Day 5 - Village Market and High Plateau Hike

Chinchero Market

We hopped on the bus, and drove across the Urubamba River, up into the mountains to visit the Village of Chinchero and its local market.

This is one of the few markets in Peru where traders still barter. We observed several women trading corn for potatoes, or lima beans for corn. There was one section of the market where the traders sat on a woven cloth under a bright sun, side by side.

It was pretty cool, I will give you five ears of corn (look at the size of that corn by the way) for ten potatoes….deal?

There are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes in Peru, and many corn variations (size and color). Different potatoes grow at varying elevations. The Inca’s understood this and were probably responsible for many of the varieties that exist today.


Chinchero Weaving Studio



After strolling through the market we walked up the hill to a weaving studio. Several families live in a cooperative where they try to maintain traditional weaving techniques, dyeing methods (from plants) and skills.



The women might start out making narrow strips (eg a hat band), and then eventually graduate to weaving intricate design patterns. Lynn purchased a runner made by this woman.



There are a couple things shown here. The Alpaca wool after it has been dyed from natural plants. The red is amazing. It is made from Cochinella Bugs. They get crushed and begin to turn a dark red, salt gets added as a stabilizer and then the mixture is tossed into a pot of boiling water. The wool is dropped into the pot and once again “Voila” you have a naturally dyed piece of wool.

The wool is strung by women on a thread needle. Women will often do this while working in the field tending animals, walking across fields while carrying their babies on their backs. They tug on the cut Alpaca wool and begin to make the thread. All of the ladies in our group practiced pulling on the raw wool, stretching it out and spinning it on the thread needle.

Chinchero
Lynn and I left the group and walked around the town.
Turns out they were celebrating an anniversary and in a futbol field, all of the kids were lined up in groups for a parade.
Unfortunately, we had to leave while all of the VIP’s were making speeches and before the kids started their parade. They did let the some of the kids make a speech, and one was quite energetic….I regretted not being able to understand it.


Moray to Maras Salt Mines Hike
We then rode on the bus to the town of Moray. Pavel was born in this town, his father was Principal of the local school and his grandparents lived there for many years. The bus drove through narrow streets, some of the turns Jose Luis made were amazing.
He dropped us off just above the town and we began our hike to the Maras salt mines.



We had an amazing lunch made by Angelina & Armando in a portable tent; a chicken breast stuffed with veggies and cooked in a Pisco and wine sauce. It was so good Lynn asked for the recipe.
We sat in the tent and had this view of the mountains.

Incan Food Lab

After lunch we passed an Incan Laboratory for growing food. Pavel explained one of the reasons for terrace farming was so the Inca’s could actually have different ecological zones to test plants. The bottom terraces of the sinkhole were 30° warmer than the top terrace. So they could experiment with the ideal zone for various plants. They could also experiment with hybrids and train plants to grow in different zones. This was primarily a food growing lab, not a ‘real’ farm. There were two other sinkholes next to this, in the process of restoration.

The Salt Mines
I have never seen anything like it.
The salt flats are fed by an underground stream. They don’t know, if there is a sea underneath the mountain, or where the exact source of the salty water comes from. Every year the local village has a celebration to express thanks for the salt and to pray that the bounty will continue. Each flat is actually owned by someone in the village. And they will periodically come out to tend their flat(s) and ultimately harvest their salt after the water evaporates from the flat. It needs to be done on a timely basis, or the dried salt quickly becomes hard as a rock.



Some of the group became quite anxious as we hiked above the terraced salt flats. We had a pathway that was perhaps 18” wide. And usually there was a four to six foot drop on the right hand side.

Family Home Visit


After the end of the hike we had dinner with a local family in Yucay. Emma & Justo, in her mother (Vilma’s) home. It is very common for the family to live in the woman’s mother’s home. They had twin girls, Marjorie and Melena, their cousin Wendy also joined us for dinner. We dined upon lamb, chicken, local potatoes, quinoa (keenwa), and a lasagna type pasta. They also served a drink made from purple corn, fruits and herbs.




The girls entertained us for the evening singing a few local songs, some English songs they knew finishing with a rousing version of Jingle Bells. In the photo Melena is playing with her Dad Justo. Our group then sang “You are My Sunshine” which the girls immediately began to sing-a-long. It was a fun evening and helped us to gain some understanding of small town life in the Andes.