We learned that Panelas, the tiny settlement we stayed in last night, spends half the year under water. During the rainy season (November to April) the Rio Roosevelt rises nearly 30 feet. The surrounding forest is completely flooded, along with shoreline farmsteads and settlements. Residents move inland and wait for the waters to recede. In …
Brazil nuts and rubber support many families living in the rainforest Read More »
Last night we camped on a small farm. It was a beautiful place at the bottom of a rapids. The slow water below the rapids produced our dinner — grilled pirahna with sliced lemon, from a tree where we pitched our tents. We celebrated Ercilio’s 48th birthday. We sang him happy birthday. “Feliz aniversario” is …
Today we finally reached the Rio Roosevelt! As we paddled around a bend in the Rio Branco, the Rio Roosevelt came into view. Everyone howled with joy. We are finally descending the river that President Theodore Roosevelt’s party explored 100 years ago. One of our goals is to see how the river has changed …
Celso and Francisca have lived on the Rio Branco for 25 years. We stopped at their small house with a palm thatch roof because we had not seen a house in several days. They live in a very isolated place. They grow most of their food in a small garden that surrounds their house. They …
6_2_14StudentResponse(Lower) 6_2_14StudentResponse (Upper) Our first few days on the river have been full of animal encounters. We have seen over 30 macaws, howler monkeys, giant river otters, tapir tracks, many different butterflies, tons of fish and even an electric eel! The electric eel is one of the Amazon’s most amazing critters — It packs a …
By the time the sun began to burn through the blanket of fog coating the Rio Branco Farm, our team had the cars packed. A 5 minute drive brought us to the Rio Bronco. We quickly unloaded all of our supplies. Tonico, Eurico, and Baca headed back down the primitive road to drop off the …
Today was a big day. I could hardly sleep last night because I was anxious about what would happen. We hoped to meet with the Cinta Larga chiefs today to get permission to travel through the Cinta Larga’s land today. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure permission to pass through the Cinta Larga’s land, …
We are anxiously waiting for permission to paddle though the Cinta Larga’s land. We have been communicating with one of the Chief Marcello for several months now. We were supposed to meet with him today, but when we called him this morning he told us that he is still out of town and to call …
The US landscape is carpeted in a grid of road networks that long ago brought development to most every corner of the country. But in Brazil, most of the highways are tendrils that reach out from its east coast cities to bring development into it’s vast interior. When you travel a thousand miles into Brazil …
Dave and the team are doing well and have about 400 miles left to drive to get to the Rio Roosevelt. Because of an issue with communication equipment, Dave isn’t able to upload the usual Notes from the Trail. He will hopefully be able to provide a more detailed update later today or Tuesday. He …