Back to the Salt Mines then head for home

We are driving to our next tour and we are above 12,000 feet and what do we see but

Quinoa! If you look at the top of the bush you will see the little seeds that are harvested and now are the new power food that everyone wants to eat. It can be eaten in place of rice and is much healthier for you. I think they used to say that about heroin,  cocaine and methamphetamine too. I don't think you can put quinoa in that same category though.

As I was saying we were headed to our next tour stop: the great terraced salt mines of Peru.

These salt mines were created by the ancient people of Peru before the birth of Christ. When you think of Peru, most people think of the Inca empire but that was only two hundred years or so from the 13 to 15 hundreds. We can see now that things were going on a long time before the Incas came on the scene.

This woman is preparing this salt pool for the next dose of saltwater.  They put fresh mud in the pool and stamp it down so it will hold the saltwater that is flooded into the pool.  The sun evaporates the water and leaves the salt which is then harvested and sent off to market. This takes about two months to complete. If you want to work in the salt mines I hear there are openings for some mud stampers if you are interested. I think you get a pound of salt free each week and your feet stay baby soft!

Much of the Andes mountains were originally under the sea.  Now at 12,000 plus feet the water that runs out of the ground is saltwater from the original salt deposits from the sea.

Cindy is tasting the water that is coming from the mountain spring. It is at least two times saltier than the water in the ocean.

Our next stop is where the extra terrestrials landed on earth long before we were here.

Just kidding (I hope).  These are Inca Terraces at Moray. They are not really sure what they were used for. Some think for crops, others think for religious reasons. Or maybe just those spaceship landings :-) !!!

We went to our final Inca ruins at Sacsayhuaman Fortress (near Cuzco).

 Here you can see a rock formation that looks like a foot of a Puma.  Many of the rocks were placed to look like different creatures during their time, such as the llama, snake and condor.

The rock over my left shoulder is the biggest rock found in any Inca ruin that has been discovered. We were told how much they estimated it weighs but that is one of many things I forgot!

Now we start our long, long trek home. We woke up in our hotel in Cuzco around 7:30 AM. We checked out and were on our way to the airport by 9:15 AM. We all caught a flight to Lima.  In Lima we took a bus tour of the city.

The above two photos are of the Plaza de Armas' at the Government Center.

After the city tour we went to the Larco Museum where we took a short tour through the museum and had our farewell dinner.

Here we are finishing the tour and preparing for our farewell dinner held at the museum.  One part of the museum was dedicated to sexual erotica of the time. Many clay statues, pots and symbols were displayed. 

We left for the airport in Lima at 9:30 PM. Our flight to Miami took off shortly after 1:20 AM. We arrived in Miami around 8 AM. Our flight for San Francisco left at 2:50 PM and arrived in San Francisco at 6:15 PM. We arrived at our home around 9:00 PM on Tuesday. It was a long 37 hours.

We will leave you with photos of two budding artists that we captured at work near the salt mines.

Refill your stick (paint brush) with fresh mud.

Head over to a fresh canvas (a nice blank wall)