Source of the Amazon: Fountain of youth

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This was a one day hike that I did with two friendly guides. One was called Domingo (Sunday), which was funny as it was Monday. The other was the owner of the company and was called Pedro who was swatting for his tourism exam the next day; Latin names of high Andean plants and which ones were which. I thought that the trip was going to be a bit boring, I mean we are talking a four hour walk across a dirt plain at 5000meters to see a small spring and then three hours back, with a one and a half car ride either end. But luckily for me I was wrong. An unusual night of snow had left an inch coating the high rock strewn plain and as out feet creaked over the ground at 7 in the morning I thought it was a nice refreshing change to the hot, dusty hiking. If acclimatised this is a walk in the park really, you gain 400 meters slowly over a few kilometres. They assured me though this can be hell if you are not as there is no way to descent quickly to get out of it. The views were fantastic and as we got to the spring a snowstorm wiped across the valley with a fresh breeze pushing behind it. The source itself was quite an impressive beginning to an impressive river. A large cliff loomed over us and water squirted its way out of a series of small cracks running up the face. I gave my face a quick wash and then ate an icicle that was hanging at the base. The way I figure it, the source of the Amazon is a bit like the fountain of youth or something, worth a shot anyway. There is a large cross marking the spot and not much else really. Lots of rocks. Funny to think that so much fuss had been made about a little bit of water but this place has been under dispute for years. The spot was finally clarified as the source by a five-nation National Geographic society expedition in 2000 using GPS, but was thought to have been the spot for hundreds of years. This out of the way place is only a couple of hundred miles away from the Pacific and is 3,900 miles away from the mouth in the Atlantic! And just if you were wondering what the definition of “The source of the Amazon” is then here is a snippet from a national geographic news website that was reporting on the Expedition mentioned above:

“The person in charge of the instruments that nailed it was geographer Andrew Johnston of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The source of the river, he says, can be defined as the most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs year-around, or the furthest point from which water could possibly flow into the ocean. “Nevado Mismi fits both these definitions,” says Johnston.”

On the way back we saw the most amazing variety of High Andean plants with Latin names supplied. My favorite is Yareta as it can grow really big at only 1 cm a year.

I went with Ampato Adventure sports that are based in the plaza in Chivey.
180 soles (30 pounds). Well worth it. www.ampatocolca.com run by Pedro who also does biking in the canyon.

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Photos

Yareta (azorella compacta)
My favorite High-Andean plant

Domingo.
Domingo in his mountain gear.

Pedro
Pedro after running up one of the stones in the "piedra de bosque"

Fountain of youth
There you have it. The source of the Amazon. It was damn tasty!