Well…. We did it. We found gold. But it was not as much as we had dreamed of and it certainly was not as easy as we thought it would be. In fact, it was significantly more difficult. The gold was much deeper in the jungle than we had expected. We were not nearly as prepared as we should have been and as soon as we got to the gold camp, we basically had to turn right back around to get back in time to catch our return flights. There were many mistakes that we had made and we have plenty to improve upon for future trips. But all that being said, we did find gold in the middle of the Amazon. And we saw a few things that continue to amaze me the more time and distance that I have away from the initial trip.
40 grams of gold
The trip started off with a visit to the local market so that we could get a sense of the tastes, smells and sights of the new country we were in.
Spices and Herbs
Ají hot sauces
Root crops
Once we had our full of fresh cheeses and unidentifiable fruits, we moved on to the Museum of Gold. Here, we saw artifacts that only helped stoke our collective gold fever. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the Inca believed that gold was the sweat of the Sun and they worshiped it for its intrinsic beauty and luster. The ornaments and adornments collected in this building made me feel like an Inca king and made me start to really believe that I was going to find the same type of gold quantities. There were no cameras allowed inside this private museum but my favorite piece was a golden cloak that incorporated parrot feathers for green and blue color highlights.
Museo Del Oro
From the capital, we traveled for a few days into the interior. Peru consists of 3 major ecological regions – the coastal desert, the Andes, and the Amazon. Getting to the jungle from the desert is a feat in and of itself and it involved planes and plenty of bumpy dusty dirt roads.
En route
Once we arrived in the place that my Father-in-law used as his jumping off point all those years ago, it became apparent that some of the locals did indeed make their living harvesting gold from the river. This village was much more well off than most of those that we had passed through earlier. We spent that night listening to locals tell stories of past gold finds and learning the history of the area.
Panning on the side of the river
Everything was going as planned up to this point and it was from here on out that things took a turn for the worst. We thought that the gold camps were much closer to this village than they actually were and getting to them was much more difficult than we had imagined. Funny – we thought we had already arrived but we weren’t even half way there yet.
Peke Peke
After a 2 day hike through deep deep jungle – yes it may have appeared that we were lost and were never going to get out of there – we finally arrived at the gold camp. By this time, we had lost any expectations and just assumed that more difficulties would ensue. It is funny, the Amazon is so full of life and beauty, but most of it was lost on us after our endless march. Being uncomfortable and unsure of what comes next makes it more difficult to just enjoy the surroundings.
Our camp the first night in the Amazon
One of thousands
The gold camp works like this: everyone begins panning around 9:30 after the sun has risen enough to warm everything up. Nobody wants to catch a cold so far away from any doctors or medicine. People pan until about 4:30 when the sun dips behind the mountain for the same reason. Panning is not easy — even though people who do it every day make it look effortless. Gold is available but not in strike it rich one day quantities. The people who live in the camps harvest enough gold in the 3 month cycle to live comfortably for the rest of the year – but they put in their time and sweat equity. And while we were struggling with the wooden pans, one of our guides just simply used a shovel and still pulled more gold than we did. There is an art to panning.
The gold villages work like this. Individuals cluster in small camps and “free-towns.” They exercise a form of self governance and vote leaders in. This is a forgotten area for the rest of Peru and it is too far away and too inaccessible to be commercially profitable to the current powers that be. There is a joke in this region that translates something like this: There is water when it rains and light when the moon is full. This area is remote but not primitive. Nor is it dirty or dangerous. Nor is it cut off from the rest of the world – we talked about global politics and about the stars. Everyone was proud of their lifestyle and kept bragging that they could see not just the Milky Way galaxy but also Andromeda with the naked eye. Everyone was beyond kind and gracious – we earned the funny honor of being the first tourists to this region. And we arrived at a lucky time. Every Sunday, all the people from neighboring villages converge where we were staying for a soccer game and then a dance/ social get together.
Weekly village party
Just another Sunday
After our one full day of gold panning we had to figure out a new way to get home. Instead of hiking the same trail, we took a boat down river – except there was less than a foot of water so mostly it felt like Peruvian bobsledding. We pushed the boat much more than rode it.
Peruvian bobsledding
And don’t think that the boat ride was any easier than the hike. Far from it – just different challenges. It took about 2 days to get downriver – 2 wet hard days. And eventually we ended up in a wild chocolate plantation – theobroma cacao – food of the gods. There is something magical about the jungle. And as difficult as our trip was, it was surely a once in a life time adventure.
Food of the gods
If you would like to see more photos and videos or to learn more about our tours, please visit www.perugoldtours.com
Hello,
I just saw your website about these gold tours to Peru and I am just wondering… for getting the gold, I guess you must use Mercury (Hg) and what happens with the mercury when you extract the gold??? Throw it to the river???
Hello Aimy – thank you for bringing this up since I have read many articles recently on the use of Mercury in gold extraction. We do not use mercury nor have I ever seen anyone use it in this area. The gold is pure and it is mixed in with the river sand. I believe that mercury is used with ore mining. I need to do more research before I can give a better response but the short answer is no – we do not put mercury into the river.