Salt as a Passport to the Rainbow

RIGHT AT THE BASE OF THE MARAS TOWN, AMONG THE VALLE SAGRADO MOUNTAIN RIDGES OF PERU, A VERY UNCOMMON SALT TAKES US TO ANCESTRAL STORIES THAT BEAR OUT THE LEGEND ABOUT THE POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW

MSome 50 kilometers away from Cusco, we could make out the well-painted scenery of a place that, as odd as it might appear, is seldom visited in this world in which ever-growing technology

leaves just a handful of landscapes out of sight

ake no mistakes about it; this is a selfiefriendly location. Even before you get to thousands of small salt pans, the endless white terraces seem to wonder what we're waiting for to freeze-frame our shapes under the sweltering sun, right in the same Peruvian place where mighty monarchs used to control that treasure on a daily basis. Awed as simple mortal tourists, we'll have no other choice but take a picture there, among the mountain ridges of the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley) of the Incas.

A few watchtowers along the road will let you stare at the Maras Salt Pans, yet some 50 kilometers away from Cusco, we could make out the well-painted scenery of a place that, as odd as it might appear, is seldom visited in this world in which ever-growing technology barely leaves a handful of landscapes out of sight.

When it comes to looking for colors, just follow the photographers. They traipse down the area like seasoned explorers on a quest for beauty. No wonder renowned professional shutterbugs have captured the shifting and amazing shades as the sunlight –filtered through by the passing clouds- beams on these salt terraces that sway on the edge of the Qaqawiñay Mountain, some 3,380 meters above the line of the distant sea.

With all the details of their empire, the Inca gods worked the magic –and highly productive- wonders of the salt mines. A spring timely provides the terraces with saltwater. During the drought season, the saltwater siphons through the wells that later on, with the help of the mighty sun, trigger the evaporation process that results in some special kind of solidified salt.

In a laidback walk coupled with a good talk and valuable time spent with the local families –as you move from one station to another- there's a repeat of the ancestral procedure that deserves the blessing of salt.

In virtue of its mineral content and therapeutic properties, the so-called salt of the

Incas is highly coveted in saunas, Jacuzzis and spas. Word has it that a bath with those salts will surely relax the muscles and relieve stress, yet this recommendation also includes the original landscape, because unlike the desolate view of the huge industrial salt mines, this location is home to these salts, a place teeming with hues and special feelings that make up a healing environment all by itself.

There's no such thing as nature without enchantment, legends or stories. Oral tradition speaks of the brothers that founded the empire: Ayar Cachi, Ayar Auca, Ayar Uchu and Ayar Manco. Cachi, betrayed by the other three and confined in the vicinity of the Weqey Willka Mountain, wept so much that his tears gave birth to these salt pans that still provide life with a simple but common seasoning ingredient: the pinkish, purplish and lilac shades –even worshipped by the Andean gods- that cannot be found anywhere else under the sun.

The town of Maras, just half a dozen kilometers from the salt pans, holds some 6,000 inhabitants who act as guardians of other treasures: several houses still boast door dints from the colonial times, with balconies and headstones with the building dates and the owner names carved in them. The house that belonged to Captain Pedro Ortiz de Orué, the founder of the Spanish village in 1556, stands tall near the Arms Square.

From the Maras Salt Pans, tourists can also make out Moray, a place where an assortment of natural amphitheaters whipped terraces with contrasting microclimates, depending on the heights. There's a difference equivalent to 1,000 meters of conventional weather variations between layers.

The best idea on how close you really are to this zone of the former Inca Empire is the brief visit from the Maras Salt Pans to the town of Chinchero. Even though many people get astonished to see in Maras nothing compared to the harsh and aggressive view of common salt mines, they'll be twice as much astounded as they gaze at a place with no disguises or makeup; a typical Peruvian hamlet that stands before their eyes.

Listen to the Inca gods and visit Chinchero. Not every day you can put your body and soul together in the exact place where –as the gods say- there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

During the drought season, the saltwater siphons through the wells that later on, with the help of the mighty sun, triggers the evaporation process that results in some special kind of solidified salt