end of the ritual we were told to chant ¨Pachamama dame mas energia¨ which means Earth Mother give me more energy.  The belief in energy is easy to understand yet hard to accept for some and I am okay with that however the feeling of being part of such ritual as I experienced today was quite humbling.

These photos are of the Maras salt mines near Cuzco.

These salts serve many purposes.  They are used for preserving meats as well as preparing theraputic baths to treat symptoms of rhumatoid arthritis and other painful illnesses.

Moments before getting salt on my butt :)