Incan Laboratories and Salt Pans

     Today was truly incredible because of the variety of sites visited by our groups, and the diversity of their purposes. Our first stop was at a shop of artisanal wool weavers. The weavers showed us how they created colors for Alpaca and Llama wool from different herbs and minerals. Afterwards, they showed us how the wool is shaped into cloth, and the variety of patterns that can be made from them. It was interesting to see how the people of the Peruvian Andes are keeping their traditions alive by turning them into a business.
     Next, we visited Las Salineras de Maras, Peru's highest rated salt pans. They were first developed by Pre-Incan Indians, and were then used by the Incans to supply Cuzco with salt. Afterwards, the Spanish increased the scale of the pans to trade the salt throughout Peru. The pans drain a spring of salt water from the surrounding hills into terraces via gravity; then the pans are sealed off from the drain and allowed to dry. Rather than being managed by one large business, several families from the local manage it, with each family owning and harvesting from about five pans. The top layer of salt is used for cooking, the second for medicine purposes due to its mixture with clay, and the third for livestock salt licks due to its lower quality. I sampled a few flakes of the salt from the top of a nearly finished pan; despite the small portions I had, they were so pure that left a warmth in my stomach, and later on I was unusually thirsty.
     Next, we toured the Annillos Agrícolas de Moray, an ancient Incan site dedicated solely to experimental breeding of crops. In order to improve their agricultural outputs, the Inca developed scientific selection of their crops much as modern selective breeding does However, exact comparisons are hard to make since the knowledge the Incan scientists has since been lost. The sites were open pits, the sides of which were terraced in layers approximately one meter deep. There were more than a dozen levels each in the two larger pits, and about four or five in the smaller one. Each layer had a microclimate that was slightly colder than the one above it, creating a wide range of temperatures so that different plants from throughout the Incan Empire could be grown in it for the experiments.