Auf der Suche nach El Dorado

Searching for El Dorado

Contemporary "conquistadores" continue the search for the gold of El Dorado. Docegeto, the Brazilian mining company discovered gold deposits while exploiting the mineral resources of the Amazon jungle. Impoverished Brazilians, lured by the promise of quick fortune, flocked to the area to stake out claims. The prospector enclaves are miniatures of the Brazilian society at large, wealth determining human worth. A labyrinth of ladders connects the crazy-quilt of claims, a busy anthill patrolled by military police. Most claims are worthless; many fortune-hunters wind up toiling like medieval serfs for the lucky few who struck it rich. The government has declared the region offlimits for women, arms and alcohol. Predictably just outside of the military barriers, boom-town bar districts have sprouted up. And here the small profits scratched together by the gold diggers are quickly gone.

Source: Oliver Herbrich