Moray, Pisac and ATVs – the joy is in the journey
Some places are so special that you want to share them – even when you are a solo-by-choice traveler. Sometimes you fall in love with a place and then you want to show the place to someone you love so they can fall in love too. And that is why I have now visited the agricultural ruins of Moray and the archaeological ruins of Pisac twice – because I wanted Parker to experience both. And I am so very happy because we took different approaches each time and I not only got to share both places with Parker but I also got to experience them differently too.
I had visited Moray with my friend Boznia and we were able to spend a couple of hours wandering around the massive site and it was amazing and I highly recommend visiting Moray on your own IF you have the luxury of a lot of time. But if you are short on time, or if you prefer action movies over meditation, then I totally recommend doing an ATV tour to Moray and the salt mines of Maras. Neither Parker nor I had ever driven an ATV solo before and we were both a little nervous, but Floyd (our guide, who was “just Floyd, not Pink Floyd” :)) made us practice until we gained some confidence and were ready to explore. And this is now the 4th or 5th time during my time in Peru that I have thought that “the joy is in the journey.” Often we are too busy anticipating the wonderful place we are headed that we do not notice or fully appreciate the joyful journey. This is something that I have become aware of and I now make a conscious effort to always notice and appreciate the journey. And the journey to Moray, with our own ATVs on the muddy, bumpy roads with the blue skies, the rolling hills and verdant mountains and actually feeling like we were a part of the scenery – well the journey there was just as magical as the ruins themselves but in a wonderfully different way.
It was the best kind of wild fun and I do not have enough ‘wild kind of fun’ memories in my memory vaults. My life of travel, big adventures and new experiences is a fairly new ‘life.’ In fact, that evening Parker and I were remembering a time when they were little and we rented jet skis on Lake Okanogan and their dad took each of the kids out for a ride on the lake and I sat on the dock with the other two kids. Another time we visited a friend’s farm in the winter and everyone went snowmobiling and I offered to stay at the house with all the babies and toddlers. I think I was trying to be nice or maybe I didn’t trust my skills or maybe I had been labelled boring so often that I believed I was or possibly I was trying to win the ‘she who suffers the most’ award. I am not sure why but I used to always sit on the sidelines and I wish I could go back and tell that young mom that there is no award and she who suffers the most will just become she who is full of resentment… So please, rent your own ATV, have some wild fun, do the things that scare the crap out of you and especially, to any young moms out there, let yourself feel a little reckless abandon sometimes – there is no award for missing out on your own joy. (Hmmm, that had nothing to do with solo travel or being a nomad but I hope it strikes a chord with someone reading this.)
So Parker and I got to view the ruins at Moray together and take in a little magic. We were with a tour though, and therefore on a schedule, so she did not get to explore as fully as I did. It was still pretty awesome to view the ruins with her, even if only from above, and our wild ride to and from Moray was so much fun that it was well worth the trade off, I think. And our tour then included the Salt Mines of Maras, which I had heard much about but had not yet visited. Floyd explained that they are much prettier to visit in the dry season (May to October) but I thought they were still beautiful and it was especially cool to view them from above on the long, steep, windy drive down. There are approximately 4,00 salt wells placed like puzzle pieces in stepped terraces on the hill of Qaqawinay and are fed by the Salinaras stream. The terraces and wells are formed by walls made of irregular stones, sealed with mud mortar and the reservoirs are irrigated through channels that are directed by simply placing large stones to redirect the flow of the stream. What was truly fascinating to me is that the salt mines are owned by the families of the 2 villages of Maras and Pichingto. There are approximately 600 families that own and operate the salt mines, based on family groups of Incan origin dating back over 500 years. They continue the ancestral tradition of “ayni” which is based on cooperation and mutual aid. They also continue to use the traditional technology in both the salt production and distribution. It was really inspiring to learn about this incredible communal and egalitarian system of production that has operated successfully for over 500 years. (In my perfect world, this would be one of the most studied ‘business models.’) Aside from the beauty of both the landscape and operational structure, the chocolate that they make sprinkled with the pink Peruvian salt is some of the best chocolate that I have ever tasted and one of the few things that I have ‘had to buy’ so far.
