Photo: Michael Fox | The World
Pedro Salas Díaz is carrying 100-pound sacks of salt down the hillside to be stored for sale, navigating along rock walls that separate hundreds of small pools. But in Zapotitlan Salinas, migration and climate change may spell the end of salt farming. Before industrialized production, this salt was a coveted commodity that Indigenous people called “white gold”, produced and traded widely. The ancient sea left behind salt and minerals, which the rains collect during the summer months. It is healthy salt, with 65% less sodium and rich with 200 minerals. But the mineral springs aren’t filling up like they used to. "With climate change, there are times when it’s not supposed to rain and it does, and times when it’s supposed to rain, when it doesn’t,” says Diaz. But they will weather the storm, he says, and when his toddler son is ready, he’ll teach him the trade learned from his father and his grandfather.
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