BRASIL / PERU : Race Celebrates Amazon's Trans-Oceanic Highway Opening To Peru; Illegal Gold Mining Is Big Business In Guacamayo.

BBC/ Dan Collyns /

   Some 30 drivers raced to mark the completion of a new stretch of a $905 million usd road that connects Brasil with Peru thru the Madre de Dios Amazon region.
    The 2,200km/1,367 miles race needed a ferry to cross a river where a key bridge is unfinished.
    "The road doesn't just have curves, it has big drops, places where if you make a mistake, you die," said Brasilero driver Luiz Facco.
  The Amazon road was built to boost trade but will also increase migration many for illicit gold mining that may bring  more crime, more drug-addiction, more deforestation and more ecological destruction.

 ALSO:  In a LONG feature, Alfonso Daniels writes about the gold rush underway in Guacamayo, Peru, an illegal gold mining site so big, it is visible from space. It's only three years old but nearly 60 square miles.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8284407/Gold-rush-in-the-Amazon.html