Another place that I had to share with Parker was Pisac. The ruins of Pisac are located about 30 km. north of Cusco, in the Sacred Valley, and were both an Incan community and fortress built around 1440. The ruins themselves are massive, are really intact architecturally and provide such a clear representation of how the Incans set up their communities. The site overlooks the Urubamba River and is spread out over several ‘levels’ with different structures on each level. There are clearly military, religious and agricultural buildings and areas placed strategically and in my humble opinion, Pisac is just as interesting and more accessible than Machu Picchu. Please do not miss out on Pisac if you are in the Sacred Valley. What made my second visit to Pisac just as memorable as my first was the wonderful company that I had and the challenging but rewarding hike all the way down to the village. Our day at Pisac reflects one of my favorite parts about travel, which is meeting new people and ‘clicking,’ On the colectivo from Cusco, there was one other ‘non-local.’ Her name was Nicole, from Oregon, partially Peruvian and travelling alone. We agreed to share a taxi to the top (and her excellent Spanish got us a better deal than my last visit) and by the time we reached the entrance to the ruins, we had ‘clicked.’ So Parker and I invited Nicole to join us for the rest of the day and the 3 of us had an amazing time. It’s such a beautiful thing to meet random new people and discover that you share some common interests and values and also have different stories. For me, I love when you can learn from people and their different stories and perspectives, but it has to be on the common ground of some shared values. I love to meander and was so happy to meander with Parker and Nicole, who also liked to ‘savor’ a place slowly. And I was especially excited, having been to the ruins before, as I knew that they kept getting better and I loved anticipating their reactions to each new lookout or ruin. One of their reactions, over and over, was “WOW” until it started to not sound like a real word and we just started laughing and imitation Owen Wilson…every 5 minutes another incredible thing to behold and another “WOW.”
The other thing that was quite funny happened on the beautiful, challenging and ‘close to the edge’ trek down. It took us about an hour from the lookout post to the edge of the town, and along the way there so many incredible views of Pisac and parts of the Urubamba River, as well as some very steep and uneven paths with very steep drop offs. About 3/4 of the way down, a tiny, elderly Peruvian woman in her sandals, manta and traditional skirt jogged by us (Of course, we were in our traditional hiking costumes ;). I did not have any dark thoughts of tripping her, as I had at the Temple of the Moon, but I did think “Damn!” and “what the heck??” and “WOW!” But then 3 or 4 minutes later, we rounded a bend and we could see the rest of the path down to the town… and she was nowhere on the path. It was still another 10 to 15 minutes of walking but the tiny, elderly woman had vanished. So we spent some of the last part of our descent wondering if she was an ancient Incan witch that had flown the rest of the way down or maybe a ghost or maybe we were having a shared hallucination due to the altitude because it just seemed inconceivable that she could have ran down that steep, narrow trail that fast. However she got down, I tip my traditional hiking hat to that tiny, elderly woman and say “WOW!” It was a fun, funny, joyful and peaceful day with a couple of awesome women and I am so happy to have met Nicole. An interesting that that Parker noticed and is very true and beautiful and sad all at the same time is that when you make ‘travel friends’ you might really connect and think ‘I have made a friend for life’ and that may be true and also you may never see them again. I have made a few friends in the past year and a half of travel that I have actually seen again, a couple that I am in contact with and plan to see again and a few people that I shared an excellent meal or day or excursion or memory with and also will likely never see again. Being open, talking to strangers that become friends, and then continuing on your travel journey is both very beautiful and sometimes sad but still I think, better than not making new friends at all. (Also, I think Nicole will be one a travel friend that I stay in contact with and hope to see again). And one more time because I am so very right about this, if you are going to the Sacred Valley, go spend a whole day at Pisac – it is magical and will not disappoint.
