LA TOMA, Colombia — Shovel and wooden pan in hand, rubber boots hoisted up to his shins, Leider Ocoró Ambuila strolled past the zapote tree, past the stands of ripening bananas, past the cow pen, down to the banks of the Ovejas river.
He was soon crouched at waterway's edge shoveling silt into a concave pan, or batea, a ritual passed down for generations. He splashed water on the grit and tilted the pan to help separate mud and pebbles from the real stuff — gold, minuscule flecks of which soon sparkled from the muck.
"Francia also worked hard to find gold," said Ocoró Ambuila, 41. "I grew up with her. We played together. She is one of us."
