I suddenly found myself daydreaming as if I were in the Wild West!
Juan asked me one morning if I had ever seen real gold minors. Like the ones from the old days! To be honest, I didn't even know they still existed. Furthermore, I didn't have a clue that this was still going on in Costa Rica! The thought of it let my imagination run overtime and I suddenly found myself daydreaming as if I were in the Wild West! Juan could see I was getting exited and told me to be ready the next morning. We were going to go pay some of his friends a visit.
As we drove the following morning Juan told me everything I needed to know about the gold trade that once was in Costa Rica. Not so long ago, mining in Costa Rica was normal practice. Large international companies used to mine tons of gold annually. But this has all changed. The country was more interested in keeping their forests and rivers intact. So the internationals were asked to leave and gold mining quickly became a thing of the past!
Present day gold minors are just like what you would expect to find in the Wild West! They might have rubber gumboots and now use plastic to cover their tents instead of canvas but they are still the old panning drunks that we've all seen at the movies! I was amazed to step back in time and watch these men argue over who found the most gold and where! They work in teams and have their own designated areas. Some are more successful than others, but at the end of the day they all drink their earnings away at the local where they are still able to pay with real gold!
Actually, Juan is the most inspiring storyteller I have ever met and his way of storytelling captures you! He really makes it possible for you to relive the moment as you close your eyes and picture his words. We drive for about an hour and finally near our destination. Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula has seen it's fair share of minors in the past. But now most of them have moved on and only the real locals have remained. Although the number of gold minors has decreased rapidly over the past decades it is here where the older gold minors still mine the old fashioned way!
As usual Juan knows everyone and as we arrive we stumble upon a small conflict between some of the local minors and minors from elsewhere. The laws have changed in the last years and even now they are still quiet unclear to me however, some areas have been left for the older traditional minors to still practice their skills. Other areas are now out of bounds and mining is prohibited on these grounds. Most of these areas are national parks however; some illegal minors still try their luck in these national parks that are now off limits. If they are caught there are severe penalties. When Juan and I arrive we are told that there are many minors from elsewhere mining in the national park. They informed us that the police was on their way. However, being so far away from everything it would take the police a couple of hours to arrive.
Juan got talking to some of the local minors and before we knew it we were driving up the road to join them for the morning. It wasn't even ten o'clock and the smell of alcohol was apparent as we drove towards their site. It was like stepping into a black and white movie from the past! Seeing an old campsite almost unchanged since the cowboys once roamed these lands! One of the minors made me us coffee and then we headed up river to start panning for gold.
The minors all work in teams of two. One shovels deep into the riverbed making a mound almost blocking the water as it runs downstream. The other minor starts panning the sand that has been brought up from the bottom. They really do make it all look so easy but don't be fooled. I had a go of both routines. The shovelling is very heavy and just after a few full spades of sand I was almost finished for the day! As for the panning, getting the sand on the pan doesn't seem to be the problem. It's the turning of the pan that really makes it an art. Trying to slowly whisk the borders of sand off the pan and keep the gold on there is quiet a challenge. Once I thought to have under control until I make one wrong move and I can start all over again!
What surprised me the most was the amount of gold these minors were able to retrieve as I stood there watching. I couldn't believe that these men hadn't struck it rich! Remembering what Juan had told me about these men I realised that whilst I am seeing gold and thinking of riches they see gold and think of another evening at the local waterhole.
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