Industrialzed civilization is on a collision course with the ecological systems that support life on earth.
Al Gore

The wild American West has moved south, specifically to Brazil, where it is alive and well in all its gold, glory, and decadence. The geography has changed but the methods, motives, and mistakes are pretty much the same. The Oregon Trail is now the Trans-Amazonia Highway, the Conestoga wagon a rickety old bus, and the prairie homestead is a jungle bungalow. And California gold has resurfaced in Rondonia. A closer look at the brief and bumbled history of Rondonia will make clear the plight of Brazil's imperiled western wilderness.

The rush began in the early eighties and population growth in the region soared to 15%, five times the explosive world rate. The "dirt poor" of the east headed west, from the barrios of Rio and Sao Paulo to the steamy hope of Rondonia. They chased riches, or at least dreams of a better life, hacked out of the dank jungles of Amazonia.

It began as it usually does, with a road, BR-364, a 900 mile red dirt spine that was eventually paved to entice even more people to switch slums. Such migratory swells haven't been seen since the days of California's 49ers. The capital of Porta Velho, only recently a nearly inaccessible, barely populated outpost, has swollen with the highway's arterial pulse to over half a million refugee have-nots. (next photo)