Still In Mexico, This is way too long.... Oh well Options

[Twystd1]

Hello all,
Geezzz i never realized how much I miss this forum and the friends I have met here.

I found a internet cafe in Durango Mexico. YEAH...!!!!!!

I didnt realize what it was like to be without a computer and a cell phone for weeks on end.

I thought I would check in and see how everyone is doing.
And give ya a blurb on what up with da Twystd1

I just finished the Brad thread. That was one of the most amazing and envigorating pieces I have read in years.

It forced me take a look at myself and see where i had made mistakes in my own life. And review a few mistakes I made with a couple of the crew here on this forum.

I owe them. And I know it.

One more time... A gift from the club.

I am in beeeeUtiful downtown Durango,DGO Mexico. Where the women are georgeous and the food is cheap. Great place for a single guy. Who cant speak spanish worth a dam. But I am learning.

Í have been excavating Spanish Conquistador era gold and silver mines for a couple of weeks now.

It is absolutely amazing to walk on the same path as these explorers. To touch the stones they carved and feel a bit sad to know that most of the work was done by indian slave labor.

The areas I am in is so far from civilization it almost defys description.

Right next ton very old mine, we ate off the same pappaya trees that the Spanish planted 500 years ago. Actually it is the offspring of the original trees.

These mines are so far into the interior of the Sierra Madres. Even the Locals don't have names for some of these mountains. It is a trip to have 90 degree days with a hail storm lasting twenty minutes show up in the niddle of the day.

Thee are natual springs everywhere. Ya don't know how good water is until you have walked up and down mountains all day at 10K feet and higher and run out of water and KNOW if ya look around. You can find a natural spring. Just look for lotsa green stuff growing. Dig a shallow hole. VOILA. Insta water.

Ya have to imagen what it is like to have a base camp at 10,000 feet and crawl up to mines. How the Spanish got this ore to the coast is something I can't even imagine.

How did they traverse a mountain side that took me two days to climb with one mule and an alpacca? They had to go another 200 miles in the most insane terain imagiable. That again is the mystery of the Sierra Madres.

Compases and GPS won't work. The magnetite in the mountains are so strong at some points I am lucky a flashlight works. I t even (apparently) bends thge radio waves so that even the GPS can't find sattelites. I know leave all the electronic crap in the city. We now travel by instinct and stars.

Almost got nailed by EL Diablo (Black Panther) last week.
I was stuck on the side of a mountain when the sun set. Had to camp on the side of the mountain with a couple of locals. Woke up in the middle of the night. Was staring at two big eyes in the moonlight. Was a panther. Bout ten feet from me. I just stayed silent and stared back at him. There was a moment of what I felt like there was a kind of friendly conversation between the cat and my spirit.
He was gone before I could see or hear where he went. Spooky and wonderful all at the same time.

Wacky, scary and wonderful stuff happens like that every day in the Sierra Madres. I can't take photos. The growers would kill me if they saw a camera. They would have to assume I was a federally or a policia looking for narco trafficantes. I just go all over hell with my jugs of water and a chipping hammer. Most of time, they leave me alone.

Tomorrow I go back into the Siera Madres to search under a approx.430 year old spanish general store that only has the foundation left. The story goes that there is a cave about 30 feet below the foundation that has gold, guns, silver, and six dead horses buried with it. Was closed during the spanish revolution by the guy that originally found the treasure. I met his (70 year old) son on a mountain side a few weeks ago. he told me the story. Now I am going after the goods. I just have to figure out how to shore up a 10 foot around X 30 foot deep hole without any tools except hand tools. Should be a calculation nightmare. Oh yeah. Lest we forget the neuro toxins from the dead horses. Am scared shitless about getting good men hurt on this project. But the Mexican mountain men in the Siera Madres are an amazing lot. They can make a car out of a tin can. Simply amazing people.

OK, I could write for hours. This is my only chance to use english and I am relishing in it at the moment.

Thanks for giving me a place to touch base with my brothers and my friends.

May your God give you the gifts that I am getting right now.

Love ya all...

Twystd1

PS: SKLINE, yur still ugly......
Matt, hope ya like the paint
Aaron: My barefooted brother.
Slits: I want to be crusty like you when I grow up.
Mueller: I wish I knew you better. I would like to learn from you.
Spunone: Dude does anyone really know how good you are in aluminum?
All Else: Thanks for creating a good place for all of us.

[Twystd1]

From Twystd1,

Hi all,

A couple of the folks asked for an update. So here it is.


Just got back from a little pueblo called Compana about 6 hours driving time from San Miguel de Cruces, in the Sierra Madres.

OMG.. what a trip. I could write a book.

I spent 4 or 5 days days with a crew of locals trying to unearth a long gone forgotten Spanish treasure.

