Salt Week at the Ponds of Maras — Epoche A2
14 June Salt week. School is closed for the holiday, so I worked with Papá at our ponds in the salt terraces of Maras. Our family works six ponds. My grandfather worked the same six. Visitors always ask Papá the same question: where does the salt come from? The answer is the spring. The water comes out of the hill in one place only, and it is already salty — it passes through old salt inside the mountain before it reaches the air. Little channels carry it down the slope from pond to pond. Papá opened the small gate of earth, and our pond filled to the depth of a hand. Then the sun does the work. In the dry season a pond dries in a few days, and a white crust is left on the floor. Today we scraped. The top layer is the whitest salt, and it went into its own sack, because it sells for the best price. Under it the salt is darker, a little pink — that is the kitchen salt. Papá scraped and I carried the sacks up the path. My hands hurt where the salt found two small cuts. Tomorrow we will open the little gate and fill the pond again. The spring never stops, not even in the dry months.