Along the Jungle River by Cargo Boat

 

After the bendy three hour van ride, Xavi and I were greeted by the humid tropical heat of Yurimaguas – the climate I have loved for the past two years of my life in the jungle. We found a little wooden hostel right by the Huallaga River (which eventually joins the Marañon River and takes its name, then joins the Ucayali River and forms the Amazon River) and decided to spend the night there. Having checked our options for further travel, we came up with the following plan: to catch a cargo boat heading down the river towards the village of Lagunas and, from there, head with a local guide into the Pacaya-Samiria Natural Reserve for five days. Pacaya-Samiria is a huge area of protected jungle, where there is plenty of biodiversity and the chance to interact with the wildlife - including monkeys, alligators, piranhas and a number of different species of birds. Going further into the reserve (generally you need at least ten days), one could also see larger animals such as dolphins, manatees and, if you are really lucky, you could also spot a jaguar drinking from the riverbanks.

The town square in Yurimaguas

Wooden hostel along the Huallaga River in Yurimaguas

Yurimaguas is bigger and more vibrant than I expected. We walked around and came across two ports. At the smaller port, plantain and other agricultural products were being unloaded from small boats arriving from nearby villages. Dozens of people, including children, were busy carrying products from the boats to the little market at the top of the hill. At the market, you could find all sorts of things from fruit to exotic animals (probably being sold illegally but pretty much in the open). The larger port was even more bustling with activity, with strong men loading and unloading heavy items from cargo boats such as large planks of wood and various boxes with products for local consumption. Yurimaguas is currently the last town connected by roads to the rest of Peru, making it a very important centre for commerce. From here onwards, the only means of transport are boats of different sizes and planes flying to Iquitos. The following morning, we were going to travel on one of these cargo boats which we were currently observing. Simply sitting and watching this frenzy of activity was an interesting enough way to spend the late afternoon.

Small port where canoes bring agricultural products to the market

An elderly lady takes a nap at the Yurimaguas market

Local delights such as roasted plantain and worms

Men at work - the cargo port in Yurimaguas

Loading the cargo boats

I spent the evening chatting with one of the workers at the hostel and a girl from Lima who is travelling around the country, getting herself involved in environmental and community activism. She talked about a number of serious environmental issues around the country concerning mining, the draining of lagoons which are essential to local communities, and also about plans to build dams along the upper section of the Marañon River, considered to be the mainstem source of the Amazon River. The latter particularly sounds like a crazy idea since the Amazon River is essential to keep the jungle alive – and the jungle acts as the lung of the earth. This would be yet another attack on the balance created by nature that allows humans to thrive. On one side, you have fair talk about the development requirements of a country whilst, on the other hand, we have the simple equation that humans breathe in oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Humans also create multiple other sources of carbon dioxide. Plants and tree reverse the process, absorbing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that killing trees on a massive scale will eventually mean killing mankind. I feel that more awareness is needed on the importance of conserving the Amazon and the destruction it is currently facing from various culprits (mining, petrol extraction, deforrestation, pollution, etc).

A river boat carrying large logs that were once trees in the Amazon

That night, Xavi was fighting against a massive attack of diarrhea (possibly due to a ‘Chinese’ meal in a little restaurant which also doubles up as a motorcycle shop). We were rather concerned about going off into the deep jungle after a very long ride on a cargo boat with Xavi in this condition – but, in the end, we decided to go anyway. The slow boat ride to Lagunas was about 10 hours long. We took some food (though you do get fed a small meal on board) and water (essential due to the heat). Since I don’t eat meat, I had no option but to get my own food – something simple that will survive the heat (I chose brown bread and peanut butter) – since meals onboard always consist of meat.  We also needed to make sure that we were on the boat in good time to tie up our hammocks in a decent spot. A kind local showed us how to tie a good knot and proceeded to tie all our knots! Before long, the whole upper deck was full of people and their hammocks, whilst the lower deck was full of all sorts of cargo – including live animals, moto-taxis, crates of drinks, sacks and boxes full of goods. There was a rather filthy toilet on board, which was Xavi’s salvation.

