At the Maras salt pans, travel back in time and study the natural Inca salt terraces on the slope of Mount Qaqawiñay, from which you'll take in a striking Andean landscape. The Incas discovered that salt water flowed down the slope and began digging small basins of 5 m² each, allowing the water to sit and evaporate, leaving only the salt behind. Fed by channels, these basins are still used for salt collection today. During the dry season (May to September), the basins stretching as far as the eye can see turn white, gleaming with accumulated salt: a striking sight.
Not far from the Maras salt pans lies Moray, home to an Inca agricultural site made up of perfectly circular terraces. Dug into the earth and tiered, their shape recalls a Greek amphitheater, and is thought to have served as a kind of open-air laboratory. Using large stones polished like mirrors, solar energy may have been harnessed to retain heat, creating different microclimates on each terrace. Alternatively, by planting various species on the different tiers of the circles, researchers may have studied how plants acclimatized to varying altitudes. The mystery surrounding this construction only makes it more fascinating.
