Post date: Feb 19, 2013 11:57:18 AM
Got to the gin, but it wasn't running because it didn't sound right. Good enough reason. But they were loading it (by hand) and we could see the raw cotton and the de-seeded cotton. I did not know that the cotton gin cuts the seeds out with small rotating knives. Must shorten the fibers in a trade where long fiber is better. Leaves a lot of "lint" on the seed, which makes it undesirable for cattle feed. They store the crop from each farmer separately and have to hand clean to remove stones, bottles, sticks, and - especially - polypropylene fiber when it was delivered in plastic bags instead of cotton bags. They have about twelve inspectors, including one in a dark room with ultraviolet light to highlight the plastic. Raw cotton is really dirty. Mostly leaves though.
Got the silencer for the air compressor installed, but it depends on a home-built muffler. I started with a large Pine-Sol bottle lined with egg cartons but that didn't help much.
While worked on the muffler the kids walked into the dump. I went to join them. Many more trucks and pickers today. Turns out that Managua is starting its recycling and incinerator this week, and sent all their trash to Nueva Vida! Many more vultures, too, and more of the dump is burning. The extensive fires are likely a result of the wind, which spears the flames across the ever-present plastic bags.
Since I was alone I talked (in my very broken Spanish) with all of the pickers I passed. Quite a friendly lot! The trucks are dumping farther from the entrance. Since the recycle buyers are at the entrance, this means the pickers have to carry their pickings farther.
I picked up some foam insulation for my air compressor muffler. When I got home for lunch Rogelio (the engineer) showed me where the community stores the used plastic detergent containers. One of these will be better than the bottle I first used for the muffler and it just fits the foam plastic I got at the dump. I'll try again tomorrow.
The kids (from Lopez Island High) installed brackets for shelving while Rogelio and team put up scaffolding. Tomorrow they will replace the water storage tank and start scraping the steel tower for painting. I will need to rewire the office outlets prior to installing two more computers - one for the receptionist and another in the office.