It was not the backbreaking labor of cutting sugarcane, but it was hot, dirty, hands-on work. During the period of the zafra, the winter months when caña was harvested, Martín and his coworkers would practically become part of the milling apparatus themselves. On duty eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, the machinists wouldn’t catch a full night’s sleep or get a hot bath for months at a time.
