[April 2010]
I know, I know, when you go to Peru it’s supposed to be all about Macchu Picchu, and we went there, too, but I was at least equally wowed by Moray. They are massive, and phenomenal works of architecture and engineering.
There are these three huge circular pits with concentric levels of terraces stairstepping down the inside. The one above is fully excavated and they’re growing red quinoa in the bottom of it today.
The Incas would start with a grain they wanted to adapt to growing at higher elevations (I mean, it’s already 11,000 feet when you land in Cusco) and colder temperatures. The Incas would plant the seeds starting at the center of the lowest level. Over time they would harvest them, take the seed it produced, and transplant it to the next terrace up. By the time they’d reached the last level, the seed would be ready to plant out in the open, adapted to its new home.
Moray was an agricultural experimental station, circa 1300 or so, or that’s what I was told anyway. The Agricultural Extension Center at UAF, circa 2025, could take notes.
These folks were trotting up and down built-in zigzag stairs to do their planting and transplanting.
After which we got to walk down the trail back to the Urubamba Valley that followed the Maras Salt Pans. Every single pond belongs to a different family that has been mining the salt from it for generations. About halfway down you can buy a bag.
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Wow, I never even heard of this. And the fact that they were modifying plants to thrive in different environments and elevations is not really surprising. People tend to think that primitive corresponds to a lack of intelligence, but these people were tuned in to their environment, and observant of all that was happening. Most of our foods are based on their scientific abilities. They didn’t call it science, but the elements were there: Observation, theorizing, experimenting and learning from the results.
I would like to strongly recommend visiting northern Peru for a bit different perspective. There is Kuelap (fortress), Leymebamba Museum (200 mummies that you see up close), Carajia Sarcofagi (cliff side dwellings), Gocta Cataracts (waterfalls, 2 levels) and town of Chachapoyas. A lot of the area has pre-Incan ruins and Amazon forests. I loved it but need to return to appreciate what I didn’t absorb when I was there.
There is no way the peoples of this land could be considered primitive! Everyone of course, has heard of Machu Picchu, but this place is fascinating!
At Moray I realized that the Incas were every bit the engineers the Romans were and better by far at agriculture. There’s a reason there are 53 varieties of potato in Peru.