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 »
Blogs sponsored by Piotr Chmielinski Canoandes.org “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Campbell. I can honestly say that I was fearful of entering this section of the expedition – especially the lower Rio Ene. I had been warned many many times not to walk along the riverbank, … 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 »
After staying two nights at a unique community called Jerusalem, that sits atop a rare hill with wonderful views across the forest canopy and a large lake, and then several days later stumbling across the tiny village Nova Informa do Uruá, we were now supposedly heading for an island community named Tupi, near the Solimoes river. It was … Read more »
By the time you read this blog we should be on our way to Rio Jutaí – the last of the major tributaries of the Brazilian Amazon basin. Before we left Juruá, I sent photos for this blog to Clive Maguire in Manaus. I then managed to write some of the blog via a batch … Read more »
I was sitting in the little Igapo Açu Pousda alone, unable to find anyone who would walk with me, and thinking about attempting a solo crossing. I could see what looked like an indigenous guy sitting at the other side of the room. I went over and asked him if he was from a community … Read more »
It was three days before christmas and the night before my planned big swim across the meeting of the waters when a massive rain storm hit the city of Manaus. It was one of the first really big storms of the wet season, marking a definitive end to the dry season and almost the end … Read more »
The language barrier is still a problem for me, and the dialect seems to change slightly in different areas, but the mist and fog is very slowly evaporating. Little by little I find I can understand more of what people are saying to me and to each other. I managed to get to Manaus port … Read more »
We had just covered more than three hundred kilometres of scorching, winding and at times perilous tracks and roads that cut through the jungle. For most of the way we were dodging trucks, coaches, cars, domestic dogs, dehydration and sunburn. Now, finally, Valdo and I had arrived at the bustling, humid tropical city of Manaus, … Read more »
