Ruins, salt and horses

Busy day today.  We walked, according to FitBit, 8.7 miles and climbed 30 flights of stairs.

We started at Ollantaytambo, a town and former royal estate of the Inca Emperor Pachacuti.  Visiting Ollantaytambo required climbing 23 flights of stairs.  

The view from the top is breathtaking as it sits at the junction of 3 major valleys in the Andes Mountains.  Fun fact: the snow line in the Andes is at 16,000 ft.  

Here is video from the climb.  

We had lunch at a ranch where we saw the famous Peruvian horses perform.  These horses are descendants of the horses ridden by the conquering conquistadors.  

Another day and more unusual food. Today, it was beef hearts. Not bad.

After lunch, we visited Moray.  This is another Incan site consisting of terraced circular depressions that look like they were built by aliens.  The current theory is that the Incas used this site to study growing crops under various conditions.

Our final stop was the salt beds of Maras.  This also dates to the times of the Incas.  There is an underground saltwater spring that the Incas diverted into channels to fill salt beds. Salt is mined as the water in the beds evaporates. The salt beds are owned by the town of Maras and each family has 5-7 salt beds to use as they please.  

We hiked down to the valley from the salt beds.  Salt beds are at 11,000 ft and the valley is at 9,000 ft. My altitude medicine seems to be working as I have not gotten those horrible headaches while sleeping like I had in Quito.

Tomorrow, we go on a horseback ride in the Sacred Valley.