El Dorado

A few more

I have been doing some serious work on my close up photography. Not only for nugget pictures but for my jewelry stuff too. It's been a long learning curve. Thought I would share my latest results....... This gold is really photogenic!

said well! I have always said it is best to be judged by 12 than burried by six!

Having tasted cool artesian water during my trip, I will let you know this spring is a diamond in the rough...... especially on those humid 100+ days.............

Matt, ya better hurry to see them, they may all be sold. OK some more pictures

I nice nugget, not mine....

Garimpo and Snowflake (in his short shorts) looking over some terrain on the way to the ranch

A tree that a panther may have staked it's territory on

The 50+ gram big boy

Man, there is only so much room in that backyard..... wonder what she is up to?

Another prospector came by to show off his finds

Two of the most handsome guys in Brazil!

Long story here. The person closest to the camera is Snowflake, please note the lenght of his shorts vs Don's past the knee style. Ken wore these all over the place. We noticed many staring at him. Don let this go on for awhile then told Ken that short shorts were a gay calling card! Loads and loads of laughs with that one! Almost as good as the Purple frog incident. Don took us to this bridge over the river to show the enormous untouched bedrock crevices........

A hitchiker

As the old saying goes. Go for the Gold!

Just keep heading south....Brasil is a great place! Have fun...........

Yes, It was an adventure never to be forgotten but best was a new friendship that will last forever! OK. some more pictures.

Good Camo

Snowflake (purple Frog) taking it easy at the ranch

A major erroded quartz vein

799 days in country from 1967 through 1969. 5th SFGA

A Memorial Tribute sung by Gorge Jones

http://home.comcast.net:80/~singingman7/TNOTW.htm

And my personal salute to all veterans on a day set aside foa all of us. Thank you for your service!

Ok. Maybe I missed something. I have a child talking to me atm so it's possible. You said you did not find as much gold as you wanted to... How much was actually found? :confused0013:

I found enough to make me very happy!

Here are a few more pictures

Garimpo taking a well deserved break showing his infectious smile

A group shot on Garimpo's desk

Snowflake finding one in a patch he discovered

I have to admit, I did not take pictures of the extraordinarily beaustifull women, you will just have to take my word on that or just go see for yourself.

One of the great things about Brasil that the USofA could certainly take some serious lessons on is about importation of goods. While there I saw no made in china crap whatsoever! Except for cars, motorcycles etc almost everything is made in Brasil! If it is imported you have to pay a 60% import tax! That and high fuel prices makes personal transportation expensive, but there is an expanding middle class and more and more are getting these items

One of the things I did not like about Brasil was it is illegal for citizens to own weapons. There are a few exceptions, like black powder rifles and 22's. But the beurocracy to be able to legally own those is like 20 feet of overburden.

More pictures:

Garimpo on the forum

A no tresspass sign with the usual no hunting and fishing, but also no prospectors

Snowflake scraping up a nugget

Very tough beeping conditions in the jungle

OK,

I'm gonnna let the cat out out of the bag. I did find some gold with the detector, but not as much as I hoped. I knew ahead of time, well before I went to Brasil that my GPX 4000 was a much wanted commodity down there. When I first arrived, we put the word out to the locals that I wanted to trade it for gold before I left the country. A couple of Garimpos (prospectors) wanted it, but I struck a deal with a guy that came pretty far and his gold was as beautiful as gold comes. I made out very well on the deal. But took my chances because all gold in Brasil is supposed to go to the government and not leave the country...... you can figure that out for yourself. Most of the gold ends up at the local Gold Buyer and he puts those fantastic nuggets on a steel block and pound them flat to get the rock out, then it just goes to a refiner.... what a waste. Very few appreciate the beauty of the gold there.

