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We met up with Tom and Barry from Ihana.com
in Dominical. As soon as we arrived it started
to pour, so we headed to the San Clementé
bar to seek shelter and get Barry a free
beer and taco in exchange for donating his
broken surf board to the collection hanging
from the ceiling. We didn't tell the bartender
that Ihana broke Barry's board by driving
too close to a tree while it was mounted
on the side of their Rover, though.
The next morning, we drove to the Osa Peninsula
via the road less traveled. We turned right
and then a quick left (at N08°38.552'
W083°28.100') in La Palma and tried
to drive down the western side of the peninsula
vs. the typical eastern route. This route
follows and crosses the Río Rincón
36 times until it ends in the middle of
nowhere (N08°33.319' W083°29.734').
At the end of the road, although the locals
said it was impossible, we pushed our luck,
crossed the river a couple more times, and
camped right in the middle of the river
bed, between two channels.
In the early morning, while taking pictures
of the camp site, I saw a man walking up
the river toward me. All I could understand
with my horrible Spanish, was that there
would be men working in the area. Soon enough
a couple more arrived and told us they were
panning for gold. We walked up the river
to learn more and they were eager to let
us all try panning with their help. After
shovelling rock from the river bottom and
swishing it around in the water, we all
found a few tiny flecks of gold at the bottom
of the pan. Carlos and Orwell said they
find about 1 gram per day, worth $7 and
that they had been panning for 20 to 30
years.
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