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'Expedition team honors Sir Peter Blake'
Dec 13, 2011
9th - 11th Dec
On the morning of the 9th we returned back up the small river to the ‘lake’ before sunrise. Hoping to see more birdlife, we ended up seeing lots of botos! It was great seeing them so close, and hearing them surface as we paddled along.
We travelled back down the Rio Branco, dropping our local guide off and starting again down the Rio Negro. At the junction of the Rio Jauaperi, we stopped for another adventure. Miguel wanted to take us to one of his favourite places, were a waterfall lies.
The river where it is found is usually home to electric eels, but none were there at the moment. We got out of the boat and walked through the forest on boggy ground to where we could see the waterfall. There were trees with beautiful buttress roots, twisting in peculiar shapes around their base. Bosco showed us a type of tree of which the bark is used for sore stomachs. The bark was stripped nearly bare, as this is a common place for people to find it.
On our journey back as the sun was setting behind the jungle, there were more botos all around us; this must be a very popular area for them! They stayed around the boat all evening, and even put on an acrobatic display, jumping in pairs. They are incredible creatures, so magical to see and bizarre seeing dolphins in a river. It is easy to forget that you are on the river sometimes and not on the ocean.
The following morning some of the group got up early to explore the area some more. They found a turtle farm, and a family of otters! Janot and Mark kayaked back up the river and were lucky to see them as well.
When hearing them approaching their lair, three young otters came out to check what the paddling noise was about. They then began to look at the kayakers from different positions, poking their heads out of the water with a funny face then diving again to reappear several meters from there, until their mother came and urged them away for safety.
We moved to a new spot, Velho Airao. This was to be our site for the memorial for Sir Peter Blake. The place is beautiful. Not many people live there, but what makes it so special is that there are ruins of houses built in the 1880’s by people from Portugal, trying to start a new life here. They are large, brick buildings with decayed cement render and beautiful archways and tiles. Vines and trees now grow all around, and inside them. They create a very mystical atmosphere about the place.
This spot is where Sir Peter Blake and Seamaster’s jungle team spent a night, ten years ago. The caretaker remembered them, and was more than happy to have the memorial in his village.
In the afternoon Janot and Marc, with the help of Matt, Rod, Bosco and two locals, got to work making the base for the cross they had made. The chosen site sits on a cliff top under two big mango trees, with the river stretching out behind it. The cross was erected, and everyone felt it was the perfect place.
The next morning, Sunday the 11th of December, the memorial was finished, and we had our commemoration for Sir Peter Blake. Tiles with our names were placed around the base of the cross, and the date we were here was inscribed on the back.
Marc Shaw said a few words about Peter, who he was and what he was trying to achieve, and we all shared a moment of silence to honour him. As a tribute, we then sung Maori songs, linking the occasion to our homeland, New Zealand.
It was a very special moment to all of us, and particularly to Janot, Marc, Miguel and Bosco, who had known Sir Peter. We felt honoured to have been able to put a memorial there for him, and for future travellers who would also like to commemorate his life.
~Team Amazon
