July 8: Chinchero, Moray, and Salinas

Helen and I slept in while the other four people in our dorm woke up early for their trip to the ruins. We had tickets on the PeruRail back to Ollanytambo. The train ride was surreal, in keeping with the über-tourist theme of Machu Picchu. First, the train actually left almost on time, which is nothing short of a miracle in Peru. Then the train started playing a pre-recorded message about the jungle we were passing through and the destination town. Railway attendants dressed up like stewardesses served coffee and soft drinks. And THEN a man dressed up in a white shirt and vest with a white balaclava danced up and down the narrow aisle of the two train cars. Helen and I looked at each other with complete disbelief. But the show wasn’t over yet. The stewardesses then put on a fashion show of alpaca goods! Complete with bad techno music! They modeled various sweaters and ponchos then offered them to the passengers for purchase. It was SO weird.

Eventually we reached Ollanytambo and I was never so grateful to be off a train. I mean, I don’t know if working for the railway is considered a good job or not. It must be. The prices they charge are far more than any other system of transportation in Peru. But I wonder if the employees feel humiliated when they have to dance up and down the aisle of the train, day in and day out. It smacks vaguely of a minstrel show in that self mocking way. It certainly made me feel uncomfortable.

Anyway, Helen and I walked into town to catch a bus to Urubamba and on to the town of Pisac to check out the market. The view from the bus was beautiful - snow capped mountains in the distance surrounded by fields of dry grass.On the way we met an Italian couple who told us that the market in Pisac is far more touristed than the one in Chinchero and would we like to accompany them? So we decided to follow the Italian couple for the day. It turned out that the Italians had actually seen Helen and I back in the hot springs at Aguas Calientes – one more coincidence in a trip full of them! In Urubamba we all caught a combi (yet another minibus) to Chinchero where we bought some sweets and popcorn at the market and watched the hustle and bustle of trade. Although I never made it to Pisac, the people hawking their wares in Chinchero seemed authentic. I don’t mean authentic in that other Peruvians are disingenuous, but there is a certain population who dress in traditional clothing solely for the benefit of the tourist and in the expectation of tips. These women all wore their hair in the traditional two braids down the back with the black thick woolen skirts as if they wore these clothes every day, much like the islanders back in Lake Titicaca.

From Chinchero we were interested in checking out Moray and Salinas, two outlying smaller tourist sites, so we hired a cab for 40 soles to take us around. Moray consisted of several deep bowls carved with concentric agricultural terracing. All of the steps in the terracing were the flagstone-sticking-out-of-wall type.
The guidebook explained that the depth of each layer mimics a microclimate of the mountainous terrain of Peru. Incas may have used the site to perform agricultural experiments in the various environments.

Salinas is a massive salt pan used in the creation of cow licks. A heavily salinated hot spring discharges water, which is diverted to the various salt pans below. The taxi dropped us off by the top of the pans and we walked to the edge of a cliff to look below. It would have been wonderful to wander around down there. The various colors ranged from muddy brown to sparkling white. However the weather was bad (drizzly and depressing) and everyone was exhausted from the excitement of Machu Picchu. After a long afternoon we asked the taxi driver if he could just take us back to Cuzco.

Finally back in town, I switched hostels to La Pakcha Real and had a much needed hot shower. I wandered around the square to check out the statues that had been put up in my absence then met up with Carolyn from the Colca Canyon trek to eat fondue with her and her Welsh friend who had been staying in Argentina. I had a fantastic triple sandwich, which consists of a fried egg with tomato and avocado on a roll - the perfect end to an exhausting couple of days.