Amazon trekking

We were accompanied as we set off by a Swiss guy who will forever owe me S/.7 and Achilles our guide. Unfortunately, his heel happened to be his inability to find any animals.
We gazed around expectantly as we set off in our motorised canoe, the dark clouds threatening to open up again as they had been doing all night and morning. Such is precipitation in a rain forest. A couple of ordinary birds but nothing else exciting. Never mind. An hour later we landed on wet land, and took our first footsteps into the lush green jungle.
Achilles, who was armed with an impressive machete, cut and hacked his way through before us. Seemingly determined to deforest the damned jungle before our eyes, he chopped down everything in our path. And several things off it too.

He had a strange way with trees. He would at them fondly, bemoaning the loss of the forest to loggers and foreign companies, before giving it a few friendly chops with his machete. As if trying to toughen them up for the inevitable chainsaws to come.
He chopped down a few more small trees with his machete. One he used as bridge to help us over a flooded area. Then the rain started again...
We learned one tree would fetch S/.50 on the market, about $17.50 or €12. A pittance considering their size and the length of time they take to grow. Signs of deforestation (apart from Achilles') were already evident, albeit not on the scale just across the border in Brazil.


We returned to our flooded canoe as the rain continued to pour. Only an hour or so back to the hut. Sure it wouldn't be the same if it didn't rain.
For more pictures of Puerto Bermúdez and the trek (no animals were filmed in the making of these pictures), click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/faheyc/PuertoBermudez#
Where do you find internet access there???
ReplyDeletebummer dude ,,those shoes really tied the room together.
ReplyDeletedid jennys brogs leak*2?
Internet´s all over Perú surprisingly enough. One good thing we can say about the place. Beats Sweden hands down!
ReplyDeleteAfraid Jenny´s bróg´s are no better than mine. They claim to be water-resistant though. Not neccessarily water-proof.
Nevertheless, I shall be writing them a strongly-worded letter. Another on the long list...