Category: Peru

Peru Selection

“Inca cachi”, the “Incas Salt”, Salt ponds of Maras, Peru

Inca cachi

“Inca cachi”, the “Incas Salt”, Salt ponds of Maras, Peru

 

What makes Maras salt so special is that the ponds in which it is collected are located in the mountains, at more than 3300 meters above sea level and at a distance of more than 400 km from the sea.
The presence of salt in these ponds is due to the ingenuity of the pre-Inca peoples who lived in the region.
Indeed, more than 2000 years ago, they diverted a stream naturally saturated with sodium chloride, and brought it using channels and small canals to come and flow into terraced ponds dug on the side of Qaqawinay mountain, about 50km far from Cuzco.
Once the water is trapped in one of the 3600 ponds, it evaporates leaving the salt ready to be harvested. Today, salt has no longer the same value as in Inca times, during which it was a real “White Gold”, but about 700 to 800 Quechua families organized into cooperatives continues to live off its harvest.

Peru Selection

“Inca cachi”, the “Incas Salt”, Salt ponds of Maras, Peru

Inca cachi

“Inca cachi”, the “Incas Salt”, Salt ponds of Maras, Peru
 

What makes Maras salt so special is that the ponds in which it is collected are located in the mountains, at more than 3300 meters above sea level and at a distance of more than 400 km from the sea.
The presence of salt in these ponds is due to the ingenuity of the pre-Inca peoples who lived in the region.
Indeed, more than 2000 years ago, they diverted a stream naturally saturated with sodium chloride, and brought it using channels and small canals to come and flow into terraced ponds dug on the side of Qaqawinay mountain, about 50km far from Cuzco.
Once the water is trapped in one of the 3600 ponds, it evaporates leaving the salt ready to be harvested. Today, salt has no longer the same value as in Inca times, during which it was a real “White Gold”, but about 700 to 800 Quechua families organized into cooperatives continues to live off its harvest.

Peru Selection

Nevado Chachani, Arequipa Area, Peru

Nevado Chachani, Arequipa Area, Peru

Located in the south Peru, the Nevado Chachani volcano is the highest volcano in the Arequipa (6 075 meters of altitude). This volcano is a part of the central volcanic range of the Andes Cordillera. It is rare to have its top snowy. Since 2008, because of global warming, its last glacier has totally melted.

Paper, Peru, Peru Paper

Peru: A hat history

Everybody has his own hat, and for each hat its meaning.
Specifically in Peru, and generally in the Andean range, choosing a hat is not a simple thing.
Indeed, every headgear, in addition to its fashion aspects, carries several information about its wearer.
For instance, caps can provide information about the wearer, like his marital status or his social level.
Also, each ethnic group is recognizable thanks to their different hats.
Continue reading“Peru: A hat history”

Paper, Peru, Peru Paper

Peru: The Nazca geoglyphs

 

Today it is particularly hot, the air is dry, it has not rained for few months, this is why you are going through the desert. The goal to reach is the mountain located on the other side. There lives Kon, the God servant who transmits the messages coming from the Earth until Heaven. In exchange of the offering you give him, he might transmit your message. This message will supplicate the Gods of Heaven to rain once more on the villages’ farming.
In order to find your way until the mountain, you follow weird paths on the ground. Those paths have not been observed in their whole by Humans.
For this, the best way would be to fly like a condor, but this gift, like the drawings, is reserved for the celestial birds and the Gods.

Continue reading“Peru: The Nazca geoglyphs”