Oro offers opportunity...

Gold, Au, Oro evokes the feeling of prestige; the meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolizes high quality. Gold is on the up...well up...650USD an ounce. 650...coincidentally that's the same number as the recorded year that gold was first minted as a coin, short history here. The gold miners may not be too happy but the investors could be: "This year, the price of gold is up as much as 25 percent as investors diversify into precious metals. The incentives for investing in gold have included record oil prices, tension over Iran's nuclear program and concerns that global inflation could pick up pace." NEW YORK (Reuters) 29th April 2006.

So get out there and buy/trade some! It's a very handy global electronic currency - egold

The idea of prospectors seems centuries old but today there are still people out there doing it, and finding nuggets! Only last month for instance: [edit: link dead] gold nuggets were found by Rod Fitzhugh (ArizonaGoldProspectors.com) and Ted Scott (GoldPlacer.com) on March 26th 2006 in Arizona. Photo by Rod Fitzhugh.

I've done some panning in my time and been panned too! However I like to dig and there's always the chance you'll find some nuggets of your own; I found [edit: link dead] every one of them pure gold. Link in place of image found to be offensive to some readers... :-)

As an aside, and only slightly connected with these jewels, is that I went to a swimsuit show in the Marina Yacht Club in Callao (nr. Lima) yesterday, for Abtao Fashion; I had arrived on the plane to be greeted with TV and press crowding the airport exits...not for me...but for Daniela Cicarelli, a Brazilian beauty, model and Ronaldo's ex-girlfriend (I think it's ex), we had shared the front seats on the plane so I felt obliged to go and see her semi-naked...ahem. She has a lovely, natural beauty and a great sense of humour - here's a picture she let me take after the event: OK, as you may have guessed, that last bit's a complete lie: she said I shouldn't take it!!!

S.O.
1. Ows adds 01/05/06: As I commented to Mags, by pure (gold) coincidence, this week is the Seventh International Gold Symposium here in Lima. Today in El Comercio is a special supplement about it: Peru is the world's 5th principal gold producer, "Oro: brillos y sombras. Con motivo del Séptimo Simposium Internacional del Oro a realizarse esta semana en Lima, Día_1 [the supplement] ofrece un especial sobre el sector".
To make things even more weird, in the same section, there is also a comment re Gold's Gym (see comments) and Olenka, a Peruvian model, "¡Nadie como tú! Dime, por dónde es que van tus piecitos, cuál es el viento que sopla tu cabello, el cambista que le abre paso a tu sonrisa. Dime, Olenka, por qué eres así, por qué fuiste al Mr. Universo y no avisaste . Sí, sí, la rompieron los chicos del Gold's Gym, se sabe, pero nosotros queremos saber de ti, diosa eterna, Caballera de los Mares, Bruja de los Andes... ¡aaaaaaaaayy!"
2. Ows adds 01/05/06: Back to Gold: May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Prices of gold, which reached a 25- year high today, may surpass $700 an ounce by the end of the year as investors seek alternative investments and supply can't match demand, said Australian miner Bendigo Mining Ltd.