| An old Indian legend says God was not yet done with | | | | sounds that come from nowhere and everywhere at |
| the Amazon when man showed up. So, the story | | | | the same time. Next, the smells of freshness and |
| goes, God decided to leave, expecting man not to last | | | | blooming plants mix with the musty smell of decaying |
| very long, when He would return to finish his work. | | | | plants, marking the unending cycle of life and death in |
| Today, over 20 million people live in this unfinished work | | | | this jungle. Look up and one sees the static result of a |
| that stretches from the Andes in the west to the | | | | centuries-long fight for light: vines intertwine with trees, |
| Atlantic in the east, from Guyana Plateau to the north | | | | branches reach higher and higher to outsmart each |
| from the Brazilian savannah to the south. It’s size is | | | | other in a desperate fight for sunlight. So efficient is this |
| baffling, containing: | | | | fight that a spot on the ground is likely to have sun |
| - 5% of the world’s land. | | | | directly shine on it only one time every 50 years, the |
| - 20% of global fresh water reserves. | | | | point at which some neighboring tree finally gives up, |
| - 1/3 of the world’s forests. | | | | dies, falls to the ground and leaves an opening in the |
| - 40% of South America. | | | | canopy, a shred of hope to newborn trees. Life in such |
| - 60% of Brazil. | | | | abundance is unimagined, yet overwhelming. |
| - 0.4% of the global population. | | | | Alongside such natural exuberance, over 20 million |
| Despite being one large continuous forest, the Amazon | | | | people live. The history of human occupation in the |
| is highly differentiated from geophysical and ecological | | | | Amazon stretches back 11 thousand years, around |
| perspectives. Clear examples the curious traveler will | | | | Monte Alegre, where archeological sites have been |
| discover are differently colored rivers: from the deep | | | | uncovered, noting the existence of fairly complex |
| black waters of the Negro river to the yellow muddy | | | | communities much earlier than previously expected |
| waters of the Solimoes, and their majestic meeting | | | | and in a region where their existence was not |
| where the two colors travel for many miles, | | | | considered possible only a few years ago. The |
| side-by-side without ever mixing. At such meeting, the | | | | adventurous traveler with a few days to spare can |
| traveler is likely to also meet the boto rosa, the | | | | take a small plane from Santarém to Monte Alegre |
| pre-historic pink dolphin of the Amazon, figure of so | | | | to visit the natives’ wall paintings still visible today. |
| many legends and forbidden stories in the region. | | | | Ancient Indian populations are still present, though |
| Indeed, the traveler encounters one of the last frontiers | | | | outsiders are rarely invited to visit. Though shocking to |
| of true wilderness. | | | | some, there are some small Indian tribes that have |
| Multiple ecosystems co-exist alongside and integrated | | | | never encountered or been identified by us, |
| with one another; while flooded forests and floodplains | | | | Westerners; it is a tribute not to our inability, but rather |
| (locally known as igapó and varzea) cover 5% of the | | | | to the amazing size of the forest. |
| region, the remaining terrain comprises firm land | | | | The larger, non-indigenous occupation, however, came |
| forests. There are five distinct regions, with specific | | | | with the discovery of valuable natural products: most |
| geographical as well as biological characteristics in | | | | notably, rubber. Hevea Brasiliensis, the locally known |
| each: the Atlantic Amazon, with seaside swamps | | | | seringueira, is the tree that yields this precious product |
| along the coast of the Brazilian states of Pará and | | | | as soon as Charles Goodyear invented the process |
| Amapá in Brazil; the central floodplain, which stretches | | | | of rubber vulcanization in 1839. By the end of the 19th |
| from the Atlantic all the way to Peru, following the | | | | century, with industry producing bicycles and |
| trace of the Amazon river; the northern plateau, a land | | | | automobiles at record pace, the market for rubber |
| of poor soils and, the farther one goes north, the more | | | | was indeniably hot. The wealth of Manaus, then the |
