Amazon 3.0 - The Bicycles of Barcelos, a Four-Minute Photo Essay July 24, 2008, Barcelos, Amazonas, Brasil Note: This blog posting is out of order. When I get to a better internet connection I will get back to the story and photos from the Rio Orinoco. Perhaps bicycles are an odd thing to notice on an Amazon trip. But anyone who has been to Brazilian cities or towns would notice the difference here - very few cars, a few trucks, plenty of motorcycles and scooters, but hundreds of bicycles in this small town. Lucho had noticed them - back on Iguana when I told him I planned to stop in Barcelos on my way to Manaus he said “Everybody there rides bicycles.” They are parked everywhere, leaned against walls of stores and homes and schools and ... read more

Amazon 3.0 - Part 5 - Up the Cunucunama June 30 Blackwater at last. On the sixth day Iguana left the Orinoco, heading up the Cunucunuma, a blackwater river that feeds into the Orinoco about fifteen kilometers downstream from the branching of the Orinoco and Casiquiare. Blackwater rivers are slightly acidic, just enough to prevent - or at least to severely diminish - the breeding of the mosquitoes and mites that have plagued us so far. The next morning Iguana stopped at Acanaña and became the day’s entertainment for the village children (Photos 1-4) and even for families passing by in bongos (Photo 5). Kamil plunged into the water (Photo 6) while Iguana’s crew worked to get the bongo prepared for our trip up the Cunucunama. The rapids upriver were unnavigable by Iguana - it would ... read more

Amazon 3.0 - Part 3 - Getting Onto Amazon Time June 24-26 What day was it? I’d been on Iguana four days and had lost track of time. I asked Lucho what day it was and he said Saturday. But Lucho had it wrong also and he was in charge of the trip. It was Friday. When I told Lucho I’d lost track of time he responded “That is a good thing.” I may still be on the Orinoco but am definitely on Amazon time. Why am I here? It started by looking at some maps, wondering if I could take this back door through Venezuela into the Brazilian Amazon. Then I read Alexander von Humboldt’s account of his travels on the Orinoco and Casiquiare into the Rio Negro in 1800 and was hooked. And there ... read more

Amazon 3.0 - Part 1: Puerto Ayacucho June 19-23, 2008 There has been one major change in my travel plans for this, my third Amazon trip: the addition of Harrison, my 23-year old nephew. The two-month trip is a retirement present for me and a graduation present for Harrison. Getting there is half the fun? Not when it involves an overzealous airline agent who tries to take away my insect repellant - from the check-in luggage nonetheless - until his colleague convinces him it is not flammable; a screeching baby kicking the back of my seat most of the way through a crowded redeye from Houston to Caracas; and an hour of back-and-forth at the Caracas airport over whether Conviasa would honor Harrison’s ticket. No sleep and waiting for one more plane, nothing looked appetizing as ... read more

The Amazon - Planning Ahead and Looking Back April, 2008 It is late April and I am in full countdown mode. Twenty-five more commuting days until retirement. Less than two months from today I’ll step off a plane in Puerto Ayacucho, the capital of the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, to start a two-month river trip. Anxious, I click onto Weatherunderground, check the weather in Puerto Ayacucho (hot and wet) then follow the satellite photos from Puerto Ayacucho up the Orinoco, through the Casiquiare to the Rio Negro, down the Rio Negro to Manaus, down the Amazon to Santarém, up the Tapajós to Fordlândia - my basic trip plan. A money question intrudes into my thoughts and I jump to the Lonely Planet forum to post a question about parallel market exchange rates in the Caracas airport. ... read more