The Town of Maras, Cusco

Maras are located 48 km northwest of Cusco, 12 km of Urubamba, and on the 3028 meters. The temperature fluctuates between 1 to 21 degrees Celsius.

Maras was an essential village during the viceroyalty (the leading salt supplier of the southern highlands), as evidenced by the church and houses that still have the Indian nobility shields on their facades. The places are adobe, with white walls, roofs, and blue windows; the streets are stone and mud. The lintels can imply read inscribed in stone the date they did build, their owner, or some shield or ornament.

The Spaniards founded Maras in 1556, and it was in charge of the encomendero Pedro Ortiz de Orue. Whose house has located a block from the place of arms, in its lintel of his door? The data of its owner does read. It was he who established this custom, which continues to this day. It does recommend to see the house belonging to the Inca Tupac Sinchi Roca (Jerusalem 249), the Jesuit portal (Jerusalem 233), and the cover of Sancho Usca Paucar (Jerusalem 245), which surprises for its work and ornamentation.

The Church San Francisco, built by Orue, has four altarpieces in the Baroque style of the seventeenth century, with beautiful carvings covered with gold leaf. There are paintings on the Cusco school Antonio Sinchi Roca walls, with scenes from the Gospel And portraits of saints.

At present, the main economic activity of Maras is agriculture. Among its most visited attractions are Salineras, located 10 km away. Of the village. Nearby is the Andenes de Moray

The Saltworks of Maras Cusco

• The Salinas de Maras in Cusco, or Salinas de maras as they do also called, are salt mines whose exploitation is as old as the Tahuantinsuyo. In the form of terraces or platforms, the Salinas cross by a stream that feeds saltwater pools.
• The salt of Maras dates thousands of years and is inherited in each family but does manage communally.
• The name of the saline in Quechua is Kachi Raqay.
• The view of the pool is spectacular. The villagers show visitors their ancestral techniques and allow them to intervene in the collection, festivals, and Andean rituals.
  The place does highly recommended for lovers of photography. The area is ideal for trekking and mountain biking.

Maras Tourist Attractions

Maras.

It is an impressive salt mining complex, which the Incas already exploited as a means of economic exchange and values. From Maras, you can visit the salt mines by a horseshoe path, where it is common to find bundles that load the sacks of salt extracted from the natural salinas.

Temple.

It is an outstanding colonial church made of adobe with the typical religious architecture where you can find cuzqueñas paintings representing the Last Supper, Jesus, and the apostles. It also shows beautiful houses with Indian noblemen shields, reflecting a time of prosperity during the colony.

The Covers.

They are beautifully carved stone carvings in high relief and geometric and zoomorphic figures.