Our Final Post (Long)

This is the final post, and a very long one, of John and David's month-long trip down the Amazon River in June 2014 from Iquitos, Peru to Belem, Brazil. First are several groups of photos that we failed to post as events occurred. After the photos you will find a lengthy narrative of background, information, more photos, and a conclusion about the Amazon and our trip. (As author of this post, David is to be blamed for its length and any factual errors.) Any readers with the patience to reach the end of this post should post a comment with their mailing address so they can be rewarded with a free shipment of ayahuasca. Please also comment with your questions and corrections.

Readers who expect a pithy analysis of the future of the Amazon and its indigenous people will be disappointed. We only saw a small part of the Amazon, and one that is far distant from where the main intrusion of settlers, loggers, gold miners, dams, etc. is taking place far to the south. Moreover, we are only casually informed on the Brazilian government's policy on settlement, development, and protection of the Amazon and its people, let alone how these policies have played out in practice. Fortunately, where we visited along the main course of the river, the natural conditions remain far from hospitable to human settlement, with most of the population living in cities and large towns, with few major settlements in between.

PHOTOS
First the photos. Below are several of a sloth that was brought down out of a tree next to shore by one of our native guides, but only after the four tourists on board were first consulted and assured that the animal wouldn't be harmed in the process and would be returned afterwards to its original location in the tree. Actually, we should have been equally concerned about our guide, who leapt out of our boat onto shore barefooted in spite of the risk of snakes, caiman, and spiders. He then shimmied up the tree to capture the uncooperative sloth. His descent and later ascent with the sloth were quite dramatic, as he had to do it with only one free arm. The whole time he was holding the sloth at arm's length to avoid its attempt, although leisurely, to impale him with its four three-inch long claws at the end of its lengthy extremities. (The sloth had only three claws on each extremity, as it was a three-toeed sloth. There are also two-toed sloths.) Fortunately, neither the guide nor the sloth was injured.

The next group of photos below were taken on two short daytime walks through the jungle in the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve in Peru. We were escorted each time by several members of the crew, armed only with machetes. As mammals are very hard to spot in the jungle, the only creatures we saw were frogs, toads, leaf cutter ants, and centipedes. Howler monkeys were heard but not seen, but with their vocal skills as the loudest animal on earth, they could have been 10 miles away. John, but not David, later participated in two nighttime walks that also did not encounter only one small monkey. We learned that it is almost impossible to see mammals in the Amazon rainforest during the high water season when the beaches are not exposed along the edges of the rivers. (Birds are prevalent no matter what the season.) If we were to return, John and I would travel in the Amazon Basin in the dry season later in the year.

Arriving at the trailhead

Trail.

Leaf cutter ant mound.

Poison dart frog.

The group of photos below were taken in Villa Monte Alegre, or Happy Forest Village, with approximately 100 inhabitants, located on the bank of the Maranon River in Peru near Nauta, also within the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. (This Monte Alegre in Peru is not to be confused with the famous Monte Alegre archeological site on the Amazon in Brazil 180 miles from the river's mouth.) The Clavero moored alongside the village as we went ashore. The village is not in a remote location as demonstrated by the facts that the residents spoke Spanish, dressed in western clothes, had a school, there was a church, and the government had recently strung electric poles and wiring in the village, although power had not yet been connected. The residents survive from small scale farming, fishing (for home consumption and sale in Nauta), hunting and gathering, and selling paintings and trinkets to tourists like us. They were very welcoming, particularly the children, allowing us to enter their homes to observe their daily activities.

Primitive art for sale in Monte Alegre.

Fish are the main source of protein, and plentiful.

House with DirecTV dish. Electricity not yet connected.

With crew of Clavero on banks of Maranon River at Monte Alegre.

Clavero moored at Monte Alegre.

Children outside their Monte Alegre school.

Preparing fish and repairing nets, Monte Alegre.

Young girl with her young pet Emperor tamarin.

It was very attached to the girl. It would not let us touch it.

Monte Alegre school.

