Just 30 minutes from Spa-Astro-Maras-Lodge are the popular colcas of Cheqoq. We will take a walk through this well kept place from the Inca times. The whole region around Maras was possibly already used by pre-Inka and Inka cultures as a land for farmers. They Inka culture developed certain techniques in order to keep the crops and the wheat for a long time and mostly for bad years or even time of war. These small houses were mainly made of mud bricks and there were tiny openings well built on a hillsides that the cold wind from the mountains could get in them. At the same time they used water from a nearby fountain to cool down the air even more. These techniques allowed the Inca and maybe even Pre-Inka cultures to keep their crops and wheat cold for a long time and keep them for months or even up to many years.
From here we walk downhill and get to an old Barock church in Tiobamba. The Spanish invadors build most of the old churches on former important religious sites of the Incas. Hopefully the church will be open to the public on the day we pass and so we can take a look inside. It is one of the best examples in the style of construction and the inside paintings compared with the barock churches in the southern valley of Cusco.
From the church we will pass over many different fields and then walk up the hill to get to one of the highest points above the Sacred Valley. From here you will get a spectacular views of the valley and the town Urubamba which is just below. On our way back we will have supper in the village of Maras before we return to the Maras Lodge.