Pablo rocks!

Salt, that is. Get it? Rock Salt?! Ha! Okay, okay....so it's not that funny. I'm still laughing though.

Thanks to Steve for passing along this great poem by OUR favorite poet, Pablo Neruda.

I read this last night and fell in love with it...hope you like it!

Ode to Salt:

This salt

in the saltcellar

I once saw in the salt mines.

I know

you won't

believe me,

but

it sings,

salt sings, the skin

of the salt mines

sings

with a mouth smothered

by the earth.

I shivered in those solitudes

when I heard

the voice of the salt in the desert.

Near Antofagasta

the nitrous

pampa

resounds:

a broken

voice,

a mournful song.

In its caves

the salt moans, mountain

of buried light,

translucent cathedral,

crystal of the sea, oblivion

of the waves.

And then on every table

in the world,

salt,

we see your piquant

powder

sprinkling

vital light

upon

our food. Preserver

of the ancient

holds of ships,

discover

on

the high seas,

earliest

sailor

of the unknown, shifting

byways of the foam.

Dust of the sea, in you

the tongue receives a kiss

from ocean night;

taste imparts to every seasoned

dish your ocean essence;

the smallest,

miniature

wave from the saltcellar

reveals to us

more than domestic whiteness;

in it we taste infinitude.

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Several years ago, I had the priviledge to visit the Wieliczka salt mines in Poland, near Krakow. (Pronounced: Va-leech-ka) It was amazing and simply unbelievable. EVERY single item in the salt mines were made from salt.....the chandeliers, for instance. The floors look like tile, it's salt...........trust me, everything is salt and it is hard to wrap your brain around it.

It is said that the air from the salt mines has healing properties and there is a rehabilitation center in the mine that offers treatment based upon that premise.

_______________________________________________________________

The chamber is located 135 meters underground. The specific microclimate of the underground Lake Wessel Chamber is characterised by bacteriological purity; furthermore, the air of the chamber contains large quantities of sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium ions.

I took some real deep breaths during my tour, which was several hours long. I left feeling quite invigorated. It's a magical place. A place I hope to visit again - I would love to stay overnight there. Can you imagine working there everyday? (I'm jealous)

Okay, just so you know....humans aren't the only creatures that mine for salt. Check out the salt mining elephants of Kenya. I saw this special a few years ago and was fascinated. I'll let you read for yourself, but I will say that the thing that intrigued me most was that generations of elephants have been mining - same time of day, same places.....it is information that has been passed on from generation to generation. How did they do that? Only God knows. Amazing.

AKM