Moray is located 74 km from the city of Cusco. The site is famous for its sunken amphitheater (supposedly a natural crater), made up of four circular terraces which appear to disappear into the earth like an artificial crater.  It is said that the quechua word Moray had something to do with the maize harvest called Aymoray or with May, that was also called Aymoray, and similarly with the dehydrated potato, which is Moraya o Moray.

The archaeological group of Moray was discovered by the Shirppe Johnson's expedition in 1932 when it flew over the area. Cultivation terraces shaped as concentric rings make up the circular units of Moray. Each circle comprises a terrace that overlaps the other, forming circles that get wider at each level. There have been discovered vertical stones in the terraces supposedly marking the limits of shadows at dusk during the equinoxes and the solstices and it is thought that each terrace in Moray reproduces climate conditions in the different ecological areas of the Inca Empire.

Due to its sheltered position, each level of the cultivation terraces represents around a thousand meters of altitude in normal farming conditions. Since the complex had around twenty miniature ecological areas in total, Moray could have also been used by Inca officers to estimate the annual production in different parts of the Tahuantinsuyo Empire. The Incas used Moray as an important center for domestication, acclimatization and hybridization of wild species to adapt them for human consumption.

Of course little is known for sure. There is a lot of speculation regarding Moray due to the lack of continuous serious research at the site. The structures found there are supposedly of Incan origin, although some authors suggest they are recent and there is also a general lack of understating of how the water was trained from the terraces to avoid flooding and allow productive agriculture. It is said that there must have been some underground tunnels built towards the bottom, to channel the waters or maybe a very porous natural stone used in the structure allowed the water to filtering towards the ground inside the terraces.

All things considered, it is an interesting destination for a short visit while touring the sites north of Cuzco and is great first half of a tour comprising visits to both Moray and Maras which is exactly what we did.

Not going to say too much here, but this is the summary...

Our guides backpack was stolen from the bus station before heading out so we started the trip without a repair kit, food or a first aid kit.  This was after he had to make a call back to his shop, since he forgot to bring any money for the bus tickets....great start to the day!

The group of five totalled three holes in tires (two by our guide) on a  pretty treacherous set of mountain biking trails that required us to navigate past groups of roaming livestock and through some of the nicest small towns in peru.

Julie took the biggest beating after having two descent falls that caused a few scrapes and bruises, but she was a good sport and contined on.

Despite all the bad things a good group of fellow riders and amazing views of mountains made this one of the more enjoyable days of the trip so far.