Episode
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Producer(s):
ARTE GEIE, MEDIEN KONTOR Movie GMBH
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Territories:
Worldwide.
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Production year:
2009
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Language(s):
German, English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian
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Rights:
NON-THEATRICAL, TV, VOD, DVD, INTERNET
360° GEO - Report observed salt miners in the Peruvian Mountains. This documentary portrays the harsh day-to-day lives of the 'Salineros' as they work in a stunningly beautiful South American mountain landscape.
The salt mines of Maras are situated in the highlands of the Peruvian Andes at an altitude of about 3.000 meters. They form a vast manmade labyrinth of salt wells. A thousand terraced wells collect the warm salty waters from the mountain. When the water evaporates under the strong sun, on the edges and bottom of the waterholes a precious white crust is left. This is Maras-Salt.
To this very day, the descendants of the Incas harvest their "White Gold of the Andes" using this traditional method.