Heading to Ecuador, South America for 3 months.

[Alaskan Adventurer]

Hey guys, I leave in about 3 weeks for Ecuador, South America. I am bringing my Minelab Sovereign Gt md and my Grizzly 3 sluice. I will be down there for 3 months, and if things work out I will be coming back, regearing and returning. If you are from the area(Ecuador or Peru specifically) let me know. Ecuador is part of the Incan empire and has numerous unexplored areas and lots of old ruins just waiting to be detected. Along the northern coast are 7-10 shipwrecks still undiscovered. Locals frequently find artifacts and coins washed up on the beach after heavy storms.

The country is tiny with a huge variety of terrain. West is Pacific coast, central consists of the Andes mountains and east of the Andes is the Amazon rainforest. There is an insane amount of gold in this region of the world if you have the cojones to go there. The danger level is way overrated and if you stay as low key as possible, stay respectful and embrace the culture, you will be fine. Anyways, i will post updates as my trip progresses with photos. If you have an adventurous side and wish you were from a different time period(so like me, lol) this is the place to go. One of the few wild regions still in the world.

Cheers!

AA

 

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[Hoser John]

I have a few professional miner buds who have been there and lost their butts. My bud John lost a fortune--make that quite a few there-as married a gal-put millions in their banks(bought into one actually) bought a immense rancho. Well government took over the banks and took over 90% of his cash,volcano blew it's top and killed the farm,poisoned the water,sterilized the land and needless to say his righteous young chica wife disappeared. Mad Dog spent many MANY moths crawling around with numerous associates who were locals and you could never pay him enough to ever go back. just 2 outta a dozen stories. ERR on the side a caution as you are GUILTY till proven innocent and a HUGE crime to remove gold or artifacts and no place to be jailed-tons a au 2 u2 -John

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

I have a few professional miner buds who have been there and lost their butts. My bud John lost a fortune--make that quite a few there-as married a gal-put millions in their banks(bought into one actually) bought a immense rancho. Well government took over the banks and took over 90% of his cash,volcano blew it's top and killed the farm,poisoned the water,sterilized the land and needless to say his righteous young chica wife disappeared. Mad Dog spent many MANY moths crawling around with numerous associates who were locals and you could never pay him enough to ever go back. just 2 outta a dozen stories. ERR on the side a caution as you are GUILTY till proven innocent and a HUGE crime to remove gold or artifacts and no place to be jailed-tons a au 2 u2 -John

Hope everyone else feels that way and leaves all the gold for me. I know quite a few people who prospect down there, including people who actually live there. Are you sure it is Ecuador you are thinking about? And is this years ago or recently? I have no plans to "buy into anything". Thanks for the advice though.

 

[Hoser John]

As always wish ya a safe trip and a happy return to the US and tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Klondikeike]

Hey Alaska...

I have over 30 years of real mining experience.. not a weekend warrior.. and you couldn't pay me enough to go there..

I know of a group of 7 who went there about 10 years ago..some were friends of mine... they were found in a mass grave on the very property they were trying to mine..with all the inside connections and associates...and of course their thousands of dollars of equipment was no where to be found and none of the locals knew anything about what happened.... only the found them dead and buried them...

That being said,, I am some what of a history buff.. and back in the early days of California and Gold Rush... the word spread like wild fire..and it was told far and wide that you could just pick the gold up like picking up bricks... Actually, less than 2 percent of the tens and tens and tens of thousands of people who went to the gold field of California made any serious money....and today it is the same....the call of gold over here or over there...it is a strong call...

My advice is stay at home.. mine in Alaska.. and stay alive... I know of a place in the Talkeetina Mountains, about a 6 hour drive by ATV...where I have picked nuggets up laying on top of the ground at low water levels...the only threat I had was a lone wolf...a black one at that...the nuggets were pea sized to a lima been size... while there was and is a lot of gold there, the logistics to get it out far out weigh the reward of the gold....in your case, maybe your life...

It's human nature to believe the gold is better over the fence.. using gold in lue of grass..lol... but it remains the same... great fortunes have been lost on searching for gold in places where a person has no business being there... in a foreign country, there will be no trial.. no judge... no jury...if for any reason, your fault, their fault..any ones fault.. you may end up in serious trouble...

I wish you well and hope you return not only as a rich man..... but as a safe rich man.... but I would certainly rethink your choices within the next 3 weeks......

Klondike Ike

 

[snowdog20]

I have a small finca with a house in Mendoza, Argentina. If ya wanna check the mountains there nearby, you can stay for free.

