Amazon Updates
14 October 2001
I don't think I've written much about the Amazon at night, and
it certainly is a different world than the Amazon by light.
During the day you can see all the beauty of the Amazon
region; every shade of green; the different colours of the
different rivers, the black of the Negro river, the milky
brown of the Amazon river and the reflected blue of the clear
Tapajõs river; and the sunsets painted many brilliant
colours every night. By day the Amazon is still wild, but
there is some security in seeing everything around you and
believing you know what is out there. |
Dusk
on the rio Tapajõs. |
At night the whole world of the Amazon seems to change. There
are new sounds, new smells, the forest is just a dark silhouette
against the midnight blue sky, and the illusion that the Amazon
isn't such a dangerous place disappears.
We left the village where we were staying in the Tapajõs
National Forest just before sunset. The road out through the villages
is sandy and after the rain in the afternoon, it was very slick.
Our small car got stuck three times on our way into the national
forest, but the sand was dry and we pushed it out easily. We had
no sooner told our driver Alejandro that he is only allowed to
get stuck three times when we had our first encounter with the
wet sand.
 |
We all got out and pushed, the car didn't move. Some people
from the closest houses brought planks of wood for under the
tires and we all pushed together, still nothing. Eventually,
our other group arrived behind us with the 4x4 truck, and
only after we attached the car to the truck and with everyone
pushing, we got the car free. |
The car got stuck in the sand two more times, but we were able
to push it out easily. We drove through the forest close to the
river and watched the sun set on the Tapajõs between the
trees.
|
Not long after sunset when there was still some light in
the sky we met the local bus coming the other way on the
narrow road. We pulled into the forest to let it pass and
the driver said there was another bus and a truck on the
way. We sat at the side of the sandy road with forest all
around us as it grew darker waiting for the traffic to pass.
I can't say I was anxious to get back in the car at that
point, the sounds of the forest were calming. The sky above
the trees was still purple and the cool, damp sand between
my toes was comforting, so different from evenings on board
the ship sailing down the river with the forest far from
reach.
|
The road
back to Santarém |
After maybe 20 minutes we were back on the road which eventually
turned to hard dirt with deep ruts, and as we sped up a hill,
we dove down into a large rut and sprang up out of it. Then there
was a load bang and a hissing like high pressured air leaking.
At first I thought it was something quite serious, but when we
emerged from the car we saw that one of the front tires was flat,
even the rim was bent. It was a surprisingly quick task to change
the tire of the small car in the dark with one flash light, by
that time I think everyone was wanting to get off the lonely road
in the forest before it got too late.
We met many people walking and biking on the road in complete
darkness, the tall trees whizzed by and the smell of the forest
entered the car windows and surrounded us. Occasionally there
was the warm glow of rectangular light from a house, small cooking
fires in the distance, and there were so many stars. I don't think
I have seen so many stars at once in years. When the sky is clear
of clouds and there are no lights around, the sky looks like the
white sands of the Tapajos have been thrown into the air by a
great gust of wind and suspended there.
Our trip back to the ship took as through an odd bit of Amazon
history. After driving for an hour through the sand and dirt roads,
and still another hour to go before we hit the highway, we came
to a town of brick streets and sidewalks. The town is the creation
of American carmaker Henry Ford.
In the 1920s Ford tried unsuccessfully to set up two rubber plantations
to make tires along the Tapajos river. The first was in the heart
of what is now the Tapajos National Forest called Fordlândia
and was a failure because of the remote location and unsuitable
soil. The second attempt was in the town we passed through, Belterra.
The town is an odd site in the middle of the Amazon. Many small
American style bungalows painted white with green trim, quite
a change from the palm straw and wooden houses on stilts that
are typical in the Amazon. The town survives in good condition
and has the feeling of a different place and a different time,
but the Ford rubber making factory project failed to make money
for Ford and the plantation is now run by the Ministry of Agriculture
as a research station.
The ship has moved while we were away, it is now anchored off
the small town of Alter do Chão on the Tapajõs.
We passed through Santarém first and it was only another
30 kilometre drive to the town.
On the way we passed a huge forest fire close to the road. We
were going up a hill and had a very good view of the fire, it
was an incredible sight. The black outline of the trees, huge
orange flames licking the tree tops and extending several meters
above the trees, and a thick smoke coloured by the light of the
fire rising into the dark sky.
Alejandro says that people often light fires at night when it
is cooler, and since we are expecting rain, it may have been started
by someone wanting to clear the land. But this year the dry season
had been particularly hard and it may be a natural fire. It is
incredible that something so beautiful can be so destructive.
Tchau,
Tracy
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