Finally, below are numerous photos in somewhat random order taken in the Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, with descriptions in the caption lines.

School band in Leticia, Colombia.

Santa Rosa, Peru, with Leticia, Colombia at top left
and Tabatinga, Brazil at top center.

Iquitos waterfront.

Floating restaurant off Iquitos.

More Iquitos waterfront.

Floating house under construction off Iquitos.

Floating pool off Iquitos connected to restaurant shown above.

Crew of Clavero.

More crew of Clavero.

Storm on Amazon.

Prehistoric fish for dinner on Clavero.

Another overloaded boat without life preservers.

Neal, our Clavero nature guide, and daughter back in Iquitos.

Clavero from launch.

Wheelhouse of Clavero.

Clavero's launch.

Dugout canoe parking in Iquitos.

Drying clothes along Amazon.

Construction begins on dugout canoe. Notice man in shadows at right with his adze.

Native drums at museum in Iquitos. 

Fishing port in Belem. 

Coin-operated, electric votive candles in church in Belem.

Bird in park in Belem.

Bird in park in Belem. 

Birds in park in Belem.

Bird in park in Belem.

CLOSING BACKGROUND, INFORMATION, & OBSERVATIONS
Before we left for the Amazon, John and I read several books on the river and its drainage basin that readers may be interested in. If you read only one of these, it should be "Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon" by John Hemming.

Other books we read include: "One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest" by Wade Davis; "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey" by Candice Millard; "Amazon Frontier: The Defeat of the Brazilian Indians" by John Hemming; "The Upper Amazon" by Donald W. Lathrap; "The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes" by Scott Wallace; "The Devil's Milk: A Social History of Rubber" by John Tully; "The Mapmaker's Wife" by Robert Whitaker; "The Rivers Ran East" by Leonard Clark; "Walking the Amazon" by Ed Stafford; "The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon" by Michael Goulding, Ronaldo Barthem, and Efrem Ferreira; and "Lost in the Amazon" by Stephen Kirkpatrick. Google Earth and Wikipedia were also excellent sources.

In addition to reading books, John and I watched several movies, now cult classics, set in the Amazon, including "Fitzcarraldo", released in 1982, and "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", released in 1972. Both were written and directed by the German Werner Herzog and both starred Klaus Kinski.

David also watched "The Emerald Forest", released in 1985 and directed by the Englishman John Boorman. It is based upon a true story of a 7-year old boy abducted by an indigenous Amazon tribe. He also watched "Big River Man", a documentary released in 2009 about Slovenian long-distance swimmer who swam the length of the Amazon.

"Fitzcarraldo" was of particular interest to us because the movie is set in Iquitos, Manaus and nearby rivers. The plot is derived from the true story of Carlos Fitzcarraldo, a Peruvian rubber baron in the late 1800s who is obsessed with opera. The movie is about his unsuccessful efforts to build an opera house in Iquitos to emulate the one successfully built earlier in Manaus, which we visited while in that city. Also, while in Iquitos, we stayed in the Hotel Fitzcarraldo built, owned and managed by Walter Saxer, a Swiss who had been the executive producer of both Herzog movies. Here is a photo of John drinking beer with Walter (on right) in his hotel. Other photos below were also taken in the hotel.

John with Walter Saxer on right.

Walter Saxer.

Guests of Fitzcarraldo Hotel watching special showing of movie of same name.

John, David, Walter Saxer (center) and staff of Hotel Fitzcarraldo.

One of several buildings at Hotel Fitzcarraldo.

Treehouse suite and Mick Jagger suite (on top right).

Walter was executive producer of sixteen of Herzog's films. As such, he was responsible for the logistics of "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre", a very difficult task given the remote locations where both movies were made. Hotel Fitzcarraldo was originally built to house the cast of "Fitzcarraldo". Walter was very friendly and told us many stories about the making of the two movies, including the very complicated relationships between Walter, Herzog, and Kinski. We were asked to not disclose the details of our conversations.

