hennequin factory

 

 

 

 

Friday, the day after Christmas was as close to a perfect day as I could ask for! We saw new things, and stumbled on good surprises. This is about the San Eduardo hennequin plantation...

We set out early, with a rental car, heading towards Motul, then on to Telchac Puerto on the north coast of the Yucatan. En route, we stopped to take a photo of a HUGE hennequin field, which is the first photo. The field went on for several miles, with a dry-stacked stone fence along the entire length. And we have to import rocks to our garden! While we were stopped, we noticed a block steam stack in the distance, which meant an old hennequin processing plant. Just down the road, there was a sign for San Eduardo Hacienda. Dirt road, no signs saying keep out, so off we went. At the end of the road, we found what appeard to be a hacienda, with several other large buildings, mostly behind the stuccoed wall. Being intrepid tourists, we drove into the gate as if we knew what we were doing! Well, you should have seen our mouths drop open when we realized what we'd stumbled on: a hennequin processing plant, in action! Not a tourist place mind you, but just like stumbling onto my family's farm on tobacco harvesting day.

The second photo here shows the truck from the field, backed up to the conveyor belt, in preparation of off-loading the bundles onto the belt, which raises the 'leaves' up to the second floor of the buiding. The bundles were arm-full sized, tied with a short piece of hennequin (duh), and a name and number scratched into one of the leaves. I can only suppose that is the mark of the harvester, and he/she is paid by the bundle. A couple of young men loaded the bundles, one at a time, on the conveyor belt, and untied the cord around each one.

At the second floor, the conveyor belt went horizontal, and three men were separating and laying flat the now loose leaves. There is a paint can, with a big brush hanging overhead, and occasionaly, the man in the middle would apply a quick coat of whatever was in the can. The leaves moved through the machine, run by lots of wide belts turning lots of wheels, which turned lots of other wheels. The machines were noisy, and none of the workers appeared to be wearing ear protection. They all were wearing rubber boots, though.

The fourth photo shows the shredded leaves at the other end. Two men were working at that station, one created a bundle of a certain size, the second man pulled a few strands from that bundle and loosely tied that bundle together. Then, he dropped it across a thick board, and the bundle slid down to a table below. The man below collected the dripping wet bundles, and loaded then, in a very organized fashion, on a small railroad cart. That part reminded me of the tobacco drags of my childhood, when the tobacco was hauled from the field to the barn. The cart, when full, was pushed out from under the building, and onto the railroad track that went around the barn, and out to the field.

This was sssoooo wonderful to find this operation, and the men were very kind about letting us take pictures. They never stopped work, and no one attempted to speak to us, but their smiles said much. I'll describe the rest of the process in the next blog, with more photos...
k