In Caracas talking about the Guaire river is talking about dirt, sewage, garbage and thousands of diseases. Many times talking among friends people joke and say thousands of negative things about that river.
The national government has tried, for several years, the sanitation of the river. Millions and "million" were spent on that project that turned out to be a fiasco where the investment money was lost. No one has said anything about that loss.
For several days I looked for a way to share with people living and living Guaire, many will wonder who lives in the Guaire?, the answer is surprising, only in 12 days sharing in that river was contacted with more than 100 people.
In this writing I will not speak of many details of their lives, what they do or how they came to devote to this trade because I have commitments in different media.
Carton Collectors
In the Av Rio de Janeiro at the height of the Mercedes and at the crossroads of Chacaito there are 2 points where you can find the collectors. One of the points is called "The Jungle", is to the right of the main Av of the Mercedes sense Chacaito, next to the new elevated. At that point they gather from 10 to 45 people every day, they are surrounded by garbage, rats, paper, mountain, pollution and Guaire. Entering that place and making contact with them was not difficult. Always speak "clear" what you are going to do and bring some food to share is enough to break the ice and want to hear what you have to say.
As confidence was created, I listened to the stories of each one of them. In that place there is a couple of young people who met on the street, not on the street to live, but on the street as someone knows who goes to class and meets a stranger on the road and decide to meet. She has her house but the young man in the street captivated her. After a while leaving, and she received several negatives when I told her to know his house, one day decided to follow him, at that time discovered that lived under a bridge. Love was more than reality, she decided to leave her house and live next to her, she is currently pregnant and says, as amazing as it sounds, it makes it easier to live in the street and get food to be at home and have to work.!
Another of the cases is that of a Spaniard who came from Malaga, Spain. Between verbiage, and one other incoherence, he talked about how much he has traveled and how he came to Venezuela. In some moments I stopped believing but even spoke in English, how many people in street situation speak fluent English?. He mentioned that one day he took a plane and when he arrived in the country he fell in love with a mulatto woman who ended up leaving him on the street, since he lives "here and there", says that he is "a thug, see face", then jokes and says: "That I was taught by a Venezuelan , told me that they respected me in the street. " Unfortunately I lost contact with this character, I approached in 3 opportunities but I was told that he went to the interior of the country, "to follow his course", which was going to Uruguay.
Most live from the sale of cardboard and search for food in the Trash, live on the street without having to go, some of them even have a dark past that forced them to move to the Guaire.
The other point where another "community" is concentrated is in "La Rampa". In front of a local grills in the Av Rio de Janeiro in the Mercedes sit and organize the cartons and prepare them for sale. In this place there is an elderly gentleman and a group of young people, including 3 women with their partners. One of the girls has a baby and waits for another, the other just found out she's pregnant. They are not criminals or steal, rather traders see them as a necessary evil, collect street cards and keep criminals away from their business, is like a kind of "commercial exchange."
They look for food in the garbage and remains of hide, bones and skin that they give them in a butchery of the locality. They talk that they look bad on the street but they only work and look for sustenance to help their family and those who are coming.
They win between 30,000 thousand and 40,000 thousand bolívares a week. It is not enough for much but, like many Venezuelans, it is their turn to survive with the little they have.
The "Garimpeiros" of the Guaire
After spending several days in the Guaire at the height of the Mercedes, I move to Antimano, in that place near the footbridge of the UCAB there is a group of young people on the side of the highway bathing with the water that comes from a main water pipe that supplies to Antiman O, Montalban and Junquito.
Then make the first contact and commit to go the next day to see how they seek gold I retire. The next morning, out of the six they had, there's only one of them with his girlfriend, he tells me that the others left. At that time I ask do you really look for gold in the Guaire?, he said yes, that was to get in and with his hand takes the necessary and the rest discarded, I did not believe much but I decided to see how he did.
The young man went down the wall of the Guaire and began the task, I saw how he did the work for 2 hours. When he came out of the water I asked him what he had achieved and he showed me 3 stones that he said sold as gold, when he took them I could see a piece of glass, a black stone and a white planter. I told him that I thought very well but that I had to go, at that time I saw very far the report of the "Garimpeiros" or until there was such a community dedicated to relocate in the famous river.
A few days, talking to several people, they told me to approach Quinta Crespo, people said that in that place were all concentrated, I decided to listen and one morning I went closer. On the site I asked directions to a polycaracas and told me that they are in Caño Amarillo, which from the Calvary saw them. Once at Calvary, from the top in the bust of Zamora, I felt speaking as mature, I observed one inside the Guaire, it was 11:00am. When I saw him I was not surprised, I thought that one was not enough for a story.
A police officer comes up to me and says: Pity those young people in that river, they have no idea of the diseases that they will suffer in the future. At that moment I thought young people?, but if I only see one... The officer told me that if I fell to the silence and "ate the arrow" towards Caño Amarillo at that point I would see several. I decided to follow the direction.
The journey will take you a bit away from the comfort zone that many Caracas are accustomed to. But as one is stubborn, he likes adrenaline and believes that life is a game, no matter. They always brand me crazy, playing with luck and other things. This is really just loving what you do.
The entrance to the place is a parking lot that looks like a car riding, when entering it is as if it had a role in the forehead that said "journalist" or "foreigner", everyone turns to see me as the passengers see a seller of candy of a van, waiting to take out The chewing gum or the gun, that's how I looked. At the door I ask, tell me to go and go down the ramp, at that point I would see what I'm looking for. Before lowering the ramp, on the right hand side, there is an improvised house with approximately 30 people recently groomed, I ask where you get the people looking for gold, only receive looks and pure silence. One of them said "go down and talk to the boys to see what they say"
My face was a surprise... approximately 30 people on the banks of the Guaire taking land from the bottom and checking to see what they found. One of them approached and introduced me, explained the idea and agreed. I must confess that at one point I thought that they would not agree and that they would tell me to withdraw from the site.
During the following days I met his office, they told me that they do not live in the street, everyone studies, they have another work, they have homes and I really saw that they were people united and with manners. They were well spoken, respectful, changed clothes at the end of the day and the only thing that made us different is that they get into the Guaire to look for gold, silver and bronze that can sell and I document. That was the only difference, oh, and they earn over 150,000 BS a week. For a moment I also thought of looking for gold.
I stopped calling them garimpeiros after meeting them and knowing that they don't even remotely resemble them. They all live nearby, are neighbors or as they say "from the same hill." They work, they live with their families and they arrived because a gentleman, the veteran of the place, who appeared in a cameo in Huelepega, has 30 years doing it and told them that if he earned money, it was a dirty job but he earned more than in an office.
Everyone wanted to work in a company, with a suit and that the money reach them, everyone wants it but the train of reality takes them ahead and tells them that in Venezuela is not possible, that more can the search that knowledge, experience or studies. When I say goodbye I promise to go back and continue documenting their work, they tell me that there is no problem, to return when they want them to follow in their own, taking out the wealth that moves the Guaire.
After several days and many stories, this type of reports make you, in some way, grow and learn from other people. He made it clear to Me that there are those who speak without knowing. Before meeting them people told me that I was crazy, that pure criminals, crack heads and thugs do that; Only a madman enters those places; The people who do that do not want or value... In short, thousands of things that created a prejudice in me that was destroyed after the report. They all have a story to tell, they have different opportunities and different realities, just talking to them makes you see that they are just like any other Venezuelan in costume or with more opportunities, everyone has something to say and need a way to To do it, at that moment I enter and show its reality.
Source: https://romancamacho.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/los-mineros-del-rio-guaire/