The Maras salt mines are located in a beautiful valley.
The terraced pools line a whole side of the valley.
Since it was the rainy season they weren’t being worked. They make only $8 for the 50kg of salt they get from each pond, which is not worthwhile while they can farm.
The water runs through this big channel, and then cascades down into small collecting pools. They channel to fill them is blocked off with clay when they are full.
Normally it only takes about 3 days for the pool to dry. Then it is refilled and the process is repeated until they have a layer of salt 10cm thick. The top layer is iodized and sold for food. The middle layer is used for animal feed. The lowest layer, which absorbs minerals from the clay, is used for cosmetics.
The water in the canal tastes really salty and leaves a covering of salt on your finger when it dries.
The soil next to the canal is covered in crystallized salt.
Actually everything around is covered in salt.
The walls are covered in salt.
As the bottoms of the ponds dry out the clay cracks.
Cool!