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We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for much of the information we obtained about the town of Maras and The Salt Mines Of Maras ( Las Salinas de Maras ). Forty kilometers from Cuzco, in the Cuzco Region of Peru, is the town of Maras, found in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The area is accessible only by a dilapidated dirt road from Cuzco and surrounding towns. Tourist sites in the area include the colonial church and local salt mines, the scenery of which is interesting to observe and photograph. During pre-Inca times, beginning with the Tahuantinsuyo culture, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating salty water (provided by a nearby subterranean Qoripujio spring) in the sun, leaving the salt behind. The highly salty water has been flowing from this nearby stream for hundreds of years. A main channel flows across the mountain and trickles down to all the pools below. As the salt water becomes supersaturated, salt crystals begin precipitating out of the water. The farmers then scrape the salt to the side and collect it once a sizable amount has been gathered. Some salt is sold at a nearby gift store. The salt mines are available to any person wishing to harvest salt. There are many unused salt pools that are available to be farmed. Any prospective farmer need only find an unoccupied pool to start working. In the salt mines there are more than 3,000 salt-pools; when light is reflected upon the pools, the effect is quite stunning. We were at the town of Maras and the Salt Mines Of Maras at about 12:56 PM on the afternoon of March 22, 2011.

The first choice of where to go in order to visit the town of Maras and The Salt Mines Of Maras ( Las Salinas de Maras ), near Cusco, Peru is to fly in to Cusco, Peru. The Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (IATA: CUZ, ICAO: SPZO) is located in the city of Cusco, in southeastern Peru. Cusco is a principal tourist attraction in Latin America, and it receives various domestic flights as well as some international flights. There are several really nice hotels in Cusco. We found that when touring Peru, Magical Cusco Tours gave us the best service of all. They even arranged very personal tours based upon our ages and experience. They were there for us whenever we needed them. We have links to Magical Cusco Tours on our page so that they can arrange your tours of the town of Maras and the Salt Mines Of Maras, near Cusco, and the surrounding areas. Click on any of their links on our pages and they will give you a 4% discount for taking their package tours. Mention delange.org. Merchant Code Inka2010 for your discount! We suggest letting Ana Maria handle your tour. Note: The 4% discount applies to package tours only! Discount does not apply to hotel bookings, domestic or international tickets, meals or any other service booked as a single activity. Magical Cusco Tours also has a culinary tour that you may enjoy.Click Here For: Taste Of Peru.com their culinary tour page. We also have links to Priceline.Com on our pages, in case you may prefer to use their services.