Day 4 - Moray & Maras

12/23/2010
Happy Birthday MOM!! I think this is your 13th time turning 39 years old! GREAT SUCCESS.  I hope you had a great birthday, given this is a little belated.

The day was a complete experience, and up there in my top 4 days so far.  We began the day early in the morning with our new tour guide, Raul. 

You can really see why the locals thought this valley to be sacred and mystical. 

For some of you who have never seen a horse, this is what they look like...

I´ll let the pictures do the talking

We climbed the mountain on the horses for about an hour until our guide thought it would be wise to take a short-cut.



He must have taken this picture 20 seconds before falling off the horse... this is the shortcut to the left.

Papa brought in the rear as we went up a fairly steep face and suddenly his saddle came loose and fell off backwards.  He got up quicker than I have seen any retiree rise from anything.  The trooper he is, they tightened up the saddle and he hopped on and we continued on up the mountain.  He could feel his back tightening up the whole day and we just hoped it would feel better for Machu Picchu.  Unfortunately, my sunscreen must have rubbed off on my jacket in the rain, or I sweat it off because my neck and face are BURNT!!!  Luckily for Raul, he already had sunblock, its natural and called SPF SKIN.  Those peruvians have some tough skin my friends.  My Horse was cool for a majority of the time, but whenever he felt like he didn´t want to follow any longer, he would just veer off and walk wherever he felt.  Eventually I got him back on track, but then he would be doing a zig-zag... He must be the stable - drunk who everyone despises and laughs at.
We followed the road through a group of Sheep, Donkeys, and Bulls and I think sheep are the funniest animals ever.  They baaaah and all of them have their own unique voice.  Some even sound human, like a little sheepito walking around going MOMMMMM, Mommmmmm. Haha! I have video on the Flip-cam.


That´s what I call horsepower

Raul is an avid rafter and told us about 3 years ago he got caught under a rock and nearly died.  He did not tell us how he got free... All we know is that he says he pays tribute to the water every single year (don´t know how he does that either, we assumed he sacrifices young female spaniards).



Moray, how incredible is that

Now that´s a Baño

We rode about 6 miles until we arrived at Moray, how amazing is that place?!  It was used strictly for agriculture and it is actually carved into this valley.  They, of course, engineered water management and studied this place before even beginning to build.  You will never see standing water at the bottom of this place, and look, everything drains to the middle!  Another interesting fact is they actually used this place as a laboratory because each terrace has a different humidity level, allowing them to grow different crops at different altitudes and experiment with varieties as well.  The Irish potato actually originated in this area, along with Maize and 2,500+ species of potato.  When the Spanish arrived, they believed it to be a theatre due to the strong acoustics in the ruins.  I was debating whether or not I should melt some faces on my flute for everyone to hear. 
We had lunch up there, got our much needed coca-tea fix, said goodbye, to horses (Mr. Drunkie needed some lovin too), and off to Maras then to the salt flats.

There is a mysterious Salt water stream which supplies this entire area with highly concentrated salt-water.  It is almost 23% salt.  If you stick your hand in the water and let it dry, it actually leaves a very grainy residue, very easy to see why they are so successful.  I put the salt-water in my mouth and immediately regretted that decision.  UGHH THIZZLE.
Well that was the day, it was a dandy.
Love
Adam "formerly know as the navigator" Rappin