gold!

i talked to a guy at the pool today who runs this company.
it was rather interesting.
many people are running illegal mines that introduce shitloads of mercury into the environment to extract gold flakes from riverbeds of the last epic.
the mercury amalgamates the gold making it easier to extract, but leaves the land polluted and results in birth defects in the native peoples.

dan, the guy i was talking to, says that there are 5 groups involved. 4 are native americans, and the 5th is a group that was once a bunch of slaves that revolted and started their own colony in the 17th century.

suriname was once called dutch guiana, therefore, the people speak a version of dutch that dan is trying to learn. he's also working on the creole that was created by the slaves. i guess its their native language mixed with a bit of dutch.
Maroon, i guess these people are called.

so his job is to get necessary equipment to these people so they can test their waters and soil for high levels of pollutants, and then manners in which they can resolve the problem.
his wife is into sociology and talks to the natives on their whole perspective on the pollution and the westernized world going on around them.
i wish they needed help, but i'm sure a company run by just the two of them wouldn't have funding for a tag-along.

however, i did tell the guy about my interests.
he told me about a friend of his doing archaeology on St. Kitts.
apparently this used to be a large harbor for most every ship coming into the caribbean. they'd all pit-stop here before heading off to their final destination.
that guy is working on the original settlement on the island.
sounds interesting.
i bet there'd be a shitload of shipwrecks around that island.
another something to look into in case school doesn't exactly work out...