The team at the source of the Amazon back on July 28th. High altitude and cold weather!
As many of you have noted, and pointed out to me, we have really sucked at updating our blog especially with photos. The internet in the upper reaches of the Amazon hasn’t been all we had hoped for. But I have a bit of time and good internet on my hands, so here is a photo tour of our last 65 days. Enjoy! We probably won’t be able to update again until Manaus which will be in a month or so.
Don and Midge on Lago Acucocha. We paddled across this lake and then hiked up the valley behind it to reach to source of the Amazon.
The kayaking was intermittent the first few days. Sometimes we could float down the narrow river bed or through irrigation canals, but other times we took to walking.It was really cold back then, but we definitely do NOT have that problem now. The outdoor thermometer in Iquitos read 45 degrees celcius when we arrived.enjoying a sunny evening before the sun sets and temps plummet.
Midge getting some whitewater (brownwater) early on. We are on the Rio San Juan here near the San Juan Mine.D and D camping in the highlands–yep, still cold up here! This is just below the Upamayo damAh, finally some whitewater and canyons! This is the first section of serious whitewater below Huancayo.Tablachaca dam, safety first.Being a team of 3, we didn’t get any real whitewater shots (safety reasons) so you’ll have to wait for GOPRO footage on that one. But here is Don in a calm, but impressive (geologically speaking) canyon.Don and Midge with some more nice scenery. This is approaching the Sala De Machinas of Tablachaca damThis cow was VERY unhappy to cross this bridge. I can’t blame her, I didn’t want to cross it either!As we passed a huge mine between Tablachaca Sala De Machinas and the new dam going in on the Mantaro, we were flagged down and told to stop. The mining engineers drove down in their Hilux trucks and brought us water and presents–we are showing off the presents here–hats and scarves. EXTREMELY thoughtful of them, but not so useful as we had already gotten into catus land and hot temps. But here we are showing off our wares. They will be very useful when we returned to the northern hemisphere in the middle of winter!Great camping spots in the canyons of the Mantaro.Another whitewater shot. This section we named the “crucible.” It was full of CA-style granite and made for some great whitewater.Malpaso dam, this portage was a bit tricky but we successfully navigated the concertina wire with only one puncture wound (to Darcy’s hand)Not too far downstream of Hunacayo, we stopped for a little side diversion to do what we think was a 1st descent of this little gem. Reminds me of Havasu in the Grand Canyon!What are the odds, kayak and kayak…But sadly, all good whitewater comes to an end and we traded our whitewater boats for these giant flat water kayaks. You can imagine what a circus we were in Puerto EneAh flatwater, get used to it!David keeping himself safe in the Red Zone (no one would mess with a dude drinking beer and wearing those pants)!It’s still darn pretty here on the flatwater, and the guys with guns seem quite nice! And yes, I am wearing pink crocs.ah, luxurious lodging in Puerto Prado–end of the Ene River and start of the Tambo RiverThe big Amazonian sky, just below the confluence of Ucayali and Maranon Rivers, now we are on the Amazon baby!River KidsFavored mode of transport down here.No, no, Don wasn’t going to the tanning booth just for his fingers…12 hours per day in the sun plus doxycyline is NOT a good combination!David enjoying life on the Perolita!Francisco, Perolita captain, adjusting to life with the gringos…Storks!Our navy escort! The big boat didn’t come with us on a daily basis, but we did get to tour it and it’s amazing!Floating houses make sense down here where the water level will raise and fall more than 10 meters each year.Don Mauro repairing the Perolita’s fishing net. The boys are getting a lot of fresh fish on this trip, way to eat locally!Lots of great clouds down here.Well, that’s it for now. We hope you enjoyed the photos. More to come someday…