 

[Astrobouncer]

Regardless of how dangerous it is, I cant say that I wouldn't do the same if I could. Some people are just born to be adventurers, explorers, and discoverers. Good luck over there and I hope you hit the big one. Maybe you can arm and hire some locals as body guards. If you pay them higher then anyone else, they should be loyal to you.

 

[snowdog20]

I've been around South America. Ecuador isn't that dangerous. The dangerous areas are in places like Columbia, and central america.
The main danger is in the cities, because the pick pockets are all over the place. Never keep your passport and money in your pockets. Get something that hangs from your neck and tuck it underneath your shirt. Rural areas are awesome!

 

[stilllookin]

Alaskan, keep us informed would love to hear how you do.

 

[crazyjarhead]

Good luck and be safe. Hope you make headline news.............in a good way

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

Thanks for the comments guys. Less than 2 weeks to go. My friend who owns that property is almost positive his river has gold in it and has invited me to test it. He has multiple employees and one of them is a professional guide who knows the area. He is bi-lingual and wants to travel with me when I do some more serious treks.

On my friend's property is also quite a few Incan ruins, and has some wicked potential. Old stone foundations of a few structures. This town, Vilcabamba is right on the Inca trail and the valley the town is in was used as a vacation getaway for Inca royalty. I love history.

I will be posting quite a few pics over time and will try to keep this thread active. I just picked up some snakebite proof shin guards designed for warm weather. They are made of teflon and are pretty sick. I figure who ever is leading the party should be wearing them.

 

[wwace]

As a fellow Alaskan U wish you luck. My favorite cousin spent a couple years there 20 yrs ago and it wasn't so bad then, Just a note, don't even think of digging artifacts as you will end up in a very crappy jail cell.

 

[LM]

On my friend's property is also quite a few Incan ruins, and has some wicked potential. Old stone foundations of a few structures. This town, Vilcabamba is right on the Inca trail and the valley the town is in was used as a vacation getaway for Inca royalty. I love history.

Just know what you're getting in to, in terms of trying to "bring" cultural artifacts out of those countries. Most Latin American countries have stiff laws prohibiting removal of "really old stuff", Ecuador included. If you're willing to shoulder the risk, OK, but I wouldn't go down there without being fully informed.

 

[maipenrai]

Did you say your friend is "ALMOST sure there is gold in his river"? He never even tried to pan, just to check it out? Wish you luck, but since there isn't even a gram of proof, its a big risk. Send him a gold pan with instructions, then see what happens. I really doubt that there is just gold laying around for Americans to come and get it, but maybe Ecuadorians don't understand how to recover gold down there.

As far as a guide that is anxious to help you, hmmmmmmmm. I hope you understand that you will be paying him too?

Yes, the grass is always more golden on the other side of the border.

Sorry if I'm a bit negative about this, but I have chased a few rainbows in my time, and when your out of your turf, lots of things can happen.

 

[GrayCloud]

A Louisiana Boy use to fly gold out of the Costa Rica jungles a few years back. Last flight out, his plane got shot up and he almost did not make it out. The stress was more than he could bare. He don't go back no more.

 

[bill-costa rica]

A Louisiana Boy use to fly gold out of the Costa Rica jungles a few years back. Last flight out, his plane got shot up and he almost did not make it out. The stress was more than he could bare. He don't go back no more.

i think somebuddy was pulling your leg

 

[GrayCloud]

No. I know him quite well and some of his associates at that time. No Joke.

 

[bill-costa rica]

No. I know him quite well and some of his associates at that time. No Joke.

back 30 years ago i could see that happening, the government were the only legal gold buyers and they bought at their price, smuggeling to panama or other places paid good money. in the last 15 years it has been a open market. are you sure he was flying gold ? sounds like he was hauling columbian white gold.

bill-cr

 

[GrayCloud]

Yes and that time table would be about right.

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

I have been here in Ecuador for a little over a week now, and I am still alive! As a matter of fact, i couldn't feel safer. Only managed to find a couple grams of gold so far, but i have only made a single trip out. We couldn't reach the area we wanted to hit, so we settled about half way there. The area we were aiming for had been bought out a few years ago and is now private property. I decided not to risk it. In the next couple of weeks, a fellow Alaskan prospector who lives here and myself are planning a much bigger trip. It is a know gold area, so wish me luck. This country is beautiful and the people are wonderful. Just show them respect and all is well.