Inka trail d-1, we didn't want to make ourselves tired, so we went to visit the terraces of Moray and Las Salinas, no big walking involved! We caught a bus going to Urubamba via Chinchero and asked the driver to drop us at Maras (1h30, S/3.50, we had never seen before a bus so packed, thanks God we had seats, but we were wondering how to get off the bus). In fact the bus drops you on the road and Maras is another few kilometers away. But taxis are waiting for tourists where the bus stops. They offer tours to Moray and Las Salinas. We shared a cab with two Italians that were in the bus with us, Julia and Simone. We discussed the price from S/70 down to S/50 for all of us. From Maras it took us 10min to reach Moray, where we discovered impressive terraces in circles that the Incas used as a "laboratory" to acclimate plants to the altitude, the difference in average temperatures from the top and the bottom being 5C (entrance fee S/10). We then went to Las Salinas, 20min drive from Maras (entrance fee S/5). The site is made of hundreds of basins from where a spring with water saturated in salt is diverted to exact the salt. Private landlords own a couple of basins each and come every day to maintain them. They let the water go through a basin for 3-4 days thanks to a system of little canals and then let the water evaporate for a month to be able to collect the salt. This site is really impressive. Our cab driver dropped us back to the road for us to catch a bus. To make sure we will have a seat in the bus to Cusco we first caught a bus to Urubamba (S/1) from where the buses going to Cusco depart. This was a good idea as the bus was packed well before Maras. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and getting ready for the Inca Trail ... Will we make it?! :)