Walter stayed in Iquitos after "Fitzcarraldo" was released and has not been back to Europe in many years. In spite of his not very discreet statements about the movies, Walter clearly has staked the success of his hotel on the Fitzcarraldo theme, with photos of the various actors displayed prominently in the public areas of the hotel and opera music playing continuously from speakers on the walls throughout its public areas. There is also a room named after Mick Jagger, who along with Jason Robards, was briefly engaged as an actor in the first aborted effort at making the movie. One evening Walter gave a special presentation of the movie to ourselves and several other guests of the hotel.

When John and I were planning our trip down the Amazon, we had no clue that the World Cup would be playing at the same time in several cities throughout Brazil, including in Manaus at the center of the Amazon Basin. But we were forewarned that travel by boat on the river would be monotonous, so we were pleased that our boat from the Peru/Colombia/Brazil border to Manaus had a DirecTV satellite dish providing passengers with three World Cup games per day. We were also able to watch numerous more games upon arrival in Manaus, and later in Belem, including the USA vs. Portugal match on huge screen in a park next to the Opera House in Manaus. It was impossible to avoid the enthusiasm and general hoopla throughout the Amazon surrounding the World Cup. It was not what we expected, but it definitely enhanced the experience of our trip.

We hope readers will be interested in the following facts about the Amazon River, its basin and its rainforest, which are all amazing and full of superlatives.

When South America and Africa were joined together as part of the supercontinent Gondwana, the Amazon River is believed to have flowed west into what is now the Pacific Ocean. With the rise of the Andes approximately 15 million years ago (Yes, creationists, the earth is more than 10,000 years old), the river's exit to the Pacific was blocked. Its exit to the Atlantic Ocean was also blocked by the much older Brazilian and Guiana Shields in eastern Brazil. As a result, a massive swampy, freshwater lake was gradually formed in central South America. Approximately 10 million years ago, the river made its way through the sandstone rocks of the eastern shields into the Atlantic, draining much of the interior lake and leading to the formation of the Amazon rainforest as the water level declined, although seasonally.

Because of its prior connection to the Pacific, many species of freshwater fish and vertebrates endemic today in the Amazon Basin, such as sting rays, are related to species now common in the Pacific Ocean.

The Amazon River is named after the Amazon women warriors of Greek mythology. The name was applied to the river after the first European explorers in the 1500s reported seeing tribes of women warriors on its banks, although such tribes probably never existed.

If you are not interested in boring geological facts, you should skip the following:.

• The Amazon River and the Nile River are the two longest rivers in the world, each approximately 4,300 miles long. Experts are not in agreement as to which is longer, primarily because of the difficulty of measuring the exact length of the approximately 1,680-mile long Ucayali River section of the Amazon in the lowlands of eastern Peru. Not only does the Ucayali meander significantly, but it is common for its channel to change course from year to year. Here is a Google Earth photo of the Ucayali demonstrating how it meanders.

Ucayali River runs diagonally from bottom left to top right where it is joined by the
Maranon River entering it from the west. Iquitos is located above top right of photo. 

• The Amazon River's source is at 16,960 ft. above sea level on the flanks of Nevado Mismi near Arequipa in the Andes of southern Peru.

• The Amazon River has 13 major tributaries, each in excess of 1,000 miles in length. At 2,100 miles, the longest is the Madeira River, slightly shorter than the Mississippi. The Madeira Basin alone drains an area almost three times the size of France.

• Occupying approximately 2.7 square miles, the Amazon Basin is the largest river basin in the world, far in access of the Congo River's 1.4 million square miles. The Amazon Basin's area is equivalent to approximately 88% of the entire area of the continental USA, 55% of Brazil, and 39% of the entire area of the South American continent. Approximately 67% of the basin lies within Brazil, with most of the balance in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia.

• Approximately 50% of the Amazon Basin is above 1,000 ft., consisting of two ancient, eroded upland areas known as "shields" in eastern and northeastern Brazil which now rarely exceed 3,300 ft. in elevation. Another approximately 35% of the basin consists of a huge sedimentary basin that lies below 1,000 ft. The remaining 15% consists of the Andes and its foothills.

