Much of the gold that came to Europe from the Americas was unearthed from ancient indigenous burial sites, the guacas. The pieces that were not melted into ingots went to private collections that are preserved today in museums.
Many guacas were worshipped as enclosing a deity and were buried all over the continent: from the Darien jungle in Panama to the Rio de la Plata in Argentina. In the Andes of Colombia, it is known that on the nights of Holy Thursday and Good Friday “the guacas light up” and the gold buried in them can be seen.
Guacas have a mystery because they provide luck or death. People in the Colombian Andes say that the gold is alive: it moves under the earth when it does not want to be found, it grows with water and emanates a “mist” that “stings” anyone who touches it without protection.