One more adventure to have in Cusco, or anywhere you travel, is a culinary adventure. And to be honest, this is the area that I push myself the least, in terms of being brave and trying new things (to be fair, I don’t think I had ever heard the words falafel or avocado or quinoa until I was in my late 30s). But Parker is a ‘foodie’ and she is crazy about ‘street food.’ She also loves finding the places that most tourists do not find and getting local prices. So while she was visiting, I tried so many foods that I might not have otherwise and most of them were delicious. I normally do not eat meat but when travelling I sometimes eat fish or chicken and if you are in Peru, I highly recommend Aji de Gallina (traditional chicken dish with awesome sauce) and Trucha Frita (fried trout that is fried in some special way that makes it both super crunchy but also magically tender). I am full of guilt and shame about this next recommendation but Parker made me try this incredible appetizer based on alpaca meat and I am so, so sad but it was one of the best things that I have ever tasted. Personally I cannot recommend Cuy (in Peru, roasted or fried guinea pig is a specialty and a sign of abundance) but Parker tried it and made me try one bite and it seems to be popular but that one bite was not my favorite thing. I did love and highly recommend Papa a la Huancaina (boiled potatoes in an extra delicious sauce made from cheese and garlic – I don’t know how boiled potatoes can be so tasty but this dish is delicious), Causa Rellana (another strange but delightful potato dish – basically mashed potatoes layered with smashed peas and chicken salad like some kind of mini potato trifle thing), and of course Choclo con Queso (corn with melted cheese – often sold from the street carts). Other notable street cart food was this paper thin fried quinoa ‘bread,’ some kind of burnt nuts that are sold everywhere but are really, really unpleasant to chew and I would not try them again plus a few other things that I don’t know what they were. The funniest for me was the juice that Parker excitedly bought from the woman who is always set up by the ‘cambio’ (currency exchange) that turned out to be warm quinoa juice. It was both lumpy and warm, two things I am not used to juice being, but Parker finished it…she said it grew on her. There were a few more new dishes that we tried but honestly I think my favorite dish is still the amazing Picarones, especially from the tiny place on the corner of Calle de Ruinas. One thing that I would add and something that I am passionate about – when travelling, whether it is for a week or a month or longer, please really consider only supporting local. It can be hard or uncomfortable to not only try new foods but to walk into a place filled with only local people, especially if you do not speak the language, but food is such an intricate and intimate part of a culture that eating local will only enrich your travel experience. (And please do not support international chains – they not only do not need your business but they take away from local businesses).
One more thing that I love about having Parker for a travel partner is being able to share food with her – for me (and thankfully both my daughters), it is so much more enjoyable to share dishes and have twice as many options at every meal. And I also love that Parker pushed me to try so many foods that I might not have without her gentle nudging. Lastly, I loved that she was not only game but excited to venture off the beaten path and search out the small local places. And we realized something really funny only 2 days before she left. At most places, we would ask for an extra plate so we could split the food up. I had read somewhere that you were supposed to ask for an ’empty’ plate (as opposed to extra) which I did repeatedly, always with very little, to no success and we would have to resort to bad miming with a bit of pointing. The night we were in Agua Calientes, we were eating with our Machu Picchu guide Jessie, and she asked us what we meant when I asked for a cow plate… wait, what? “Por favor, necesitamos una placa vacia” would be how one asks for an empty or extra plate but I had spent the past 12 days telling servers all over Cusco and beyond, “Necesitamos una plata de vaca, por favor”… we need a cow plate, please. Obviously, my Spanish still needs much improvement, but I keep trying.
I am trying to decide if I am portraying all of my adventures with my daughter through rose-colored glasses but I don’t think so. Honestly, the ATV adventure, learning about the salt mines, exploring Pisac again, the long trek down, meeting Nicole… it was all so much fun or it was beautiful and peaceful, or sometimes it was somehow fun and beautiful and peaceful all at the same time. And not all of it was perfect but it was joyful. I think the days were full of fun and beauty and joy because we were just so happy to be together and in fact, we were grateful before the adventures even started. That might be another key to travel – I said in my last post to let go of all expectations except the expectation that you will be delighted and I will add to be grateful before you begin. So expect to be delighted, be grateful before you begin, look for the joy in the journey, do not buy juices of unknown ingredients and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS drive your own ATV!!!
https://americanincatrail.com/tour/Moray-Salt-mines-quad-bike If you try the quad bike tour, ask for Floyd!!
