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With his hands and feet burnt by the salt Jacinto Puuc Medina carries a heavy bucket full of salt on Tuesday 06 July 2004 in Merida, in the Mexican state of Yucatan. At sunset, Medina tries to sell the salt to the industrial processors. The summer is the time of the year when Medina visits the salt ponds of the Celestun reservation, in Yucatan. "It's like a trip to the Mayan civilization, to the old days", says Medina, who explains that the way to extract the salt is the same to the one that Mayans used. For Mayans, salt was one of their most valuable belongins, as important as gold. (KEYSTONE/EPA/Francisco Martin)