Mining for Gold

Sometimes in Peace Corps, really cool things happen to you. A few weeks ago, one of those cool things happened when my friend Erica and I had the opportunity to go to the gold mines that are only about a 20 minute drive from her site.

I was at Erica's site visiting for the night, and having a conversation with her counterpart, Don Juan. At some point the conversation went like this:

Don Juan: So, you know we have these gold mines really close. When are you going to let me take you there?
Emily: I don't know. Maybe next week?
Don Juan: OK. What day?
Emily: How's Tuesday sound?
Don Juan: Tuesday I'll take you to the gold mine. What time are you coming?
Emily: Can you go in the morning?
Don Juan: Come to my house at nine. I'll take you to the gold mine.

It was that easy! On Tuesday morning I took the bus down to Erica's house and we went over to Don Juan's house. We loaded up with bottles of water and climbed into the back of the pickup truck. His little guy, German (age 4), hopped into the front seat and we were off to explore the gold mines.

We drove up a long dirt road, and we could see the top of the mountain where we were headed. Neither of us really had a clue what we were in for, which made the day quite an adventure. Along the way Don Juan had us take pictures of all kinds of big trucks that were working on repairing the road. I'll have to write a post about how you repair a rural dirt road later, because obviously I now know how to do that too.

We got to the top of the mountain, and the gold mines, which were little tunnels carved into the earth. All along the side of the mountains we could see teams of 4-5 men around the mouths of the tunnels. Here's the story we were told by the miners. A while back (who knows how long) gold was found in these mountains. International mining companies brought teams of miners to El Salvador to mine the gold. Santa Rosa de Lima (my big shopping town) was known for it's brisk gold trade. People in the west of El Salvador say that the streets in Santa Rosa are paved in gold. They are not.

The mining companies must have extracted everything they thought they could get out of the mountains, because they eventually left. Now these teams of men have taken over the mountains and are mining on their own. One told us that they haven't had a big find in over two years, but they are still out there every day working hard. We were told that a gram of gold goes for about $40, so even a little bit is useful. One of them also told us that they don't have the proper chemicals to extract the gold from the rocks. So, if they extract a rock with gold flakes in it, they can grind it down, but eventually have to sell it to "the company" that extracts the gold.

Every day these guys show up, and dig their tunnels a little further into the earth. They don't have any fancy tools. They fill up buckets or wheelbarrows and carry them out of the tunnels, where another guy looks through the pile for gold. There is all kinds of shiny but worthless fools gold.
This picture above is of Don Juan, his son, and a miner inside the first tunnel. The dirt tunnel quickly turned into solid rock. I don't imagine they make much progress each day.

Here are Erica, German and myself inside one of the mines. It went about 20-30 meters into the side of the mountain. You can see that we have to crouch down to move through the mine, which is carved out of the dirt and mountain, and "supported" by wood beams. Of course, it is incredibly dark in the mines. What I didn't expect was how hot it was inside. We came out sweating. The men that were working came out dripping in sweat. They looked like they had just jumped into a river with all of their clothes on. The air is thick and hot and wet and not at all comfortable. The miners told us that they can only work in the morning, because once it gets too hot inside the air turns into "veneno" or poison. If you look closely at the miner in the picture above, you will see he isn't wearing shoes! None of the miners were wearing shoes, and this guy was the only one we saw wearing a hard hat. Incredible!

German is rocking the headlamp my friend Laraine gave me before I left for Peace Corps. She served in Togo (West Africa) and told me that it would be the one thing I would use all the time. I must lead a posh life, because my power hardly ever goes out, and the most action it's ever gotten was inside a gold mine.

Each team of guys works their own mine. They have little shade shelters set up outside the entrances to the mines where they can take breaks. I love this picture, because it is so typical of Peace Corps. The American woman just sitting on the rocks with the Salvadoran guys, learning the ins and outs of gold mining. I wish more people could come visit me and have days like this that are so laid back and interesting. I also wish I had more time in the US to just sit around and visit with people. Actually, I wish it were culturally appropriate in the US to just sit with someone you don't know and have an incredibly interesting discussion.

Erica crouched down in another mine. She had much more courage than I did. Turns out I don't really like going to far deep into the earth in mines with zero safety precautions in an earthquake prone country.

(Safety and the outside is just on the other side of that little light at the end of the tunnel. That white stuff above is moisture that is sweating out of the rocks.)

The only safety precaution the miners use are these old gas lamps, which are multi-purpose. First, they offer light deep into the mines. Second, when there is not enough oxygen they go out. When the lamps go out, it's time to leave the mine. Battery flash lights might be brighter, but they don't tell you when you're about to die!

(This guy was in charge of heating up tortillas for lunch over a fire.)

(Headed up the hill to another mine. You can see the rock slides above Don Juan's head and in the upper left corner of the picture, which show where debris has been excavated from mines.)

(Bright and beautiful, but worthless, fools gold.)

This guy above is testing the excavated rocks to see if they contain fools gold or real gold. First he takes the rock and grinds it down with a metal mallet on this rock, until it is just powder.

Then he puts the powder into the hollow inside of a cow's horn and adds water. He rubs it together a bit, then tilts it down. If the shiny stuff sticks to the sides it is gold. If it settles to the bottom of the water in the horn, it is not gold. This was not gold. I told you this was a seriously low-tech mining operation!

(German and I deep into the mine.)

(Life saving lamps and long sleeve shirts hanging on the trees, looking out down the mountain and the valley below at the next mountain range.)

Gold mining day was such an incredible experience, one that I never imagined I would have in El Salvador. Erica and I were talking about how this is one of those experiences that tourists or travelers never get to have in a country, but it gives such an insight into the lives, hopes and dreams of the people. The only way the day could have been better would be if we had found gold!