trotamundos
Serra Pelada
The name of the two men we cannot remember, but they were amiable like most of the Brazilians. The lake in the background used to be a gold mine. Here, between 1980 and 1986, 50,000 men worked like slaves and extracted from this open pit mine, by hand, 29,000 tons of gold. Rain water has since filled up the hole, but one should not take a bath in there, the water is loaded with chemicals.
Today, Serra Pelada is a poor village. The unemployment rate is extremely high and only seldom the union can find a few short time jobs for their members. Sebastião Salgado, the Brazilian photographer had documented the workers and the mine in the 80's.
encounters
Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going.
                                   Paul  Theroux                 
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