I have seen this in the movies

We left Atalaya at 4AM.  Very dark and foggy.  The river is hard enough to navigate in the day and here we are in the dark and the fog.  After about a half hour we run into a gravel bar.  We are really stuck. You can only see about 20 feet.  The sounds are the water current and the rocks grinding on the boat bottom with a few shouts in Spanish.  Every now and then you see someone walking by in the fog.  It is clear no one knows which direction to go and the 2 or 3 crew members are walking around in the river trying to figure out which way to direct the boat.   I am thinking isn´t this the part where some type of large reptile comes out of the water to eat someone! ...ok well it seemed appropriate - after all I have seen this same scene in one of those horror movies about the Amazon.  LOL.  To Cho´s credit, he was the only passenger who got out of the boat to help.  I thought about it but there were much stronger men on board then me and I figured after the reptile ate them, then I would help.  :)  No, no one seem concerned so I just waited for my cue.  After about 45 minutes, they got us unstuck and we proceeded a bit more cautiously into the fog.  Really added to the adventure!

A few hours later we arrived at a spot on the bank with just a hole in the trees.  The village of Pozo.  Cho and I were the only ones getting off or on.  Cho assured me it was ok.  I asked when the last time he saw his two friends and it was 5 years ago.  I asked how he knew they still lived there and he said he just knew.  After a few minutes of walking into the trees, we meet some guy next to a hut.  I wishI could have taken a picture.  Wow right out of a book or something primitive.  He and Cho talked and we are told to wait.  After about 15 minutes, this strong looking guy (in the red shirt) with a machete and a crude tatoo of a machine gun on his forearm came to meet us.  Right behind him his wife showed up with 4 or 5 of the village kids all following in curiosity.  His two friends and the ·presidente· had left for a regional tribal meeting.  Without being able to get the Presidente´s approval, Gringo was not welcomed in the village and we had to leave.  Before leaving I gave the guy and now two women gifts (flashlight and flip flops).  They let me take a picture of them, but not of the first guy we meet and his wife.  The kids loved the candy and they all thought I was fascinating.




We were lead down a trail back towards the river and we popped out at a hut on the river bank.  We were told we can flag the next boat and wait at this person´s hut til then.  Cho is not expecting a boat till the next day but the guy said he thought one would come by.  It started to down pour rain.  The first real rain I have had since I have been in Peru.  We were taken to another near by hut to wait out the rain.  Still nowhere close to the village.  So at this spot we have a mother, baby, two little girls, I think 5 and 7 maybe?? and their brother (his hut we waited out the rain in).  He was late teens early 20s.  The group picture.  Anyways, the hut was very cool to be in. In the top of the A frame hut was a system for hanging his clothes, his closet.  The floor was about 3 feet off the ground and the floor made by partially slicing length wise around small trees to create a board that would lay flat.  Hard to describe but I have seen it done with bamboo.  He has some electronics including a radio so we all laid there listing to his radio.  He had a small solar panel, about one foot by one foot that he uses to recharge his batteries with.  No lights or appliances, just his music.  Nothing soft to sleep on and just wood and vines for the walls and floor, and leaves for the roof.  I was able to video the place so it will be interesting to see how the GoPro did.

 After it stopped raining we went back to the water edge and waited for a boat.  It was around 1 and we were hungry.  Cho asked if there was food we could eat.  I really did not want to even think about eating their food and bananas seemed abundant so I said I would be good with some bananas.  Cho came back and said they were fixing us lunch and assured me it was more than ok.  When they called us over for lunch I saw that the two little girls had cooked us catfish soup and boiled green bananas.  I was so surprised that the mom and baby had left earlier that morning and these two girls built the fire, got the water, (still could not figure out if the catfish were cleaned and gutted) and made us soup with the most primitive means!  Now I really felt bad!  I did my best to eat everything in the bowl but I drew the line at the fins and the head.  Cho ate everything, including the eyes (but not the bones).  I just felt bad that I was eating something they needed way more than me, but Cho kept insisting I eat.  I had so many mixed emotions as to what was happening and the best I could do was offer them money which after a little resistance they gladly accepted. 


