An Amazon Cruise to Tabatinga Brazil
Trip Start
Oct 22, 2007
1
10
11
Trip End
Oct 27, 2007
Iquitos, Peru
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Los Boas
The anaconda could have strangled and eaten the youngest child, in the wild. We were on the banks of the Amazon River photographing a scene for the movie, Amazon Cruise to Tabatinga. We were stopped at a small place I know, Los Boas to handle and photograph snakes, very impressive snakes.
We were assisting a family of eight Polish adventurers
Dawn on the Amazon III on an Amazon Cruise
. Their Amazon Challenge was an expedition from the source of the Amazon River in the Andes Mountains to flush out in the mouth of the Amazon at the Atlantic Ocean. I was hired to get them from Iquitos Peru to the border of Brazil, Columbia, and Peru, and provide them with opportunities to document their book The Amazon Challenge, with unique photos of Jungle scenes.Monkey Island
Monkey Island is what it says, an island full of monkeys. Eight species of monkeys ran, jumped, tumbled, and played all over us. You could not get closer to monkeys. The children were not confident being that close to monkeys was good. Neither was I. One Woolley Monkey was so determined to be the photographer it got dirt and fruit pulp on the camera and monkey prints on the lens.
Francisco Grippa
One of my favorite stops was the village of Pevas at the confluence of the Ampiyacu and Amazon Rivers. Not only is Pevas the oldest Jesuit settlement in the Peruvian Amazon, but it is the home, of our famous friend, the Amazon artist Francisco Grippa. Francisco Gippa is a charming host, and entertained with great conversation.
Compared with the rest of Pevas, Francisco's home, gallery, and art studio is a huge castle
It takes a Big Man to Hold a Big Snake
. The most impressive part of the castle is an observation tower with an inspirational panoramic view of the surrounding village, rivers, and rainforest.Fransico Grippa and I will always remember what happened that day. Our guests were good business people. They liked what they saw, and turned into art speculators. First they offered to purchase every painting in his gallery for half of the list price. Franciso Gippa may be a remote jungle artist, but he is not primitive. He has international outlets, and knows he can sell as many great paintings as he can produce, so he politely declined that offer. After many offers and counter offers the intense negotiating narrowed down to four of his paintings which were sold on the spot for around $10,000, a good deal for everyone.
Ocaina indigenous
We visited a tribe of Ocainas indigenous. One of the young women had a Black-headed parrot perched on her head. Her breasts were partially covered by a string of Paiche scales. She was a very exotic ambassador who showed us a lot about how the Ocainas are preserving their culture.
Our guests, turned adventure art speculators, surprised me again by buying most of the jungle jewelry and primitive art the Ocaina had in their village, and leaving a large tip. The exotic Indian maiden will be delighted to see us on our next visit, and I will be delighted to see her.
Favorite secret fishing hole
There is a wonderful fishing lake that I always want to stop at on this Amazon cruise to the Triple Frontier
On an Amazon Cruise to Tabatinga
. If it was up to me, we would not go on down stream. Every thing about that black water stream, the lakes, the two villages, and the rainforest, is perfect to me. I love that place. Some of my most memorable Amazon adventures are from there. It is where I held a baby Harpy Eagle, caught my first Peacock Bass, lived and made friends in a primitive ribereņo village, learned more about the rainforest than any other place or time. Since then I have returned a few time for a total of two months. Fishing was not good. We only caught a few small piranhas but swimming was wonderful. Our guests jumped from the observation deck till everyone except the youngest boy was tired.
We went shopping; bought both of the packs of cigarettes the village had for sale, and set out for Tabatinga.
If you ever want to have a great Amazon cruise and one of the best experiences the river and rainforest has to offer, let me take you to my secret fishing hole. We will be the only gringos since the last time I was there. There is no place I would rather be.
River pirates and cocaine smugglers
I don't like the river between my secret fishing hole and Tabatinga
View from Francisco Grippa's Tower
. When we get close to where the river is the border of Columbia everything changes. Columbia has cut down most of the rainforest along the river and in its place are cattle farms. Pastures that look like Wisconsin. Nothing against Wisconsin, but most people do not come all the way to the Amazon to see cattle. In all fairness, farmers, and urban dwellers seem to like to see pastures and cattle. Also it is dangerous. We have to worry about bandits, pirates, and corruption caused by the same cocaine smuggling gangs that laundered their money in cattle farms. It is the only place I make a point of tying up at night in the port of the villages on the Peru side along the way. I hate waking up to the sound of dogs, roosters and peque-peques motors, instead of song birds and Howler Monkeys. However the safety of my guests, crew, and boat are my biggest responsibility and I take that responsibility seriously.
Part of our goal for this Amazon cruise was to take part in the Fiesta de la Confraternidad being held in Leticia. The three countries of Columbia, Brazil and Peru bring the best of their unique cultures to the large festival, including their most beautiful women, and best bands.
We tied our boat up at Santa Rosa, across the river from Leticia and Tabatinga
Negotiating with Francisco Grippa
. We lived on the boat for the next three days, crossing back and forth to participate in the Fiesta. I stayed on guard duty at the boat most of the time, and let my crew go to the festival with our guests.My crew told me it was a spectacular presentation of each countries ethno-culture, from folk-lore, traditions, customs, feminine beauty, art, talent, sports, regional foods, bands, and dance.
The day after the festival ended we escorted our guests to Tabatinga Brazil, where they made plans to continue the Amazon Challenge. We went shopping for a few duty free items, bought supplies and cast off for the second half of our Amazon cruise back upstream to Iquitos. When we arrived three days later we had covered 1073 kilometers.
There is much I have not told you about our Amazon cruise to Santa Rosa and back. If you would like to read a more complete account of this Amazon cruise , please click this link, An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to a Festival at the Frontier.
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Dawn on the Amazon