A great thing being based at Don's was we got up at 5am and got to start beeping just after sunrise. That allowed us to get about 5 hours of detecting in before the searing heat of the day. Then it was back to town. befor it got brutally hot. One of the great things we got to enjoy being back at Don's was the fantastic lunches(main meal of the day) served. My favorite place hands down was Maria's place. That woman knows how to fee hungry people. She usually has about 13 courses to serve every day! She would bring out seconds on anything we cleaned the plate off without even asking! The beer was only one degree above freezing, Don and I really appreciated that, Snowflake on the other hand rotted his inside out on Cokes! A meal at Maria's including all drinks was about $5.50. I am really going to miss that place big time. After lunch it was back to Don's house for serious siesta time! Around 5pm Don's wonderful wife would serve us a fresh made jusice or cold watermellon... way to perfect! Around 7-mepm it was time for a light dinner..... STEAK ON A STICK! The businesses closed and the sidewalks became BBQ restaurants serving prety much the same things everywhere, A couple of varieties of steak on a stick, bacon wrapped chicken on a stick, cheese on a stick and great soups, along of course with lots of very cold beer. Don's favorite dinner restaurant was on one of the busiest street corners of main street. At this point I have to share about the stop signs. They are there and you can easily see them, but the rule is you only have to stop if you think you need to....... that made for much to watch at dinner, not to mention the parade of beautiful women (that love men with DEET on)!

OK more later and now for some pictures.

The Three :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen: gringos at Maria's

Brasilian Cat's claw...very wicked stuff!

Meat sales at the local Farmer's market

A nice 10.13 grammer:

The temperatures in the caves is a constant 113F with a 100% humidity. 15 minutes exposure in this cave without any protective gear and you will be dead. The scientists had to develop a custom, ice cooled suit and respirator that would allow them to work in the cave for short periods of time.

Sounds just like the detecting climate in Central Brasil!

Yup,

I want Don to tell the story of the giant purple frog!

Just pictures today, story to continue later...........

10.68 Gram Nugget

Don Teaching the finer points of collecting Ripe Mangos

Mid Day siesta time at the ranch

Miles and Miles of RED Dirt

I bought this piece from the collector, thought I would share: It is uncut and in as found condition!

When at Don's house, the collector also showed pictures of recovering the main mass....... I was GIANT!

A NOI alway Preceeds a POO. You do not need to file a NOI unless you plan on using heavy mechanized equipment , cutting trees or make a significant surface disturbance. Stay away from submitting either, Especially with the Forest Circus! Don't just fly under the radar, crawl under it!

Start of the story:

Ok a bit of the story...... We started off on the premis to find an entire new area for gold. The home base from wich we operated was Uruacu, Brasil. That is where Don has been living for the last 10 years. Anyway the place he had in mind was 1 1/2 days driving North of Uruacu (I like that name) to a 3000 acre ranch owned by a friend of Don's. We packed food and supplies for 3 weeks and headed out. What a long trip to the middle of nowhere it was. Definatly not tourist areas! The ranch was beautiful and after 3 days of three of us beeping our brains out and finding zero zilch nada, we decided on plan B. Since we did not have plan B, we drove back to Uruacu. This used up a week, but I got to see much of the interior of Brasil that gringos never see. We were treated like kings on the ranch by the forman and his wife. She did all the cooking, dishwashing and even washed our sweaty clothes. The weather was brutally hot as we were only 14 degrees south of the equater. Got to eat all the mangos we wanted, learned what cashews look like growing wild are like and you will not believe it. The nut itself is poisonous untill roasted but the fruit tastes great. We stopped at every cashew tree to pick and eat away and mangos too. Food, beer and everything but diesel was dirt cheap.Typical meal with lots of beer was $6, Diesel was just over a dollar a liter........ More later with the next nugget picture

Our ride at a hotel in Parranah (yup just like the fish)on the way to the ranch

Cashew fruit

Nice bridge

How to keep meat with no refrigeration in 100 degree weather

9.35 Gram beauty

Outstanding news! You are going to be like me now....... I blow the transistors out of the airport metal detectors every single time I pass through one!

Now that is what I call a serious blue bowl rig! Add a self feeder, a rocking camp chair, and a cooller full of beer and you will have a really great set up!

All gold is good gold, some is just bigger than the rest............ I keep promising myself to take Mrs El Dorado to Ironstone for a relaxing weekend........ that is just a bit more of an inspiration.....

Man that sounds like a bad situation. Hope you figure a way to rid the area of those critters. Has Mahina had her immunization for rattler bites?