Saturday, November 24, 2007

Agulha, the rock buster

By 10:00 the well drilling team had gotten through the rock, thanks to the agulha, which is pictured above. The word translates into "needle" in English, but I prefer to call it the "toothpick". It's 80 kilos (176 pounds) of steel with a needle-like point that knocks the poop out of anything it hits. This impact tool is connected to a rope and dropped from the top of the hole onto rock, which it eventually pulverizes. I didn't see any sign of rock, so I assume what I saw was the pulverized version. To celebrate the occasion, the team took the rest of the day off to visit Cleuson, who lives about 3 kilometers from the Bosque. A well deserved rest. They've been working direct since Monday morning.

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