Up in the Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu points to the Inca world as a whole, and salt is one of the clearest threads. The Incas treated salt as a strategic resource and worked it into everyday life.
They called salt “white gold” and harvested it from the Maras salt pans in the Sacred Valley, where salty spring water is channeled through hundreds of terraced evaporation ponds. The pans are still worked by local families today, with each pond belonging to a specific household. The pattern of white squares across the mountainside is one of the striking sights of the valley.
The salt had two main uses: seasoning food and preserving meat in the high-altitude climate, where refrigeration wasn’t available. The Inca also traded salt as currency across the empire.
Peruways runs trips to Maras alongside Machu Picchu and the wider Sacred Valley, so the salt pans fit easily into a multi-day itinerary. Book at Peruways.
