Pure Jungle II is the title of this latest post dedicated to Pablo Rodríguez's journey through the Amazon. Here he describes his final experience; unfortunately, an unknown bacterium prevented him from finishing his adventure. Below, he describes how it went.
Filmmaker Werner Herzog wrote that the jungle is "a nature that annihilates the complaining and the strong with equal ferocity." I say that is true. He also wrote that "the birds here don't sing, they shriek in pain in a landscape unfinished and abandoned by God in a fit of rage." And that is true once again.
We went to the jungle to cross it entirely. Sailing through three different countries, on several tributary rivers, visiting small communities, and in various types of vessels. Many hours spent sailing, talking, reading, writing, and contemplating nature. We were here for the largest river in the world. In the tropics. A very crazy place. A myth.
Navigation is always exciting. The boats sail precariously over a riverbed that changes depth; the pilots know the river even in the morning fog, with the constant danger of storms and under the shelter of the riverbanks on the darkest nights. But the real danger is not the wild animals, the river floods, or the feared pirates. Here people live surrounded by malaria, dengue, dysentery, and a whole catalog of punk tropical diseases, and a heat that tires even the souls of the Amazonians.
For me, talking about the Amazon is a bit difficult now because we weren't very lucky at the end of the trip. We couldn't reach the Atlantic Ocean and bathe in its waters. That would have been magical. We also couldn't sail the stretch that goes from Santarem do Pará to Belem do Pará. It's true that we didn't have anything planned and that we resolved everything day by day. And that in the Amazon, time doesn't exist and you can only do what the river lets you do. You get used to living without a destination, without health, and you smile every time a pink dolphin jumps. The river is an illusory paradise.
Text and images by Pablo Rodríguez.
