Astounding Amazing Alluring Amazon

The majority of the Amazon is within Brazil.  It is a shared wealth with challenges in global governance 

It is the largest river in the world by volume with 20% of our fresh water coming from this source. It is a collection of many enormous rivers and innumerable tributaries.  The river runs west to east.   It was once a lake  and then the Andes started to push the water out and by doing so formed it.  The source of the Amazon begins  in the Peruvian Andes.  The Nile is 4130 miles long and the debate still goes on about which is first but typically they say the Nile is the longest.  The Amazon is constantly  shifting  its entire river bed and boundaries.  The Andes form the western boundary  with Cloudy Peak being 2995 meters highest which is the highest peak in Brazil.  

The Amazon has some of the oldest geology on earth dating back some 1.7 billion years.  Because of it being isolated so long it offers unique ecosystems.  

Look on top of the mountains and it often be very cloudy  and magical dominated by water.  20 billion tons of water evaporate every day from the Amazon which  feeds itself.  There are two wet seasons.   The south zone wet season and the north zone which is June to September with the south being  just the opposite.  

Temperature is very humid of course and difficult to survive in.  

Drought as seen from above. 

The meeting of the rivers is very evident here 

Now the Amazon is experiencing a severe drought.  There are interesting phenomenon of boiling river geothermal  areas where the temperatures can reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  The white black and clear rivers are distinguishable from the shore and the air the white flowing  from the Andes and the 

black from the northern region.  The white is not as much sediment and warmer than the black or the

Rio Negro.  They don’t mix well and are uneasy partners that run slowly side by side.  

When the river swells up to 2000 meters how can trees survive?  Some trees can be up to 65 meters high for tallest trees.  

Piranha and their human like teeth!



The huge Anaconda found in the Amazon!

Acai  is a super foods pronounced ah sai e and grown here 

The enormousRed fish which is the  Steak of the Amazon and very tasty!!

These trees can grow up to 70 meters high with  large buttress roots that are unique and the beautiful colorful bird of paradise type of plants and huge unusual like lily pads that exist here. 

You can bang on the roots of these trees and the sound will carry for miles.  It is thought to be one of the early forms of communication.  The 

The Rubber tree was one of the most famous trees of the Amazon and made Manaus a fortune  for a while.  It shows here how they tapped the trees for the sap which was labor intensive.  Rubber barons robbed the area of so many resources until plantations were planted in other regions like Asia and then Manaus suffered and was left with almost nothing to sustain it 

The Pink Dolphin though is unique here and travelers come from far and wide to experience it

This is a river otter which can be enormous up to 6 ft long and very vocal and noisy. 

The Tapir with her baby which are endangered. They were killed for food. 

They make a juice out of these red berries 

The Arara or Macaws are known to  lick clay off the riverbanks but scientists are not sure why; maybe it is like a salt lick situation that deer are drawn too. 

These ants pack a powerful sting and are part of a large ritual or right of passage to many indigenous people.  Sure looks like ones I don’t want to encounter!

The loud thundering waves along parts of the Amazon can measure 4 meters high and run up to 30 mph!!  These waves can actually run 500 miles upland which attracts surfers to come test their skills and death defying abilities!  One of the longest rides was 7.8 meters!  The daily discharge of the Amazon would supply New York City  for 9 years!!   The fresh water of the river spreads far out into the sea so early explorers could drink right out of the sea which puzzled them!    The Amazon reef system discovered recently is 600 miles long and 200 meters deep but is at great at risk due to oil drilling now.  

The Transamazonian Highway was started in the 70’s to connect it with the huge land mass as shown by the stamp and help to develop the region.  It also put pressures on the region as lands were cleared and habitat destroyed….the more deforestation the harder it is to provide rainfall back to the area. 

Cattle ranching is still big business here and  green house emitters present issues. Soy is one of the biggest crop farmed and it is mostly for  animal consumption and an ongoing problem. 

Logging is still big along with mining and illegal gold mining leaving poisonous factions in the waters and soils. There are large dams along the Amazon for power but due to the low flows they had to shut them down many times.  This is an El Niño year so Summer has been quite dry and also affected winter with drought. This is all exacerbated by climate change .  

This is forcing people to try an adapt along with 

2000 different birds and mammal species and over 2000 fish species.  

When we entered the Amazon the captain told those with balconies to keep their doors closed especially at night because our lights attracts many and various insects which can be quite large!  If you would happen to get one inside your cabin you were to call for a steward to remove it. But folks starting walking the decks very early in the morning and late at night looking for the various insects. It was amazing!!  Here are some we found on deck three!! 

Dan saw one of these which was huge but when he tried to get the photo off it flew!!

Doesn’t this look like a leaf??







Pretty big moths!!



With his wings open we put him on a towel

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”  Tim Cahill