One Year Ago Project

In Town

I want to show you a few things around the town of Luis Eduardo Meghalles.  Twenty-five years ago it was just a little hamlet with a gas station here and now there's a bustling town, featuring many agricultural businesses.  

Of course, the restaurants were important to us!!  In South America, dinner is served very late in the evening with eateries opening about 8:30 p.m..  

This place had a very interesting horn made out of animal horns.  Several of our group tried playing it - all rather unsuccessfully!

Meat is usually served from a  grill.  In this case, the meat was threaded on this very long skewer, cooked and then carved off right on to our plates.  Sauces and condiments are not commonly used.  The servers were so skillful with their long carving knives.

Our leaders - Bob Thomas, the Canadian guide, in the background conferring with Scott (from Idaho) and Brian (from Missouri).   Scott had just moved his family here 8 months earlier, was learning the language and eager to farm.   Brian had lived in Brazil for a few years and was a fluent Portuguese speaker.  He arranged this part of our tour and took us to amazing spots.

The local Catholic church

Transport trucks were busy all the time-

and there were many other interesting modes of transportation!

The watermelon trucks were right along the highway selling big melons.  

Golmur Cotton Gin

We spent one morning with one of the owners of this cotton gin, learning some amazing things.

We knew nothing about growing or processing cotton!

We were in the growing season so there were only a few tarped bales of cotton in the yard.  

You can see how the cotton comes in from the field here - it needs some work!

And this was one of 3 ginning machines.  Ductwork runs under the floor and all the debris is sucked down and then blown out of the building into a pile.  Some of it is used for animal feed.  The gins were mostly in pieces as they were retro-fitting and preparing them for the next season.  Golmur processes their own cotton but will also gin cotton for other farmers.

One of the combing machines with thousands of little needles that straighten the cotton fibers.

Here is the finished product, ready to be shipped out to a textile company.  I'd love to be here when the place is in full production.