| rocky and mountainous it becomes; the southern basin, | | | | center of the rubber trade, is legendary; it was the first |
| a land of rich soils and wild muddy rivers; and | | | | city in South America with electricity. Cobblestones, |
| cis-Andine Amazon, a transition zone that ends in the | | | | telephone systems, tramways were all imported from |
| steep snowy slopes of the Andes. A typical four | | | | Europe, along with crystal chandeliers, pianos, |
| square mile patch anywhere in the Amazon harbors | | | | champagne and caviar. The main standing reminder of |
| over 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 of trees, | | | | this era is the Teatro Amazonas, the opera house in |
| 125 of mammals, 400 of birds, 100 of reptiles, 60 of | | | | Manaus. For a population of only 30 thousand, the |
| amphibians, and 150 of butterflies. Amazingly, the | | | | Opera House could sit 1,600 and contained glass, |
| crown of a single tree, perhaps over 50 feet high, may | | | | marble, and other opulent materials imported from |
| play host to over five thousand species of insects. | | | | Europe. Such wealth hid the tremendous hardships |
| This land is a region marked by biologic, geologic, | | | | faced by the rubber tappers, as the trees were |
| economic and social diversity; centuries of explorers | | | | dispersed along the forest and resisted multiple |
| have documented such. As an example, many may | | | | attempts of domestication in plantations. Remains of |
| recall the familiar legend of the Amazon women, a | | | | dreams of domestication can be seen in Fordlândia |
| myth established when the first man to travel from the | | | | today, aptly named after U.S. industrialist Henry Ford, |
| Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, Francisco de Orellana | | | | along the banks of the Tapajós river. |
| purportedly encountered these ferocious women | | | | Today, Brazilian development is encroaching upon the |
| fighters in 1542. Since then, other adventurers, | | | | southern frontiers of the Amazon. Such is fertile land, |
| scientists and hope-seekers have traveled, studyied | | | | and with the recent advances in agriculture in tropical |
| and occupyied the region, albeit with varying degrees | | | | climates, population growth and the appreciation of |
| of success. Among these, the most remarkable ones | | | | commodities in international markets, the economics |
| include: | | | | have shifted. Over the past five years, deforestation |
| - Alexander von Humboldt, who mapped a passage | | | | has ranged between 15 and 26 thousand squared |
| connecting the Orinoco basin in Venezuela with the | | | | kilometers in Brazil. Put in perspective, the Brazilian |
| Amazon basin, the 300-mile long Casiquiare Canal, | | | | portion of the Amazon is approximately 3.6 million |
| available for visit even today only to the most | | | | square kilometers, so the current rate is between 0.4% |
| adventurous of travelers. | | | | and 0.7% per year, worrisome indeed. It is estimated |
| - Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russell Wallace, who | | | | that deforestation has reached approximately 20% of |
| collectively made one of the most productive natural | | | | the region, mainly to give way to cattle breeding in the |
| history discoveries. Alfred would later co-discover (with | | | | Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Pará. |
| Darwin) the theory of evolution. | | | | The socio-economic process at play is a large |
| - Jacques Cousteau, the fearless modern adventurer | | | | migration from southern states in Brazil, where land is |
| and scientist who, as far as I know, is the only person | | | | already mostly occupied, to the southern Amazon, |
| with enough courage to have swum inside a school of | | | | where there is abundant land and few people. |
| piranhas. | | | | Despite global advances, a look at the people of the |
| Visiting the Amazon one cannot help but appreciate | | | | Amazon will also uncover an unenviable |
| the difficulties and wonders these explorers | | | | socio-economic situation. In the historic drought of 2005, |
| encountered. From the airplane, the green carpet | | | | hunger, disease and isolation threatened riverside |
| seems endless and peaceful; on the ground, it is | | | | populations. In the major cities, the traveler will uncover |
| anything but. First the traveler would notice chirps, | | | | slums and difficult living conditions. |
| beeps, squawks, and the plethora of other strange | | | | |