• The Amazon River's average discharge per second at its mouth is 209,000 cubic meters (57 million gallons), greater than the discharge of the next seven largest rivers in the world combined. The Amazon's annual discharge is 12 times that of the Mississippi. The Amazon's total annual discharge would cover all of the continental USA with 34 inches of water. The Amazon accounts for approximately 15% of the total river water reaching all of the world's oceans each year.

• The Amazon carries approximately 900 million tons of sediment each year into the Atlantic.  Almost all of this sediment originates in the Andes and its foothills. But not all sediment reaches the Atlantic, as sediment depths in the central basin bring up to 16,000 ft. 

• The Amazon rainforest, which occupies approximately 75% of the entire Amazon basin, is by far the largest in the world, more than four times larger than the Congo River Basin. The Amazon rainforest covers an area equivalent to 65% of the continental USA.

• Approximately 12% of the Amazon's rainforests consist of seasonal floodplains, flooded for two to eight months each year, normally for six months. The water depth in inundated floodplain forests can be as much as 25 ft.

For many years it was thought that the Amazon Basin did not have a lengthy pre-Colombia history, let alone one that was advanced and heavily populated. However, recent research indicates that there has been human presence in the Amazon Basin since before 9,000 BC. It is believed that the original humans entered the basin from the north through Colombia and Venezuela, or perhaps along the northeastern coast of South America. There was never a large empire as in the Andes or in Mexico, with most groupings living in relative isolation from each other. This fact can be explained in part because of the abundance of food and other resources. However, there is also evidence of large cities. Most people led a life as hunter gathers. Although there were no large stone monuments, probably due to the absence of stone in the central basin, there was a tradition of fine pottery, including a site near the mouth of the Amazon with the oldest ceramics in the Americas.

At the time the Portuguese first arrived at the mouth of the Amazon River in 1499, it is estimated that there were 2-5 million native people living in the basin. This population rapidly declined because of the impact of disease and slavery. At its nadir in the mid-19th century, the population had been reduced to an estimated 200,000. Today, due to the influx of settlers from other areas of Brazil, the basin is estimated to have a population of 20 million. However, only a small part of this is found along the course of the Amazon River, perhaps 2 million. A small portion of the 20 million consists of uncontacted indigenous people.

When we planned our trip, we did not intend to seek out isolated, indigenous people. In turned out that we couldn't have done so even if we wanted to. Being on the main river, we were nowhere near these populations. The people we did see in villages and single houses along the river were basically westernized, wearing modern clothes, operating canoes with outboard motors, and consuming whatever modern food and drink that they could afford. We saw no one in native address on our trip. We understand that travel agencies in Iquitos, Leticia, and Manaus take tourists on visits to nearby indigenous villages, but we chose to avoid these tourist-based communities.

In recent years, the Brazilian government's policy toward its uncontacted indigenous peoples has taken a dramatic turn. Until the 1970s, its policy was to work toward the incorporation of these peoples into modern civilization, while protecting them as best it could from exploitation. However, it was unable to successfully protect the country's indigenous people. As a result, a new agency was formed, named the National Indian Foundation, or FUNAI, that implemented in the last 20-30 years a new policy of respecting the right of uncontacted indian groups to remain isolated by preventing all contact with modern civilization and outsiders. Due to its limited resources and population pressures, the success of this new policy to-date is debatable. For more on this subject, readers are encouraged to read "The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes" by Scott Wallace.

As there are no roads running east to west near the Amazon River, with the shorelines mostly heavily forested and flooded for six months per year, transportation by river is the only option. Except for the occasional tugboat, small tanker, or barge, none of the vessels we saw was modern or substantial. There were no ferries. The typical river boat, as seen in the photo below, is made of wood, locally made, and carries cargo on the 1-2 lower decks and passengers on the 1-2 upper decks. Smaller canoes, either powered by motors or paddles, are ubiquitous. We saw no freighters, tankers, bulk carriers, or cruise boats that would have entered from the Atlantic.