A cargo ship that also carries passengers down the Huallaga River towards the Amazon River

Hardly a place for another hammock on the cargo boat

Tied up - a strong knot to keep that hammock from falling

Achieving the impossible - passing a moto-taxi over a plank of wood

The journey by cargo ship along the Huallaga River was not just scenic but also very interesting, due to various stops at riverside villages and settlements where goods, people and animals were loaded and unloaded. At times, seemingly impossible goods were loaded onto the boat over a smallish plank of wood, such as a moto-taxi and some huge boxes.  I felt an urge to stay and explore each of the riverside settlements we stopped at – but that would require months of travelling. Xavi and I were the only foreigners on the cargo ship and I soon started chatting with one of the locals. He was a middle aged indigenous man, originally from the highlands of Peru. He told me that there has been a lot of migration towards the jungle over the past few years, due to people looking for opportunities and cheap fertile land that would allow them to escape from the poverty in the mountain areas.

Riverside villages at settlements

Riverside villages at settlements

Riverside villages at settlements

The sudden increase of population in the jungle was not always a peaceful event, with some clashes occurring between the indigenous jungle populations and the settlers coming from other parts of Peru. Nevertheless, my new friend also talked about many cases where this migration occurred peacefully and where recent arrivals (such as himself) were taught by the locals how to cultivate the crops that grow in the jungle. The jungle has a totally different climate to the highlands and, consequently, different crops are grown here which the new arrivals had never cultivated before. The man also spoke about the lack of awareness by the local population regarding environmental issues and how they polluted the river without thinking twice. Indeed, over the course of the boat journey, I saw several persons (young and old) simply throwing their rubbish into the river, despite the fact that the boat had bins on board. Having lived for two years in the Ecuadorian Amazon, it’s not the first time that I’ve seen such blatant pollution of the rivers and jungle in general by the locals. If I once had a notion that the locals (including modern indigenous communities) lived in harmony with nature, it has sadly long gone.

An uphill struggle - unloading goods at the riverside villages when the river is low

A female passenger heading home to one of the riverside communities

 Books are great company on the long slow cargo boat journeys down the river. My choice for this part of the travel are two classics by Mark Twain, ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ – probably due to the important role a river plays in both books (in this case the Mississippi River). I read through half of the first book by the time we arrived in Lagunas, about ten hours later.

Lagunas is a rather large and spread-out town, but it isn’t connected by road to anywhere else except another nearby village. It does have its share of moto-taxis zooming along the narrow paved roads since people tend not to walk much due to the stifling heat during the day. The town has a large generator which provides electricity early in the morning and between the late afternoon and evening. For the rest of the time, the town is without electrical power.

The main square in Lagunas

At the tiny port, we were met by the owner of the little local travel agency that will arrange for us to go into the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. There are three agencies in town and all more or less offer the same things for similar prices. It is much cheaper to book a visit into the Pacaya-Samiria (or any other jungle expedition) here than in Iquitos or elsewhere. In the end, we paid 150 Peruvian Soles each per day (we booked in Yurimaguas so it possibly could have been cheaper had we sorted things out directly with the agencies here, thus avoiding to pay a commission to the other agency there) and an additional 20 Soles per day as a fee to enter the natural reserve. From Iquitos, the same expedition could cost more than double the price. The 150 Soles include the canoe, a guide or two (generally the guides come along with their partners who cook and help to row), three simple meals per day, water and somewhere to sleep. Other basic items such as rubber boots, mosquito nets and a harpoon for fishing are also provided.

The market in Lagunas

Wooden houses in Lagunas

The night before leaving for the jungle expedition, we slept at the little wooden home of the agency owner (a young woman who took over from her father after he died from illness some months ago) and her family. After an evening walk through the town (a funny mixture between some rather modern buildings and several more basic wooden ones), we had a good sleep to have a lot of energy for the adventure ahead – we were about to lose all contact with the rest of the world for five days and simply live in the natural environment of the protected jungle area.