The Amazon – a mighty river

One of the many adventurous trips my sister and I experienced together involved traveling the length of the Amazon. We were intrigued by the uniqueness of the journey. Traveling by small cruise ship from Belém, on Brazil’s east coast, to Iquitos, Peru, on the west coast, seemed quite a trip trophy. We would travel along the navigable Amazon — from Belém, past Manaus, to Iquitos, roughly 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers).

We viewed the mighty river from the air on the way to the start of our trip. From above, the river looked like long lengths of mossy-green velvet ribbon stretching across bumpy carpets of lush green. We arrived in Belém, our start point, and climbed aboard the ship that would be our home for several weeks.

How massive the river is does not really impress you until you are actually on it, moving across the wide expanse of Brazil. The river rules and controls everything in its path. It is the largest river flowing through the world’s largest rainforest, and it reminds you of that at every turn. During the rainy season, it can measure 12 miles across in some sections. The waters of smaller feeder rivers flow into the Amazon’s mighty currents.

We passed endless walls of dense forest, perhaps hiding the lost cities of legend that remain undiscovered, or indigenous tribes that still live much as they have for thousands of years. Some days, the Amazon feels like an ocean; on others, it is a river meandering through a tunnel of deep-green forest.

The Amazon rises and falls in a natural rhythm every year, but the scope of its flooding is unpredictable. Its people have adapted by building simple houses on stilts or, better yet, choosing to live in houses that float. Boats are the mode of transportation. They range from tiny dugout canoes to colorful riverboats that transport goods and people up and down the river.

The river is the color of coffee with cream, and there is always movement. Some of the tributaries that come from the mountains are dark and clear, taking their color from tannins released by vegetation. Close to halfway along our journey, there was the drama of the famed “Wedding of the Waters.” The dark, clear waters of the Rio Negro flow alongside the murky brown waters of the Amazon for miles before they finally merge.

Over the course of our journey, we found village after village filled with friendly, waving people. They often jumped into their dugout canoes and paddled out to meet us or to hold up something they were offering for sale — from fruit to handcrafted souvenirs.

We stopped in three major cities: Belém, Manaus, and Iquitos. Each was a dramatic contrast to the miles and miles of simple indigenous settlements that were the norm along the river.

When we climbed in Zodiacs and went ashore, we found lush, dense forests filled with exotic flowers and colorful birds, along with the occasional sloth, monkey, or iguana. Our guides were experts at finding the cleverly camouflaged treasures hidden along the shoreline.

The Amazon Basin contains the largest tropical rainforest on Earth, and traveling along the river reveals just how small human settlements are compared with the vastness of the river and forest. Wildlife appears when you least expect it. We might spot pink river dolphins surfacing alongside the boat, sloths clinging to branches, capybaras grazing along the shoreline, caimans slipping into the water, or brilliant macaws flashing red and blue against the green canopy. Much of the wildlife is heard rather than seen, hidden deep within the dense forest.

What stays with most Amazon River travelers isn't one spectacular sight but the overwhelming sense of perspective. Our trip, as most of our trips were, was an amazing geography lesson.

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