Pumahuanca, Urubamba and Yucay are communities with a high Andean crop production, which use the Inca terrace system (“andenes”) and an advanced hydraulic technology. Maras has a spectacular group of more than 3000 salt mines, a product that has exchange value in Southandean villages.
Ollantaytambo, Inca village, offers 7 trekking routes to archaeological sites, quarries, terracing and one of the Quechua textile production centers (Wílloc). Local families put visitors up, and they learn ancestral farming techniques and participate in farming activities, irrigation and salt collection, as well as in parties, hiking and Andean rituals.
Cusco Region. Yucay, 67 km / 42 miles northeast. Maras, 53 km / 33 miles northeast, Ollantaytambo, 78 km / 48 miles northeast of Cusco and Raqchi, km 113 of the Cusco – Sicuani highway.
Altitude: from 2850 to 3500 masl / 9350 to 11483 fasl.
Mild and semi-dry.
Average temperature: 14ºC (57ºF).
All year round.
By plane: Daily flights from Lima to Cusco (1 h).
By road: Lima – Cusco (through Arequipa), 1650 km / 1025 miles (24 h).
There is public transportation from Cusco to various village
of the Urubamba Valley and its surroundings.