The Salt Pans of Salineras, and the Sacred Valley of Peru

I’ve given you a hint in the title of this post, so you probably already know what you’re looking at in the photo above. They’re not terraces of snow or white marble — they’re thousands of individual pools of salt in Peru’s Urubamba River valley.
They are all family-owned and passed down through generations.
The pools are filled with heavily salted water from a natural spring. The water is diverted into the pans through a series of channels, which can be blocked off, controlling where the water flows.
Once the pan is filled with water, the sun does its job and helps evaporate the water in a few weeks, leaving layers of salt about one meter deep (about 40 inches).
The top layer is used in the leather industry; the middle layer is used for animals and the very bottom, and finest salt layer, is for human consumption. I’m sure many of you have purchased fleur de sel from France for your cooking. In Spanish it’s called “flor de sal” or “flower of salt.”
At Salineras, they sell lots of different kinds of salts, including some flavored with herbs and spices.
I bought several bags, including one type of salt that’s used for medicinal purposes — very useful after my ankle injury on this trip.
Salineras is in a beautiful area of Peru called the “Sacred Valley” — an area of rolling fields and fertile farmland between Cusco and Machu Picchu.
It’s also an area of many ancient Incan sites, all crowned by the magnificent backdrop of the Andes mountains.
One of the most unusual places we visited was Moray. These concentric circles are thought to have been a center for Incan agricultural research, where crops were grown at different levels, and where temperatures changed precipitously from the lowest to the highest terrace.
We also stopped at Chinchero, where there are more Incan ruins and where we got a demonstration on natural dying and weaving from two Quechua women who were spinning baby llama wool.
Most of the colors came from plant material, such as this purple corn:
But one of the colors came from a small beetle that lives on cacti, called the cochineal beetle. It appears to be white, but once it’s scraped off the protective white covering on the cactus and crushed between the fingers, it turns as red as bright lipstick.
The beetles are dried,
Then crushed into powder before mixing with water.

There are so many more Incan sites to visit in the “Sacred Valley” and we barely scratched the surface.
The people we met were so friendly and warm, we were sorry we couldn’t spend more time there. I hope you get a chance to visit too.
Hasta la vista.
Comments are closed.
This is amazing. I have always loved how people used natural materials for coloring yarn and the like. I don't think I could have braved the journey to the salt mines (one really sees how the phrase "salt mines" has come into existence from this post). But I love that you and your daughter did so I could see it! What an amazing trip.
The salt mines looked so interesting, Linda, so I'm glad you braved the ride to see them. I wonder where that spring originates that make it contain salt?
The natural dye process is also interesting to see, and the beautiful photos of the Sacred Valley. I looked up its altitude and it is about a thousand feet lower than Rocky Mountain NP'a highest point! Amazing for a valley to be so high. Did you suffer any altitude sickness?
Impressive and so interesting! Thanks for sharing your impressions with us.
Cheers,
Rosa
As a life-long learner, I was taught two things that I never knew in this post, Linda: The salt fields is something that I never knew and just like you, I'd be shivering of being on the edge going down! The concentric planting fields — simply amazing and so ancient. I did know about the cochinea bug from a textile study tour in Oaxaca during my masters work, where there was a 'nursery' to grow the bugs at a massive level to supply the demand. I covet the super, deep red rug and yarn that I bought. I must get to Peru . . . must, must, MUST! Thank you again for these wonderful posts!
You are one heck of an adventurer, even with your foot you still carried on, you can be on Amazing Race! I was telling my visiting family from Florida all about your trip, showed them your pictures and the decent down, some good conversation at the table here!
I've been vicariously enjoying your trip through Peru, Linda. What a fascinating place! I need to get back there. Was in Lima a couple of years ago for business, but didn't have time to get out and see the country!
Incredible! What an amazing journey. Visiting Peru is on my bucket list. Love, love your post.
Velva