We are stuck at the Ecuador Peru border. The soldier in charge of the check point is trying to contact by two ways radio with his supervisors in Iquitos Peru, hundreds of miles away. To my request he is seeking instructions in order to allow Amazon 5000 expedition to cross the border in ordinary way. It has been already 3 days since we arrived this point, still no answer...the radio only goes one way… No one in Iquitos pick up the other side radio. It seems as if my original plan of cutting on foot through the deep dense jungle would have worked better, rather wasting time with the incapacity of the confused Peruvians guards who apparently never had a western dude crossing that point of land. But as I’ve quickly learned, the jungle ground around here is flooded to neck height and surrounded by thousands of acres of nasty swamps…I still feel the pain my expedition support team and I have encountered just in the past month of crossing through the Yasuni jungle’s swamps north of here, and where I’ve tasted the bitterness these swamps provide. If I could just avoid that “pleasure” I will cross the border’s checkpoint along the River, at the confluence point of the Cononaco and the Curary rivers. These two rivers originates from the source of the Amazon; the ridges of the Eastern Andes, and down the orient, and makes one wider and winding river that heads South-East to meet with the mighty Amazon river.
Stopping first at the Ecuadorian checkpoint I experience no problem exiting Ecuador. I have an official letter provided to me by the Government of Ecuador that calls for anyone who read it to provide me and my Amazon 5000 expedition team with all the help and support we need. After all we received a tremendous support to the Amazon 5000 cause and for going such a grueling expedition, by the Ecuadorian people all along the way since 3 months ago when I began my expedition at the shores of the Pacific ocean in Pedernales. You should understand; where I am right now it is not a traditional “tourists” checkpoint. No tourists ever come here! Therefore there is not exactly a Passports check in or out station and all other procedure known to the west. Only one small soldiers unit posted here, and they did not even understand what exactly to do when I stood there, asking them to stamp my passport! I wanted to assure my exit from Ecuador will be done properly and documented in my passport. The officer in charge – David, agrees to sign his name and post a date on my passport page. That’s the only way they can document my exit he said. One kilometer downs the river and East, and we are now in Peru’s checkpoint.
So here I am, awaiting the Peruvians to approve my expedition passing through their checkpoint. Presenting the Peruvians with the Ecuadorians official letter and briefing them about the Amazon 5000 expedition the soldier in charge is trying every four hours to communicate with Peru’s inland. These unsuccessful attempts look to the observer like if the “Tam-Tam” drams system works very slowly here in the jungle. Not only has that no one picked up the radio on the other side, but in my case also the thunders and lightning storms that are so common to this region disturbs the radio communication transmission. I must adapt to the slow pace things are being handle here, I know. So I accepted the advice from my lovely wife – “be patient” she text messaged me to my Satellite phone, from as far as Orlando Florida, where she and the Amazon 5000 home base team monitoring my progress very careful… from their comfortable couches. “Time is the best commodities you have, so relax there, on the river’s “playa” until things will get clear…” she said.
I take her advice and am here for 3 days already, waiting… but it’s not me to just simply sit still… having thorns pokes my rear constantly I must keep busy. I also become worry watching my Ecuadorian indigenous support team as boredom threaten to control their strong being. The adrenaline this expedition provides is dying with each day the expedition is on halt. Such can cause motivation to drop and the united body of the team fall apart. I decided there is a lot to do in preparation for the moment a clear sign will be given to me. I realized a trek on foot through the jungle like we did before will not work here, at least not for quite a while. I must move down the river waterway and over the swamps area. Balsa makeshift raft will do it!
I asked two of the Peruvian soldiers with whom I’ve made friendship to join me and my team while we seek for balsa trees deep in the thick jungle. For the whole day we trekked the forest but couldn’t find such trees. Empty handed we returned to the border checkpoint. While we discussed other means for waterway transportation one of the soldiers mentioned that one hour away southeast along the Curarai River he observed a dugout canoe that has been drifted a while ago from the upper river and is stuck at the muddy river bank since then. The two soldiers volunteered to show us the exact location of the canoe while did not see any wrong doing in letting us entering deep into the Peruvian territory. But how could we go down the river, a one hour distance?
Not expecting any military combat happening at their border, the border patrol unit does not have even one canoe for transportation… They are stranded in the jungle as much as we are! So how can I reach the abandoned canoe? the canoe the River stole from one and sent over to us…? It is the best survival tool sent my way. It will allow me to resume moving and to get out of this trap. I can’t miss this opportunity. However, I still don’t know the condition of the dugout canoe and hope it will float! My head is spinning seeking a solution...here it is, an immediate order to my men to pump air in three of my rubber commando boats and hit the Dugout canoe rescue combat operation!
And like Francisco de Orellana the Spanish conquistadors who has been stranded in this region in the year 1541 during the legendary El-Dorado voyage, I became Pizarro – his colonel - who sent Orellana down the river to seek for food… I now sent my people; Delfin Gualinga and three others to seek for ….a canoe.
It has been seven hours now and Delfin and his small canoe’s rescue team is not back yet. The Canoe should be located only one hour down the river….and there is no sight of Delfin….for a second I remembered how Francisco de Orellana went down the river at the same region and could not return up river after he found a food source. Will the same happen here? Will Delfin be unable to paddle the rubber boats or dugout canoe if found up the river? Will the incredible Seven Amazonian Indians team and one Ameri-sraeli colonel are doomed to split as happened 500 years ago?
17:00 – It is sundown time. In a short hour a thick darkness will cover the canopies and the jungle nocturnal life will resumed. Delfin and his team of three finally shows up from around the river curb, all covered with mud and exhausted…. There is a canoe! he reports to me. But it is all cracked and needs a major repair. It took them hours to dig the canoe out of the mud and tow it upstream. They left it at a nearby sand bar. Tomorrow I will go there to assess the canoe’s damages and see if I can use it to continue the Amazon 5000 jungle expedition.
