River Wild - From Rio Negro to Rio Unini

June 24
Life on a river boat is paradise. Surrounded by water and lush forest, our ferry chugged its way up Rio Negro to Rio Unini. I sat on the roof and soaked in my surroundings, feeling surprisingly at home in such a place. There are 6 of us on this boat, the cook (Joao, a happy dude with a huge belly), captain (Celio, seems like he woulda made a good linebacker), an electrician from Manaus, Dani (Celio’s nephew and 1st mate), Ignacio and myself. We are taking 7 tons worth of supplies to the Brasil Nut Factory in Patauá, a new community along Rio Unini. Originally settled on the other side of the river (now Reserva Natural Jaú and off limits for residents) they have resettled to the RESEX side of the rive (Reserva Extrativista) and FVA is helping them do so as a planned community. The Brasil Nut factory is just one of the many projects FVA has here. FAV has set up a community council to vote on decisions and has strategically mapped out the frame work for a new, eco-sustainable community. We chug upriver all night, I have no idea how the captain can see our path, with the full moon gone the river is as dark as the sky. Our poor ferry´s motor churns and churns, bogged down by tons of cement sacks, floor tiles, bricks, etc. These trips upriver can only be made when the river is high, during dry season most parts are too shallow to pass and moving supplies becomes all the more difficult. Dry season, which I will miss, is when all the beaches and swimming holes are formed. Now the river creates huge ‘igapós’ which means flooded forests what would otherwise be firm land. The river water is black as night, which makes swimming pretty scary. During dry season natural swimming holes form and everyone knows where to swim safely. When the river is flooded it becomes one huge mass of water making one always unsure of what may lie below the surface. Fishing is easier in dry season because the fish have less water to hide in, however I learned that the high PH levels of this river are not all that conducive to sustaining much wildlife, including mosquitoes. Critters have thus settled along more fertile waters, primarily further South along Rio Salimões.
On the river your mind plays tricks on you, every log looks like a ‘jacare’ (crocodile) or ‘boto (dolphin) and every snaky branch looks like a cobra. Locals can tell what kind of fish lie below merely from the bubbles they make. I wake before dawn to see the sunrise, the river is as calm and steady as a frozen winter lake. The world looks as if it sits on a mirror, the still waters reflecting every vein on every leaf, just like it always has. If you stare along the river banks long enough you lose sight of where the tree stops and the river starts. It all blends together in a perfect symphony of reflected foliage. Early morning is my favorite, the sun is docile and the breeze gives me goosebumps. The constant reassuring chug of the motor is soothing and, laying in my hammock, can rock me to sleep in an instant. We spent 2 days at Patauá, myself and 5 other strapping young men work to unload the supplies. In under five hours we unload over 7 tons of supplies, that’s over a ton each. Walking precariously along a plank from the boat to the shore, we scramble barefoot up the dirt slope with 30kg sacks of cement on our shoulders, 35kg boxes of ceramics and tiles for the factory floor. We joke that we could sure use a forklift, but someone would probably mess up and it would end up in the river…better to do it by hand. It is difficult to describe the feet of someone who has spent their life barefoot, sprinting across rocks and through jungle. They are like another set of hands, square and boxed, their toes grip the wooden plank as we file one by one from the boat to the factory for storage. My feet are.. how shall I put it…a little more delicate. Thankfully, my knee felt great and didn’t bother me at all. It felt strong and reliable. I have been doing physical therapy as often as I can for the dislocated patella and torn ligaments I sustained playing soccer. Every meal is a feast of rice, spaghetti, fried fish and farofa, which is very filling. I eat every meal as if it were my last, always sure to give the hefty chef a thumbs up between bites.
It is amazing to see the influences of the age of the internet. From Manaus to the far reaches of the jungle, from young to adult everyone has asked, Justin? As in Justin Beiber? How the heck do they even know who that is! The far reaches of the internet are impressive. 5 years ago in El Progreso it was Justin Timberlake, now its Beiber. I joke that I wish Justin were the name of some amazing football player, and not some dancing teenybopper. Most agree that the youth here are at a crossroads between overexposure to the commercial world and maintaining traditional ways of life. In the thick of the amazon I saw bellybutton rings, chin studs, tall Mohawks bleached blond (imitating the most recent Santos futebol phenomenon Neymar) and cameraphones with radio speakers. Im told that in Barcelos, further up the river, there have been a string of suicides (hangings) among teenagers. No one knows why but convos I´ve had have led me to believe that it is due to their insecurity, being exposed to the grips of the glamour and glitz of the commercial world yet finding themselves feeling trapped and very far removed from a world they know very little about.
One thing remains a constant, no matter where I travel in Brasil, futebol dominates. Flamengo and Vasco (rio de janeiro) and Santos and Corinthians (sao Paulo) flags and attire abound. I myself am a Corinthiano and engage in lively debates about why Corinthians has never fared well in the Copa Libertadores or why scandal always seems to follow Flamengo´s club. If you can talk Brasilian futebol, you can manage anywhere.
We accompanied a documentary crew from Rio de Janeiro all the way to Lago das Pedras, a 10 family community about 2 hours from Pataua. We left at 5am and I woke to fetch some coffee and sat on the roof to catch the sunrise.
Nothing clears your head like a sunrise.
Im off to take a dive into the river off the rooftop. Until next time.