This is taken inside the "office" on the gold mine site. The scale is used to measure the gold so the buyer can pay the workers based on the weight that they mined. The guy on the other side is using a magnet surrounded by a tissue paper to seperate the gold pieces from the black dust/sand particles. Very simple procedure... but very important as the buyer doesn't want to pay more than he has to!!! About 15 minutes after this pic was taken, there was horrible terrenchial downpour. The gold buyer even closed up his scales as he said when the gold gets wet it weighs more... haha. Can't have that!! We were stuck in the office, with a leaky roof for at least 1/2 hour. We then proceeded to trek back to the car. It was probably one of the most adventurous/worst/funniest times of my life. Just picture this....
Treking through a muddy gold mine field wearing size 42 wellington (aka rubber) boots when you are suppose to wear 38. My calves are big... so the boot was tight on my calves, and loose in the foot. I was getting stuck in mud, and because the boot was too big... I couldn't pull myself out of the mud. At one time I had a guy on each arm and one behind me holding me by my belt loops!! haha. I didn't fall... but my pants were really muddy when I got back. My boots also had holes in them. It was funny... but also very tiring. My heart goes out to the people who work in the mines everyday and trek up and down those steep, muddy trails. It's downright dangerous!!
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