Ember & Grain · Field Notes · Salts · Origin Atlas · Nº 12
Peruvian Salt
of the Salineras de Maras
Maras, Sacred Valley, Peru. A salt spring in the Andes, 4,500 pools on a mountainside, and the families who work them.
13°18′ S · 72°09′ W
From Cusco the road climbs onto a high plain of barley and wheat, with snow peaks on the far side of it. At the town of Maras the plain breaks off into a ravine. Down the slope, at 3,200 meters, a warm spring comes out of the hill, and it is salt. Below it, on the side of the mountain, are some four thousand five hundred small pools, white and pink and brown, stepping down like the cells of a comb.
Peruvian Salt · Field notes
| Origin | Salineras de Maras, Cusco, Peru |
| Position | 13°18′ S · 72°09′ W |
| Altitude | 3,200 m (10,500 ft) |
| Pools | About 4,500, each about 5 m² |
| Season | Dry season, May to October |
| Keepers | The families of Maras and Pichingoto |
Continue in The Origins Atlas
The rest of this chapter lives in the book: the full story of the place, how the salt is made, the people who keep the tradition, and the hand-drawn map.
- The Place · older than the Inca
- The Harvest · three days, then again
- The Families · ayni
Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Tentative List (2019); Wikipedia, “Salt Mines of Maras.” Imagery is illustrative and AI-generated.