Blogs sponsored by Piotr Chmielinski Canoandes.org The word Pachamama translates to Mother Earth from the ancient Quechua language – pacha meaning universe, world, or earth, and mama meaning mother. In the many mountain villages I passed or stayed at, the people who live there spend most of their days working the land by hand in the various … Read more »
Diego and I are currently at a large community only a few weeks walk (and swim!) away from the biggest city in the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos. We have found WiFi in a school that is a mere hour’s boat ride downriver in Yanashi, where I had planned to re-supply food and rest a day or two. Diego … Read more »
We must have looked a sight as we stumbled out of the jungle with our huge packs, our torn and filthy clothes hanging loosely from our emaciated forms. Everyone stared at us as we walked through the city in the afternoon heat to find accommodation, and it was no surprise to me when the police … Read more »
After leaving Tefe (the city where the famous naturalist Henry Walter Bates based himself for several years) and following an exhausting 7.5K swim across Lago Tefé, my current guide Everaldo and I set off for the long slog to Juruá. Armed with Everaldo’s vast knowledge of the rainforest and my own very modest experience, we … Read more »
It would have been much quicker walking along the exposed banks of the Solimões (Amazon) river, but the risk of encountering river pirates was very high – so for this latest section, Coari to Tefé, we would just have to grit our teeth, sharpen our machetes, and cut our own path through the longer and … Read more »
As the great celestial machine majestically rotated us toward the life-giving sun, just a few degrees away from the equator, the cool early morning air soon turned into a blazing hot tropical sunrise. Luckily we only had to walk in the sun for about three hours, as we were about to enter the jungle for the … Read more »
I’m trying my best to minimise the risks to myself and my guide. I’m making decisions every day to calculate the best route, at the same time considering the risks and escape options should anything go wrong. But a times, we just have to rely on good luck or God! to make any progress. My … Read more »
The early morning mist was rising from the river, I could hear the faint chatter of the dock workers and church bells in the distance, while the dawn chorus of a multitude of birds and insects floated in from the far side of the river. As myself, Jose (my guide) and his young wife … Read more »
