A: He operates this machine. It gives us air to breathe while we're diving.
N: An old air compressor, old wetsuits, and scratched diving masks. Every machero carries almost 90 pounds of weight. This helps him walk on the bottom of the sea. It's a dangerous job.
A: The sea is bad here. The waves are very strong. Here, it's very rough, but you'll find more mussels.
N: The mussel diverse walk down the beach and dive into the sea. Their lives depend on this old 1,200-foot-long garden hose. The hose brings them the air they breathe.
A: The hose always has to be smooth. If there's a knot, the divers don't get air.
N: Time moves slowly. The divers are still under the sea. They've been gone for more than two hours. Finally, the divers return. Each man is carrying about 175 pounds of mussels.
A: Good, very good! These are big ones. The mussels have stripes that show their age. This one, for example, is three years old.
N: After they've put the mussels in their old car, the divers return to town. But they haven't finished their work yet. Now they have to sell the mussels.
B: That makes 688 pounds in total.