On Sunday the 14th of April, a day after I arrived in Cusco on the weekend before Easter, I did one of the many excursions that are available from Cusco city. It’s always a good idea to select a smaller company when doing group day trips and for some excursions private tours would be optimal due to the time of day that most of the tour busses arrive at some of the sites in and around the Sacred Valley.
The Maras and Moray day trip is quite a well known one, although not the most popular, but it is one of the best day trips in the Sacred Valley due to the jam-packed itinerary and especially the colours and contrasts encountered on this excursion – all in one day. I will let the pictures do the talking, but feel free to ask any qestions for more details!
by Jean-Jacques
– Kantu, Chinchero – Cusco Region –
Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area. (1) Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (2)Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (3)Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (4)Kantu Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (5)Kantu Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (6)Kantu Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (7) Kantu Kantu Weaving Center, Chinchero, Cusco area (8)
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– Moray – Sacred Valley –
Moray [lab 1], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (1)Moray [lab 1], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (2)Moray [lab 1], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (3)Moray [lab 1], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (4)Moray [lab 2], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (5)Moray [lab 2], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (6)Moray [lab 2], Sacred Valley, Cusco area – designed and used by the Incas as experimental food labaratories (7)
Mountain view from Moray (8)
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– Salineras, Maras – Sacred Valley –
Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (1) Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (2) Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (3)Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (4) Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (5) Salineras – Maras, Sacred Valley, Cusco area – these are functioning ‘salt mines’ (salt evaporation ponds) originally designed and used by the Incas (6)
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– Cusco Town Centre –
Cusco – Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (Church of the Society of Jesus) – historic Jesuit church in CuscoCusco Cathedral, Plaza de Armas, CuscoCusco Rooftops and hillsMonastry converted into a hotel, in front of the little plaza of the Nazarenas, Palacio Street No. 136 – Cusco
All photographs by JJM (14.04.2019) with Pentax K50 DSLR with Tokina 28 – 105 (manual focus)
Beautiful colors and textile work. The Sacred Valley looks out of Time, so perfectly executed. Thanks for sharing the journey. love, in lak’ech, Debra
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thank you for visiting and commenting Debra! Yes, the traditional textile work in Peru is really impressive and it was fascinating to see how the weavers use natural ingredients from plants and from the earth to create the colours. It was demonstrated to us how they can alter the colours by just adding small amounts of liquids (like plant sap) or minerals. Tours like these, although a bit touristy (I generally prefer solo travel) can leave a lasting impression because of the human and cultural elements. The photos of Cusco were taken on the same day after the day-trip as I still had time to join a free walking tour in the late afternoon.
PS: I hope you had a great Maya New Year yesterday! 😉
Thanks Josh! This was the first of several excursions I did during my week in the Cusco and Puno areas. I have decided to be selective since it would be quite time consuming to publish a post for each site I visited. Many of the excursions included several sites. There’s one particular site that I really liked close to Lake Titicaca – will post something about that soon. Thanks for visiting!
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Beautiful colors and textile work. The Sacred Valley looks out of Time, so perfectly executed. Thanks for sharing the journey. love, in lak’ech, Debra
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thank you for visiting and commenting Debra! Yes, the traditional textile work in Peru is really impressive and it was fascinating to see how the weavers use natural ingredients from plants and from the earth to create the colours. It was demonstrated to us how they can alter the colours by just adding small amounts of liquids (like plant sap) or minerals. Tours like these, although a bit touristy (I generally prefer solo travel) can leave a lasting impression because of the human and cultural elements. The photos of Cusco were taken on the same day after the day-trip as I still had time to join a free walking tour in the late afternoon.
PS: I hope you had a great Maya New Year yesterday! 😉
Amazing photos, Jacques, it seems like you had quite a trip. I must say, I love the vibrant red colors of the ladies’ clothing.
Thanks Josh! This was the first of several excursions I did during my week in the Cusco and Puno areas. I have decided to be selective since it would be quite time consuming to publish a post for each site I visited. Many of the excursions included several sites. There’s one particular site that I really liked close to Lake Titicaca – will post something about that soon. Thanks for visiting!