Urubamba - Cusco
In the province of Urubamba – Cusco, a mountain is cut into thousands of declining white terraces that, seen from above and according to the luminosity at every hour of the day, create makeup textures and surprising shades. They are the Salt Mines of Maras, from the Community of Maras, located on a hillside of the Qaqawiñay mountain in the middle of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Located in the northeast of Maras, a small town 40 km from Cusco, the Maras Salt Mines are one of the most incredible places in Andean South America, the scene of a pre-Hispanic economic activity that has supported generations of people from native cultures including the Incas.
The Maras Salt Mines are made up of 4,200 pools, each just a few square meters, where the saltwater that flows from a spring in the middle of the mountain crystallizes under the sun, creating a wonder of nature: Maras Pink Salt.
They are considered true salt mines. For hundreds of years, and we are sure for hundreds more, a 100% natural spring salt has been produced here. The work and care with which the communities maintain their artisanal production to this day has been fundamental. This has allowed the production of Maras Pink Salt to be the economic sustenance of the people of Maras for centuries.
Why
Peruvian
Pink Salt?
Enter in the debate on what type of salt is better to consume, if Peruvian Pink Salt or regular cooking salt, or if Peruvian Pink Salt and sea salt, even if it is better than Himalayan Salt.
Maras Salt, unlike common salt, is a natural spring salt, with high mineral content and a unique flavor contribution.
Common salt or regular cooking salt is a chemically produced salt, where color, drying, and granulometry is produced, hence the name of Refined Salt.
Sea salt comes from contaminated oceans, without any mineral input.
In the case of Himalayan Salt, its positive points are being a 100% natural salt with a high mineral content, coming from a place with an ancestral history. On the contrary, being a rock salt, it has a hardness that prevents easy digestion, which can even bring kidney problems; the taste is a negative point also knowing that it is the same as common salt.
How is
Peruvian
Pink Salt
Extracted?
Maras – 50 kilometers from Cusco and 3,300 meters above sea level – found its good fortune in salt. But how is it produced? Since time immemorial, the area has had a spring that comes out of the middle of the mountain, bringing saltwater. The water is carried to the pools through channels that run all over the site. Through a process of crystallization in the sun, this water evaporates and gives rise to a unique product: Maras Pink Salt.
The salt cannot be harvested year round. Work can only start once the rainy season is over, which makes Peruvian Pink Salt even more sought after.
Legend of
The Maras
Salt Mines
There is a legend that tells that the salty spring that flows from the Mountain are the tears of Ayar Kachi according to Inca mythology, who was one of the 4 brothers who founded the great Inca Empire.
The God Wiraqocha made the 4 brothers come out of a cave to found a great empire; Ayar Kachi threw a stone at the Mountain and his brothers, fearful of his strength and power, tricked him into the cave, preventing him from being the founder of the empire. Ayar Kachi's tears created the beautiful salt place that covers the mountainside, creating the Maras Salt Mines.
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Types of Maras Pink Salt
