In Search of the Amazon

Getting to the Amazon:  In 57 easy steps.

Ok.

So, I got a new piece of film-editing software and I'm not afraid to use it.  The problem is, I haven't fully figured out how to make the files small enough for the internet so you'll all have to tolerate the slow download time (90MB).  (I promise to work on that.)  The up side is that the video is reasonable resolution so you can go ahead and play it full screen if you want.  If your connection is slow, just start the video and hit pause to give it time to load up while you continue reading.

In the mean time--while you're waiting for the download--I'll fill you in:

The trip from the Sierra (i.e. the Ecuadorian highlands where we live) to the Amazon Basin is, by itself, a pretty amazing thing.  You start in Quito at about 3000m.  To give you a sense of what that elevation is, I'm including some pictures of the highest point in the German Alps:

The Zugspitze summit-2900meters 

This is what 3000m looks like at the equator

View from the Zugspitze-2900m

Volcán Antisana from the pass

So we leave elevation 3000, and head east toward the Amazon through the "Hail Mary Summit" which is a mere 1000+ more meters (4050m).  Here, things look a bit different.  Due to heavy fog at the time however, I don't actually have any pictures from this trip.  I did manage to dig up some past shots and some from the internet anyway.

The top of the pass

Now this is where it gets fun:

Top of the pass to the Amazon

        From here, you drop 3500m...

Llamas at about 1500m

                                                                                    

                       ...in 40 minutes...

Approaching 1000m

It's like going from Alaska to the tropics on your lunch break.


Every turn has different plants and animals.  

But enough of the geeky geography stuff:  Here are the pics.

Bamboo forests (650m above sea level...)

Amma: David's first Tarantula discovery (and our first night)

Squirrel Monkeys:
Yes. They are as mischievous as they look.

From Tena we bussed out to the "end station" town of Mishualli.  There we found a nice Cabaña over looking the Rio Napo (one of the three major rivers that combine to form the actual Amazon River).

From here, it's only 700 vertical and
4,500,000 horizontal meters to the sea.

The local dance hall.

Swimming in the Rio Napo

Fresh from a swim with the owner's daughter and family, and armed with various refreshments, we proceeded to join David in his relentless quest for the mother-of-all-tarantulas.

Tarantula in "threat posture"

Much to my chagrin, we were successful. 

Hours of fun for the whole family.

Breakfast in the dance hall before starting the trek to the bridge.

=====================================================


Really? Maybe we should ask for directions...

The road to Arajuno

Already outside town on the road to the Arajuno River, we left our cabaña early the next morning to meet the boat which would bring us up river to a lodge in the primary rain forest.






If you haven't already watched the video, it should be finished downloading by now.

Eventually, we arrived at the place, that has the bridge, that crosses the river, that has the general store, that serves what is probably many, many miles of river communities. 

Action Central.  Best soft drinks in the world.

The Arajuno River itself is just one of the many thousands, even millions, of small rivers that together become the Amazon.  What struck me the most, was that, despite feeling so remote, the river was still a connection between families and places, with lots of jungle in between. The only way in, or out, was by boat.

Above the Arajuno

Arajuno SUV

 We chose to visit the Arajuno for many reasons, mostly because it is considered to be one of the more remote, most pristine, yet accessible tributaries in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The river also has a bit of mystique.  It originates in possibly one of the most remote regions in all the Andes, Llanganatis.  It is in that most inhospitable of places that Rumiñahui, the loyal general of Atahualpa, the Incan emperor/hostage of the Spaniards, hid the vast Incan Imperial treasure to keep it from Pizzaro.  Unlike many legends of hidden fortunes, this one is fairly credible and documented...

On a less intriguing note: it was sobering to behold the amount of destruction that has already reached much of this, and other parts of the Amazon Basin.  The fact that there is still fishing on this river, is quite surprising.  Dynamite is cheap, accessible and utterly indiscriminate. Consequently, many rivers of the Amazon, including this one, are practically devoid of fish...or anything else, including boas, caimen, otters, turtles...

This also goes for any eatable land critters.  The vast poverty here means that creatures like Scarlet Macaws, any kind of parrot, Toucans as well as most monkeys (especially the really cute Woolly Monkeys), Capybaras, and Tapirs have long ago been eaten or captured--first for export to Europe and North America, and now mostly China and big South American Cities.

The good news is, small cats, like ocelots, seem to survive because they eat  rabbits--and rats.  And besides, they don't taste good.

The price of gold has also taken it's toll.  Evidence of small scale panning operations dot the riverbank.  The erosion alone is enough for despair, but the real damage is less visible and so much more horrible: Mercury--and large amounts--are used to separate the tiny quantities of extracted gold. Much ends up in the river but most is just boiled off into the atmosphere.  Coincidentally, this month I noticed Scientific American Magazine rated mercury contamination as the #1 toxic pollution problem on the planet-one third of it from activity just like this.  Our host, the former director of the U.S. Peace Corps-Ecuador, said that recent studies suggest that the Amazon Rain Forest is similar to Greenland in that it's so huge, that it creates its own climate.  It shouldn't be a rain forest at all, but actually more of a savannah.  Consequently, the more it disappears, the more it disappears--75 years by some calculations.

But I can't end on a downer.  Despite the staggering habitat destruction, the fact that we saw, heard, smelled (and tasted) so much, left me beyond awe.  I couldn't help but continuously wonder: If it's like this now, what was it like before?  Yet, the Amazon is incredible still. The sheer weight of life in its branches stops your breath anytime you slow even slightly. It hums like a vast organism.

And then, there's the night...but that's for our next post.



All I can say is, if it's not on your bucket list yet...