Around 2 we were able to flag a boat down that could take us another few hours down river.  It was full of supplies and at various points along the way we would stop at the bank to meet people to deliver supplies or they would come out in their peka-peka (a dug out canoe with a small motor and long propeller shaft) to meet the boat in the deeper part of the river.   By far the most common boat on the river is the dug out canoe.  Those who do not have a motor use a long pole to push themselves upstream.  In strong currents they use the pole like a kayak paddle.  Very interesting to watch how they do it with supplies, the family, and keeping their balance.   About dusk we arrived at a small village called Bologanesia.  We found a hostel that worked for the night (still no toilet seat, hot water and I pulled my bed into the middle of the small room so I did not touch any walls or things could not jump on me - I killed a few spiders, slept with my cloths on, and put on some more 98% deet - camping on the river bank might have been better).  The village had electricity but they only turned on the power at 6PM and then off at 11PM.  The place came alive during those few hours.  We had a basic fish dinner with rice, yucca, and boiled green banana for about $2 USD each.  I actually slept very good that night. 

We were up at 6AM and off to the river bank to flag down another boat, hopefully to all the way to Pucallpa.  Gringo was over charged for the moto ride, but there was nothing we could do.  The old man in a little hut at the river edge (home converted to a store now) confirmed a boat to Pucallpa would stop.  A little girl with a baby parrot kept asking me if my eyes were really that blue or was I wearing contact lenses.  I was a surprised she knew about contacts, but I had a great time trying to communicate with her and passing the time.  As soon as the boat was spotted (two hours later) she ran off and now became one of the little girls selling food to passengers.  She was selling some type of home made drink. 

Bologanesia was also a fairly big location for logging and we saw 5 trucks come in loaded with old growth trees.  I was told that the operation was legal but not legal - what ever that meant. The guy who sat behind me on the boat to Pucallpa worked as a go between for a China logging company and the locals.  He said it was very challenging trying to get the two cultures to understand each other. 

We had been on the boat all day and it was now getting dark. From my GPS I could tell we were at least 3 hours from Pucallpa.  In the day you are zig zaging back and forth across the river to avoid sand bars, trees, rocks, etc.  The boat has a guy stationed at the front pointing out obstacles and has a long stick for checking the water depth.  Now that its dark, I am thinking we are going to be stuck again or worse hit a big tree.  The river now must be at least a mile wide at some points and at other points multiple forks to chose from.  They obviously know the river, but now matter what this was going to be a challenge - and it was and we hit many things, but we made it 4 hours later and most of the time I was thinking ok I had seen this in an Amazon horror movie too!


Pucallpa is much larger than I thought. I knew it was a significant port on the Amazon, but not this big. I really have nothing to measure it by, but in the true sense it is a small city.  I actually have a hotel and it has a toilet seat and hot water.  I have to coax the water out from the shower head that is as high as my tummy, but I am glad to have hot water. 

I am told that from Pucallpa north, the long boats are not used for travel.  The tugs and barges only do the heavy loads up river of Pucallpa during the rainy season when the river is high (explains the piles of logs waiting to be picked up).  We will be getting on basically a tug boat that will push a barge of supplies to Iquitos (Pucallpa has road access, Equitos does not).  The tug boat has a back porch where we will tie our hammock and we expect it to take 4 or 5 days to Iquitos.  Tugs move much slower so we will just enjoy the ride.   While I am writing this, Cho is out checking on transportation.  This afternoon I will meet more of Cho´s family and we expect to leave tomorrow mid-day or Tuesday.


Some other quick mentions that I keep forgetting to talk about are - the night sky.  Very very amazing.  The butterflies are beautiful but I cannot get close enough for pictures.  On the sand bars, they plant beans and rice.  Raining season will revitalize the soil.  Some of these sand bars are miles long.