A River Runs To It

Rather than exit Colombia via traditional means (by bus or by plane), I decided to approach via boat – on the Amazon River. 

The “Amazon” has such dramatic associations. It’s huge, there are exotic people living along the banks, it plunges through the rain forest, and it’s full of unique and interesting wildlife. All things that made me want to see it firsthand. And rather than just take a peek, I decided to spend a few days really taking it all in.

The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world (after the Nile in Africa – although the length of both is continuously disputed). However, the amount of water flowing through the Amazon is more than the next 7 largest rivers combined! This one river accounts for 20% of the world’s freshwater flow. The river, in parts, is over 300 feet deep and at its widest (during rainy season) the river is over 30 miles across! Where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, the mouth of the river is over 50 miles across. And, due to the remoteness of any settlements along the Amazon, there are no bridges which cross it. This isn’t a river like the river down the hill from my house where I used to skip stones and this certainly isn’t something I wanted to miss.

I bought a ticket on a four day river “cruise” into Peru. Although I should note that I use the term “cruise” liberally. We slept in hammocks tied up on the upper deck of the boat:

I certainly didn’t have a private bathroom:

And the shower facilities were. . .basic:

The water was brown and cold, pulled straight up from the river below us.Oh,and this spigot, was just over the toilet you saw in the last picture. . .

All that said, I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything! I enjoyed four days of lying in a hammock watching the Amazon go by. 

We certainly weren’t the only boat on the river. . .

Every few hours or so we’d pass a few homes or a small town. And the houses are built on stilts since the Amazon rises over 30 feet in rainy season.

A boat leaves one of the main ports every day and the daily boat brings the only supplies to these towns from the outside world. As the boat approaches, the people of the town gather to see who and what today’s shipment is bringing.. .

In one town, a group of teenage boys excitedly hopped aboard the boat when it docked to unload supplies. They ran up to the third level of the boat and gathered along the rail. . .it seems the boat brought the entertainment for the day – diving off the third story “high dive” into the river below!

My trip ended in Iquitos, Peru. This jungle town is accessible only by boat or plane (there are no roads leading this deep into the jungle), yet the city has over 100,000 inhabitants. Quite different from the small towns we passed en route. 

Welcome to Peru, indeed! 

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