Life in a Banana Republic - An old Spanish Colonial gold mine.

[YumaMarc]

There are many mines in Honduras, most discovered and worked during the Spanish Colonial era. One reasonably close to me is at Guasucarán, Francisco Morazán. I don't know the exact dates of its operation, but since Colonial days it has been worked sporadically until relatively recently. It's in one of the more remote rural areas, and very secluded. There is no electrical service here, and water is from wells. Some who can afford it have solar panels to run basic electrical needs, even TV and computers. Internet and TV can be had by satellite dish. This is tranquility.

The trail up to the mine. This is a typical rural Honduras "thoroughfare", built for feet, burros and horses. Peace and quiet reign supreme here.

The mountain is honeycombed with holes, adits, drifts and shafts made by long-gone miners hoping for that "El Dorado". This is where we entered.

The adit we chose is an incline up to a very low entrance to the main gallery. It was hands-and-knees here.

My wife and a friend of ours in the main gallery. From here drifts and shafts branch off in several directions. We were stunned by the colors of the rocks.

A worked-out drift with a vertical shaft in front of the back wall. In darkness these shafts are very dangerous.

Another view of the same drift.

Another drift with a vertical shaft at the end.

Ramon looking down into a lower drift going off in an unknown direction.

Shining a miner's lamp into a vertical shaft. Some of these shafts have wooden ladders down to another level, mostly rotted, and all unsafe.

Another drift that drops off into darkness.

Metal detecting in one of the galleries.

Leaving by the same adit in which we entered. Daylight can be seen through the "crawlspace" under the low-hanging ceiling. My Minelab Quattro is on the big rock lower left.

We found nothing with the metal detectors worth picking up, but we really didn't stay long enough to give them an honest try. Supposedly the mine goes down at least 200 feet, and rumors say there are many old tools and artifacts, some from Spanish times, down there. We didn't try to go down because we didn't have ropes or ladders, and mostly because we don't know the air quality. I'd like to buy an oxygen sensor for another trip, but in Honduras that might be impossible.

Regardless, an enjoyable trip. I love the nature and tranquility of rural Honduras.

 

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[tamrock]

There's definitely some mineralization within that rock. Yes! your wise to not go deep into old workings, as that can be a big mistake you may not live to tell about. How is it you ended up in Honduras?

 

[YumaMarc]

There's definitely some mineralization within that rock. Yes! your wise to not go deep into old workings, as that can be a big mistake you may not live to tell about. How is it you ended up in Honduras?

I worked as an assayer and miner most of my life, so I've seen lots of old mines in the western US. Most of the hard-rock drifts are relatively safe to enter but I would never enter an abandoned shored mine. In most unshored mines the biggest threats are falling into an unmarked shaft, or bad air at depths.

After retirement I came to Honduras mostly for the adventure and romanticism of living an "Indiana Jones" sort of life in the semi-tropics. The biggest reason, however, is because it's my wife's native land, and she wanted to live among her family once again. I've never regretted it at all, and it is definitely an adventurous lifestyle for a gringo from the Ozarks.

 

[WannaDig3687]

Very colorful and intriguing. I hope you do get to go back and find some old history!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Great adventure, thank you for sharing!