Drove
down the track the horses were up and about but their water troughs were still frozen.
We arrived at Webasto at 09:00. They had a look at the heater but didn’t know
much. We left with the plan that they’d fix the leak in Istanbul.
So to deliver it to the agent there.
We stopped in Demirci at a small supermarket, we need yogurt and bread. I heard someone talking to john in very good english. It was Mustafa a local English teacher out of a job.
By the time we got back to EC we had about 6 guys around and more arriving. Were hustled into a carpet shop for glass of tee. Were given two small chair pads of carpet of which we refused one. Very friendly people.
They hardly spoke about the carpets and there was no sell at all. Next Mustafa took us to a machine carpet factory and a man was assign to show us around. They do the whole process here except grow the wool.
Card it, spin it (two processes) die it, dry it, put it on spools, then create the carpets with the big looms. One machine can make 600cm in a day the other twice that. The carpet is then has a mow, then is washed and dried on a frame to keep it square then edged. All with machines.
Our guide who spoke no English receives US$500 per month but is capable on all aspects of the business.
A
really great tour. Next to Mustafa’s house. He has a wife, Ishane
and 3 children, one at uni, one about 12 and the other 4 years old. We
had dinner sitting on the floor. The middle girl was very shy and
would not interact. An interesting evening. Crawled into bed in EC
about 2300.
Health and safety is not a big issue here.
Camp
site 220km