Taken with 2 landscape photos stitched together

The Maras Salt Mines are located just 30min outside of Cusco, Peru.  Entrance to the place is only $1 (as of Oct 2009) and is well worth a visit.  It’s been there before the Incas and has been owned by the same family for the last 4 generations.  It used to be a horrible place to work and own because it made very little money.  Then about 5-10 years ago with the boom of Machu Picchu, a few people took some tourists there.  They thought it was an easy way to add a tour stop and make a different tour than what the rest were promoting (which everyone at the time was pushing nothing but Machu Picchu).  The family who owned it quickly found out they could make more money by charging tourist a $1 to see the place vs the money they made from the salt.

It’s located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in a small little village called Maras.  Over time the salt has pooled up and made these little pools along a cliff side.  It all comes from a little spring that is heavy in salt content located at the top of the hill.  People who work there harvest the salt by hand and it’s a back breaking job where a cut on the ankle leads to a painful days work.  Even for the bad work conditions this is a perfect example where tourism brought a new market to a company that would otherwise be making very little.  Since the boom in tourism conditions have been better and pay has increased.

If you’re a photographer and want to get something different in Peru, definitely hit this place up.  When you arrive you will take a road cut out from the side of a cliff on the opposite side of the mines.  It’s surrounded by brown cliffs and in the middle of it is the Mares Salt Mines.  It looks like God made it snow in the Grand Canyon in a small section of only about 500m.  Best time to visit is just before sunset, if you get lucky the light will be just right and the changes of color in the salt-pools is amazing.

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