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In this post, I tell you about a place that you cannot miss in my town. The Salinas de Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico is an area of great historical and ecological value where you can enjoy lagoons, salt flats, dry forests, and mangroves.
The salt extraction process is carried out in the salt flats. Las Salinas is considered one of the oldest industries under continuous use in the Western Hemisphere at about 507 years.
The extraction process is quite simple. When the tide rises using channels and a system of gates, seawater is carried to the lagoon. The lagoon is filled to the level required to produce the salt and more water is allowed to evaporate than enters. This step allows the salinity to increase and we have been told that it takes about three months. When the desired salinity is obtained, they pump the water. In the photos, you see the foam that is produced when pumping the water.
To remove the salt, they scrape it with a digger or excavator. They transport it in trucks whose bodies are made of wood since salt corrodes iron.
The last stage of the process is to leave the salt uncovered to dry, placing it in the shape of a mountain.
In Las Salinas there is a project that works with the conservation, protection, and restoration of the Cabo Rojo National Fish and Wildlife Refuge called the Efrén Pérez Rivera Interpretative Center. The Center offers interpretive tours through the dry forest, has an educational exhibition of birds, sales of crafts, books, and course salt. In my house that salt is what we use for cooking.
List of “mandatory” activities in Las Salinas :
Bird watching
Buy salt
Cycle through the Salinas towards the Camino Los Domínguez
Pass the sand traps by bike
Discover why you cannot climb the Salt Mountain on foot or by bike
Finding the Las Salinas floodgate system
Find the cotton bushes
Finding a salt-stuffed crab
Photo of trucks with wooden bodywork
The classic photo in the hammock of the wooden ranch
Go up to the viewpoint in front of the Interpretive Center
Tell us in the comments about your experience visiting this place or if you would like to visit it one day.