Days 2-4

We met Sergio in Los Perales, a small town in the green ribbon that makes up the Valle del Transito. We met him after asking a couple men along the road where he lives - "at the sign for avocados." We found the "Hay paltas" (palta=avocado) and walked down the shady drive to the little concrete house with a covered, tile-floored patio. Shade means everything here. Second only to water. Sergio greeted us and we began explaining our presence and interests. His two children, age 5 and 11, bathed in the narrow concrete canal below the patio. She had little green chunks smeared in her hair - avocado shampoo.

Sergio is the president of the Estancia Huascoaltino. This refers to a farming community of members living in the Estancia - like a county. Huascoaltino lands extend into the cordillera to the Argentina border. He got out maps, including a large one with crayon markings indicating the areas of gold exploration. Pascua Lama was not the only one. There are also Valeriano, Pachui/Chollay, and the big Morro project, recently bought by Extrato Corporation.

Sergio is strongly against Barrick. According to Sergio, the only meeting he had, as representative of the Huascoaltino Community, with them ended with Barrick asking what they wanted. Sergio said the community wanted only one thing... for Barrick to leave. Barrick ultimately put together an outline of the benefits for the communities. The Huascoaltino were not interested.

The Huascoaltino native lands once covered a much larger area than they now do. Through complex secondary titles, the government sold large easterly chunks (where the gold belt lies) to Barrick and others.

Knowing Sergio´s stance, we spent yesterday walking through Los Perales. Everyone we met, with the exclusion of one bar owner (basically the only bar, in the nearby town of Transito), was against the mine. They fear contaminated water and most of them had never met a Barrick representative.

Next, we head back into the valley and will attend the monthly community meeting tonight followed by a more focused meeting on Sunday led by a Spanish ecologist who will use evidence from other mines to educate the locals on potential hazards. From there we'd like to get higher in the valley to see the areas affected.