PIRWA TOURS IN CUSCO

• city tour Cusco
• Cusco south valley
• Quad bike tour
• Rafting Apurimac river 3 days
• Sacred valley of the incas
• Maras Moray halfday
• Biking Maras Moray
• South valley & Maras Moray
• Complete Cusco

PIRWA HOSTELS IN CUSCO

• Backpackers Colonial
• B&B Posada del Corregidor
• B&B Hostel Suecia
• Hostel San Blas

Pirwa travel Peru

Phone: +51 084 244315

E-mail: pirwatravel@gmail.com

Cusco - Peru

TOUR SOUTH VALLEY & MARAS MORAY

The less-traveled southern part of the Sacred Valley of the Incas really shouldn´t be missed. Discover the waterworks of Tipón, the Wari ruins of Pikillacta, the striking Maras Salt Mines, the Inca Agricultural Laboratory of Morray, and a colonial mud-brick church which, in spite of a humble exterior, possesses a wondrous interior which has earned it the nickname "The Sistine Chapel of America".

ITINERARY

Travelers will be picked up at their respective hotels at 9:00am and we´ll head by bus to the southern part of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Our first stop of the day will be Tipón Archeological Center. The Tipón shrine is modest in size, but astounds with its quality stonework and hydraulic engineering. Once part of a shrine network delineating a sun pilgrimage undertaken by Inca priests before the winter solstice, its precisely-calculated channels of carved stone, uncommonly narrow and deep, divert water from a nearby sacred spring to ceremonial fountains and agricultural terraces. A 1½km canal brings water from the heights of Mt Pachusan, becomes subterranean where the sun shrine, or intihuatana, is located, and from there distributes the water through channels fitted out with control hatches. Here you´ll also see a mountainous outcrop and former Inca Lookout known as Cruz Moqo (Peak Where There´s a Cross) or Qosqo Qhawarina (From Where One Spies Cusco), because from here one can spy western Cusco.
Afterwards, we´ll continue on to the pre-Inca Wari ruins of Pikillacta (Flea City). Also known for its hydraulic system, its hundreds of rooms over a 2 square km area, span the gamut from small and plain to large and ornate. The presence of human remains suggests use as a ritual facility for ancestor worship.
We´ll then head towards Andahuaylillas (Copper Field) to visit the Church of San Pedro, often referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of America", whose rustic surroundings and simple exterior of adobe walls on an Inca stone base belie a stunning interior whose every surface is covered in richly colored ornate murals with Amazonian gold-leaf. Numerous paintings of the Cusco School cement the church´s status as a colonial art treasure hidden away in the Sacred Valley.
En route back to Tipón there´ll be a lunch stop at one of the restaurants along the way After 2:00pm our journey picks up again as we head to Moray (3200m), passing through a landscape studded with corn and oca fields before ascending to Moray by dirt road. This set of concentric circular terraces served as an agricultural laboratory during Inca times, creating different microclimates where each terrace represents a change of about 1000m under normal farming circumstances. After a fascinating hour-long tour of this site, we´ll continue to the Maras Salt Mines, where the Inca diverted a saltwater stream from Qaqawiñay Mountain through thousands of shallow pools in terraces staggered along the hillside. Still used to produce salt today for the Peruvian and international market, the sunlight striking the bright white surfaces produces a stunning sight you won´t see anywhere else. After an hour-long tour we´ll return to Cusco around 5:30pm by bus.

PIRWA HOSTELS PERU & BOLIVIA