As the final few days scheduled in Cusco pass, much of the time has been spent idling about the plaza, people-watching with a cup of juice at hand to while the time. Despite the frenzied happenings of tourist traffic here, the locals removed from the main industry seem to enjoy a more idyllic life. There is a certain envy in their slow approach; and mindful of this, I teased out the remainder of my time here with a day trip to the Moray ruins. Nestled a few miles away from the town of Maras some short distance from Cusco, this idyllic countryside ruin holds much mystery yet.
The trip on the outbound bus traversed, again, through some high ridges looking down on brilliantly pied spring valleys. The verdant hills unfolded into the distance, the glaciers clung to the high mountains, cattle and goats grazed alone the pastures. Dotting the landscape were local farmers out tending their stock, their vestments glistening iridescently in the incident sunlight. For all its color and variety, poverty and wealth… for sure this nation’s natural beauty is what will stay with my mind most.
The Incans seemed to built this vast complex at Moray as a proto-agriculture laboratory. The concentric pits descend more than some 35 meters down, causing a temperature gradient as much as 15 C. The entire complex has a intricate irrigation system that can flood each terrace. Apparently, this was used by the Incans to experiment with ideal conditions for different crops and to hybridize strains of crops. It’s a marvel to gaze and reflect on genius of the Incans and how advance this civilization was before the Spanish invasion. They were indeed, in some ways, so much ahead of their time.
