Moving along at glacial speed here in posting Part IV…

At one point along this trip, Brooke, Carolina, and I had a discussion about the potability of the Rio Guapore’s dark tea-colored water.  I was a skeptic, having been raised on fears of giardia in Colorado mountain streams and trips to other hot climates like Kenya and seeing what amoebas did to some of my traveling companions.

Brooke insisted, however, that the water was fine.  That what we needed to do was be prudent and take it from faster-moving areas.  I resisted and protested, stammering something about the farms around and groundwater seepage and the hot climate being a breeding ground for any small species to multiply and flourish.  After all, hadn’t I just read in Andrew Revkin’s book The Burning Season that it was estimated only a small portion of the species in the Amazon had been identified? That even seasoned tropical biologists shake their heads in confusion.

But lo and behold, I drank from the depths of Rio Guapore, finding raw satisfaction in the chance to casually dip my Nalgene into the river as we floated along. No iodine tablets, no purification system.

The heat of the day failed to dissipate by Day 3 of our voyage.  We paddled most of the day.  Short breaks punctuated the long stretches of slow paddling so we could watch the animals around us.  We saw more dolphins today and many birds.

We camped on the edge of a place called Fazenda Guapore – or that is what the fazenda workers we came across earlier in the afternoon told us.  They – I think I recall there were three or four of them – were fishing from a rocky beach using a setup similar to my own, though they had more luck (or skill, likely).  They were drinking vodka and laughing at the names of our boats (Capivara and Peixe Boi) as we pulled up.  Named for fat, slow-moving water mammals. Just like us.

We talked to the fazenda workers for a short while. I noticed the stylish jeans of one of the guys.  They asked us to stay for piranha ceviche, but we decided to move on after the three of us were about knocked over by the heat on shore.  For some reason, the idea of drinking hot vodka and being swarmed by mosquitoes didn’t make us have much of an appetite.

Soon after we saw the fazenda workers, though, we decided we really were tired and pulled over for an afternoon nap at a sweet spot not far downriver.  Also, Carolina was beginning to feel a sharp pain in her arm and hand that was disconcerting particularly since she was physically the strongest one of the three of us.  To escape the mosquitoes, we pitched our tent and ended up staying for the evening. 

I think we realized then how quickly the heat can kidnap a person’s energy.  Also, we were eating, but not as well – or as regularly – as we should have.  In the coming days, we would make a better effort to revitalize ourselves with energizing guarana powder dissolved in fresh, cool river water and treats liked canned peaches and milk.

The next day would be our longest on the river.  We woke up feeling refreshed.  We paddled most of the day, stopped for lunch at a ferry crossing, and continued on into the night.  It was a picturesque day.  This slide show below tells our story (with music even… borrowed w/out permission. “Cocada” by Rita Ribeiro). I’m a bit disappointed in the quality of the youtube.com video and am searching for a different application so bear with me….

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