AMAZON
RIVER
Since its origin in the Andean highlands of ancient Peru, the Amazon, the largest flowing, wide and deep river of the
planet, winds through mountain ranges, fertile valleys and mega diverse forests. In its persistent search from the Atlantic
coast of Brazil, the stream is fed by water intake of a network of tributaries that come from several countries.
Brave, huge and sea privileges, its jungle waters are projected to the horizon, but this magnificent river contrasts with
the low flow of its source, located in the foothills of Mount Misti (Cordillera de Chila, Caylloma province , Arequipa
region), as proved by the first scientific Peruvian-Brazilian expedition made in 2007.
In that high place over five thousand meters above sea level, melting and a series of leaks form a small stream of
cold water, cold and penetrating. It is the genesis of the Amazon, the giant river that, according to Peru’s National
Geographic Institute (NGI), has an area of 6,672 kilometers. However, other measurements indicate that its length
surrounds the 6,800 kilometers.
Throughout its pilgrimage its waters have different denominations. In the Andes and on the brow of the Peruvian
jungle, is known as Lloqueta, Apurimac, Ene, Tambo and Ucayali. Only from the confluence of the Ucayali with
Marñon (near Iquitos), is called the Amazon. In Brazil, it is the Solimões till the confluence with the Black River.
From this point becomes the Amazon to its mouth in Belém, state of Pará. The Amazon is always the modest creek in
the ravine Carhuasanta in the Mismi, which is deep in the canyon of the Apurimac, a generator of life in the jungle
that purifies the air on the planet, and is an offering when delivering its channel to the Atlantic waves.
Wonderful, amazing, navigable. Ploughing its waters is a challenging adventure that allows exploring the tropical
forest, visiting cities, towns and native communities of ancestral heritage and diverse geographic settings where
nature is at its best.
Western expeditions to this legendary course back to 1542, accrediting Francisco de Orellana the honor of being the
discoverer (February 12) and the first to arrive at the mouth of the river that he would call as Amazon (August 26), in
reference to the warrior women that his hordes had to face in his eventful journey.
Other versions claim that the name comes from a
native voice meaning “canoe breaker”. Anyway,
what Orellana never knew and none of his men,
is that they were soaring through the heart of the
largest watershed of the five continents and the
largest source of fresh water on earth.
That is the importance of a watershed that weaves
over a thousand tributaries from nine countries
(Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French
Guyana, Surinam, Peru and Venezuela), occupying
an area greater than seven million miles square.
Among its tributaries are 25 tributaries that are
broader than a thousand kilometers.
Nor did they know that in the rainy season its channel reaches to 50 miles wide, its mouth is 240 km wide and in the
Strait of Obidos in Brazil, its depth borders 300 meters. On that explorer trip, was also a utopia to think in the rise of
cities like Iquitos (Peru), Leticia (Colombia), Manaus and Belém (Brazil) on the banks of the Amazon.
But beyond extensions, widths and depths, the Amazon forest is synonym of mysticism and biodiversity. Is jungle,
fresh air, and ancient culture. It is the flight of birds, the footprint of a jaguar on a trail of slime, the stillness of a hunter
alligator, the monkeys frolicking in the treetops. It is all that and it’s much more than that. So you have to sail across
and explore it.