I have totally lost track of days and weeks. Time stands still here. I purposely have stopped trying to figure out what time it is. I simply just wake up and go with the flow.

This trip had a somewhat ominous beginning.

We were at the top of the main logging road that gets us most of the way to this pueblo. There is a turn off we take to get down to valley to our end result. Right in front of this intersection we met up about 20 federaly's with guns drawn.
Was not a feel good moment.
Mandatory strip searching of the truck. It helped that the truck was full of metal detectors, shovels, bed rolls and food and not seeds for growing funny looking stuff.

I also had a Carte Blanche pass from the Director of Mines in Durango to go pretty much anyplace I wanted without problems from the Feds.

Problem was they had never heard of the Director of mines.

then i pulled out of the glove compartment a rock that I had gotten from a mine in Las Cruces that was about 20% gold with the assay report from Durango. That just about sold them on that we were mining guys and not narco trafficantes.

Oh well... they let me and the crew pass with much aprehension.

Now think about this for a second. Mr. Gringo (ME) is going into a unknown pueblo that just happens to arrive one day after the federaly's block their road looking for Pot farmers and their wares.
That ain't a good way to start to this dig.

Question now was. Do we chance going down the hill to a hostile pueblo that in absolute terms aren't to friendly with the federal boys or turn back. Would they see me as a US based DEA agent acting as a buyer sent in to create a sting operation.

OBVIOUS ANSWER: Do exactly the opposite of any rational person. (dog, cat, whatever)

We carried on down the road for a couple of hours till we got to the Pueblo. And as providece would have it. The first guy i see helped me on a previous dig in January. Problem solved. No one was going to use us for fertilizer.

Brought a bunch of presents for kids and choclates for the women that would eventually cook our meals.

You dont give men gifts. you trade them things like mag lights and batteries and chinese pocket knives.

Thats how i say thanks for a favor given in mexico.

First day we surveyed the dig, convinced a few of the locals to help in lieu of payment if we found anything and went like hell for a couple of days. At the 14 foot mark we started to dig up clay roofing tiles that were very old. They had to be old to be down this deep.

Then the Monsoons hit. And they hit hard. Filled our hole up quick with water. CRAP..!!!!!!

The locals were stoked. Free water reservoir and mini swimming pool.

Was seriously bummed. Then i said to myself it's time to have some fun. So during this warm rain. Some locals took me on their mules down to a river to get a solid bath.
The river had risen a bunch because of the rain. But I had promised the guys i would teach them how to swim. So i did. I taught 3 guys how to swim class 2 rapids
while pretending this was normal. It was like giving body surfing for the first time in a medium surf in Cali.

Was seriously fun and elegant in it's own way. In return they threw out a net and caught 103 fish in a little over 3 hours. These little guys are about the size of your hand. (barely)

Except one particular fish. Was about a 2 pound cat fish... And it was mine as a gift. That kind of gift is overwhelming once ya understand what a prize that is.
Kinda made me quite for a while. I am not used to that kind of gift.

Add a fire, a pan, some oil, a little salt and a fistful of limes, and a few papayas for desert. Insta kick ass lunch.

Was an incredible day.

Next day:
Got rained out again... Said to myself. Time to go home. I can go back to my home made swimming pool after the rainy season and continue that particular journey.

Am back in Durango now. AND YES they will now allow me to take photos from now on. The trust has been built.

If ya ever wonder how we eat. it's easy. I trade fixing their chain saws, trucks, generators and the occasional VCR for food and home grown coffee. I have to pay for the chickens and the pigs because they are a very valuable commodity. And I have to feed 6 guys three times a day.

It's easier to trade for food than to try haul that much food with no refrigeration.

I am so used to drinking, brushing my teeth and towel bathing out of the same 55 gallon drum of water the horses and the dogs drink out of I don't even give it a second thought. Who woulda thunk?

I have to really appreciate these people. Most of the guys over 60 can take me to school on throwing a pick and shovel. They can do it for hours on end. They have been doing it all their lives. It is like watching physical art in motion. No wasted effort. The simple flow of movement is simply remarkable to watch while we wait our turn to pick or shovel.

You just have to see it to appreciate the greatness in these people.

I will screw it up if i try to use words to tell you how i see these folks. So i will quite trying to.

Yee haw. found a couple of more mines driving back from the dig.
Found out about them from people I have met since I have been here, and wanted me to check em out. Got samples and am sending them to Phoenix for assay. One looks extremely good.

Hopefully coming back this week for a hot shower and figure out what to do next.

Again, thanks for a place to use a bit "O" english.

Twystd1

PS: Hey Matt or Aaron, Should i do this as a blog so i don't waste thread space in the future?

Twystd1