Several of our posts refer to "ayahuasca", also known as "yage" (accent on e), without any further explanation. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic drug used for hundreds of years by native cultures throughout the Amazon Basin. It is also the objective of many younger Western tourists visiting the Amazon, who are accompanied in their experience by local shamans, both legitimate and fake. Although David tried it once while in the Peace Corps in Peru in the 1960s, we had no interest in experiencing it on this trip for many reasons, including the fact that extreme vomiting and intestinal distress are an expected part of the experience. We did encounter ayahuasca compounds sold in local pharmacies and markets to cure numerous maladies to dubious effect.

Ayahuasca is made from a vine prevalent in the Amazon, with several other ingredients utilized in preparing the liquid concoction. The book "One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest" by Wade Davis referred to above includes extensive discussion of ayahuasca and other hallucinogenic drugs of the Amazon, including tobacco. There are photos below of a section of ayahuasca vine taken in a museum in Iquitos, as well as of various natural local drugs sold in a market in Manaus.

John buying herbal cough medicine in Belem.

David with ayahuasca vine in museum in Iquitos. 

Herbal medicines at Belem market.

John and I discussed on this and prior trips to South America the fact that so many foods Westerners eat today originated in the Americas. In fact, without these foods, it is hard to imagine what vegetables and fruits the Europeans ate before the discovery of America except for cabbage, turnips, wheat-based products, and rice. The principal foods that are endemic to the Americas are: corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans (green, lima, kidney, etc.), squash, peppers, grapefruit, avocados, pineapples, papayas, acai, quinoa, chocolate, and cassava. Quinine, tobacco and coca (think Coca-Cola) also originated in the Americas. Cotton originated in the Americas, as well as in western Asia.

Cassava (aka manioc and yuca) is a tuber that is the largest source of calories in the Amazon Basin and the third greatest source of carbohydrates in the tropics of the entire world after rice and corn. It is believed that cassava was domesticated in southern Brazil 10,000 years ago. The plants is highly draught resistant and very easy to grow. There are two basic varieties, sweet and bitter cassava. The latter contains a cyanide compound that must be extracted before consumption, a process that the people of the Americas perfected 1,000s of years ago. We frequented ate cassava, hopefully the sweet variety, with meals. David also enjoyed a tapioca milk shake, with tapioca made from cassava. We also saw it being sold in various processed forms in the local markets.

Tapioca milk shake in Belem.

Wild pineapple on banks of Maranon River.

Pods hanging from kapok tree in Pacaya-Samiria Reserve.
 Or could it be a cacao tree? 

Wild cotton picked from plant on banks of Pacaya River.

Market in Tabatinga.

Cassava.

Several examples of processed cassava in Belem market.

Devices used to extract poisonous components from cassava paste.

Cacao for sale on street in Belem.

Peppers at market in Manaus.

Ice cream made with local fruits in Iquitos.

Brazil nuts for sale in Belem.

In conclusion:

1. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and would recommend it to others fascinated by the Amazon. The trip was monotonous at times, but well worth the experience of being in such a unique natural environment, one that most Westerners will never experience. If still concerned about boredom, go the next time Brazil hosts the World Cup.
2. Bugs and heat were not a problem for us. If anything, John was challenged more by the air-conditioning on the Clavero and in our modern hotels in Manaus and Belem.
3. If we were to do it again, hopefully the next time with our wives, we would go during the low water season later in the year when there is a much better chance of seeing animals on the exposed beaches of the rivers. Also, having experienced boat travel this time, the next time we would try the experience of a remote nature lodge.
4. Although big cities were definitely not the goal of our trip, we enjoyed our time in Manaus and Belem. Except for its indigenous museum and its waterfront, Iquitos was a disappointment.
5. We saw very little degradation of the natural environment and its indigenous people. However, we know it is happening further to the south. Hopefully the Brazilian government's policies, and natural barriers, will prevent its further incursion into the central basin near the Amazon River. However, human "progress" being what it is, it will inevitably happen.