Moray: the Greenhouse of the Inca
The deep depressions and concentric circles of Moray are like nothing else on earth, which is probably why there are so many alien theories about the place. The hard facts that we have from archeologists are that hundreds of kinds of seeds and types of soil from all over the former Incario were found in the terraces. (Many Peruvian historians dispute the term empire, since Andean civilization was so very different from any empire in Europe or Asia. Incario is more accurate than Inca Empire).
If you read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, then you know that humans domesticated corn from a kind of wild grass. Pre-GMOs, much of that domestication was done by careful hybridizing. How much of that hybridizing was done at Moray has been lost to history. (Acutally, it was lost to the Spanish destruction of the Inca’s civilization and erasure of their history). What I can tell you is that Peru has hundreds of types of corn. I have eaten white corn with giant kernels larger than my thumbnail, usually called choclo and eaten with cheese. I have used purple corn to make a Peruvian drink called chicha morada. I have also picked and eaten corn speckled with purple and striped with red.
My personal favorite hybridization done during Incan times is the lupine flower, called tarwi in Quechua. Wild lupine is very common in desert mountains from Canada to Patagonia. It’s a purple flower that can grow to a foot or two high and has very toxic seeds. Wild lupine in Peru looks exactly like wild lupine in Colorado. What’s different here is the domesticated lupine, which I’m going to call by the Quechua word tarwi. Tarwi can grow six to eight feet tall and the seeds are four to five times as big as wild lupine seeds. Also, tarwi seeds are significantly less toxic. They are still not edible fresh, so farmers let them dry in the pods before harvesting. They are soaked in water for several days before they’re edible and the water must be changed frequently. Still, tarwi is an amazing superfood and one of my salad ingredients in Peru. Blended in a food processor or blender, it can also be used as a mashed potato substitute. Tarwi has high levels of protein, omega 3 and omega 9 fatty acids, calcium, tryptophane and much more.
The structure of Moray itself is much more intricate than just the terraces. There are water channels down the middle of each terrace for irrigation during the dry season. There are also “stairs” down each wall to facilitate walking up and down between the terraces. The area that has been excavated and developed for tourism is only one of several basins in the area. Hopefully, the government will get a budget together soon to facilitate excavation and restoration of the other terraces nearby.
My favorite time to visit is between November and May, when the place is green. Even better is to visit during the rainiest weeks of February, when you can see one of the coolest things about Moray. No matter how hard it rains and how big the puddles are everywhere else, it never floods in the bottom. The Inca created some kind of ingenious drainage system, which has yet to be figured out.
Moray is an easy stop on any tour of the Sacred Valley. It’s not far from Urubamba and just off the road that leads from Cusco to Urubamba. If you want to go there with public transportation, get a van from Cusco to Urubamba and get off at the “ramal de Maras.” (The van stop is near Puente Grau in Cusco). People often get off there, so the driver will know what you’re talking about. From there, you can get a taxi. There are usually several guys with cars hanging out at the crossroads, ready to be a taxi to either Moray or Maras.
