The Gypsum Mine

The tour of the Gypsum mine on Isla San Marcos was definitely one of the highlights so far.  We went with the Lady Carolina crew and also Dan and Kimberly of Dazzler.   The Director of the mine was named Augustus (I think, my memory is so bad…) and he was very friendly and showed us great hospitality.  The first thing we did was all pile into his pickup truck, with most of us piling into the back, and drive up to the mine offices.  There we sat in an air-conditioned conference room and first watch a movie on the history and operations of the mine, and then had a Q&A session.  Before we got there, I had told the boys that since we were taking the day off from school this was an official school field trip, so they had to pay attention and each ask at least one question.  Brenden didn’t waste any time asking his question there in the conference room asking, “Is Gypsum valuable?”  He was disappointed to learn that no, it isn’t really valuable except in very, very large quantities.

Next, we were outfitted with hard hats and masks and all hopped back into the truck.  Three people could fit in the cab of the truck, and we all kept rotating those spots since they were the coveted air-conditioned spots.  We drove all around the mine, and most of the time I was in the back of the truck, and the tour back there was given in Spanish.  I picked up some, but luckily Dan from Dazzler spoke a little more Spanish and helped fill in the holes.   He drove us all around the mine and explained how they blast the hills and then break down the gypsum to smaller and smaller pieces and showed us the miles and miles of conveyor belts.  At one stop we met two college students who were studying mining engineering and were there as summer interns.

At some point along the way we had mentioned to Augustus that we wanted to hit the tienda, but he said it closed at noon and we probably wouldn’t be done by then, so he called them and asked them to stay open for us.  So, at the end of the tour we stopped by the gymnasium and the boys shot a few hoops and then we were able to stock up a little bit at the tienda.  Then we went back to the conference room for a debrief, and to our great surprise, they brought in lunch and drinks for all of us.  Tim tried to return the hospitality by inviting Augustus out to Exodus, but unfortunately, he didn’t bite.