http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738863-13.jpgAt 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea level, the puna of the Argentine Andes is a forbidding ecosystem. Vegetation is sparse and few animals can endure the cold and the altitude. Amid the mountains, a lake glitters, but this is a salt lake, the Salinas Grandes.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738864-17.jpgStretching over 525 sq km (200 sq miles), the salt valley lies under water during the rain of the southern summer (December to March). For the rest of the year, this “salt sea” provides work for a few dozen local men, who make a living extracting the salt.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738865-21.jpgTraditional tools such as axes, shovels and spades are used to open rectangular pools 50cm deep and extract the salt crystals. A pool produces around 2.5 tonnes of salt a year. The men group together in small co-operatives.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738866-26.jpgIn 40C temperatures and at an altitude of more than 3,000m, strong winds burn the skin and the salt dust erodes the lungs if inhaled. Workers like Gerardo and Martin, 18 and 16, wear balaclavas to minimise these harsh effects.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738867-36.jpgAt daybreak workers arrive at the edge of the lake. They start at 0730 and often work until 1800.Many come from Pueblo Colorado, a quiet settlement 2km from the salt mines.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738868-43.jpgOnce the extracted salt has been dried by the sun, it is piled into mounds and packed by the workers into 50kg sacks. The price of a tonne of unrefined salt is $18 (£12). It takes around a day and a half to gather a tonne.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738870-51.jpgThe salt is sold in Argentina’s southern provinces where a kilogram may retail for $1.50.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738871-60.jpgEarnings from mining are often not enough to sustain workers’ families. Many have to work extra shifts to make ends meet. Some carve small souvenirs for sale to tourists.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738872-70.jpgPedro makes around five salt llamas a day. They sell for about $2.50. “Life is very hard here but we have no alternative,” he says. “In summer, the place is flooded and we can’t extract the salt and hardly any tourists bother to come here.”
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738873-72.jpgMost of the workers are indigenous Quechua people. They have been working here for generations and live precariously on the outskirts of the salt mines.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738874-84.jpgThe potential of the salt landscape as a tourist attraction is only in its infancy in Salinas Grandes. The Jujuy tourist office’s plans to develop the area have not materialised. This roadside salt figure welcomes the area’s rare visitors.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738875-97.jpgDemetrio chews a coca leaf ball while displaying his craftwork. “We don’t have the means to buy machinery so we are in the hands of private companies which take all the profits,” he says. “Our sweat is all we have.”
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47738000/jpg/47738876-111.jpgMartin, a young worker, stares at a handful of salt and says: “I would like to go to the city to study. I am 17 now and I don’t want to be like my father who never knew anything other than this sea of salt.” Story and pictures: Rafael Estefania
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