catedral de sal

Entrance to Catedral de Salthe mine is still in use, but at night

when there are no tourists

Wednesday, 26 December 12

All the walls are solid salt rock

interestingly the salt has no iodine, hence the local people suffered goiters


me & Ben


Ben & Maria


The salt is only white when water leaches it from the rock. This is can be quite dangerous

- the miners do not want water leaking through


The cross is carved into the rock: it is a relief

but looks 3D.Wednesday, 26 December 12

my silhouette by a huge column


The ceilings in this section are very high. There is nylon fishing line hanging from the ceiling in places to measure how much it

sinks - over thousands of years the mountain will reclaim this space.


A small lake, reflecting the ceiling


very happy to find a spider in the carving in the rock


We decide to try our hand at mining (move aside claustrophobia)


After 3 attempts I made it through this tunnel, holding

Maria’s hand. It helped that it was pitch dark so I could not

actually see how narrow it was


The miners used to be paid in salt - Ben would

have been broke -he barely chipped the rock


It is much harder than it looks!


Dynamite holes


Miners return from a hard day’s work


We settle into the cinema to watch a movie about the mine


Ben


Salt leeching: reinforcement necessary in this sectionWednesday, 26 December 12

catedral de sal

Documents

salt leeching

solid salt rock

salt ben wouldhave

ben mariawednesday

reinforcement necessary

nylon shing line

local people

marias hand