The Highways of the Amazon

The highway system here is not dirt, rock or pavement.  It is water.  To go anywhere you either have to take a plane or a lineboat (passenger boat).  The only highway on land turns from pavement to dirt 100 km outside town, however it goes all the way to the south part of Brasil.  Most of the year it is virtually impassable.  Therefore the river is our highway.  All of the rivers in the Amazon region are referred to as "The Amazon" even though each river has its own name.  They all feed into the Mighty Amazon River. 

Travel on the river system is unlike most Americans can imagine.  We take our hammocks and a few clothes and board a boat to wherever we are going.  For the most part I have a very difficult time traveling by lineboat.  I have always gotten sick and been miserable the entire time we are traveling.  The bathrooms smell awful. If we have bad weather I get sea sick, the food....well, what food? You take your own food unless you are traveling for several days to Belem or Manaus then you can buy something to eat IF you trust that it is good.  We, for the most part lease a boat for our travels so we know who the pilot is and how much experience he has.  We always know our pilot personally therefore we know how well he knows the river.

Our highway is very wide.  Traffic has plenty of room to pass without danger...most of the time.  However, last Feburary we were traveling to Obidos on our leased boat.  The river narrows the closer you get to Obidos.  In front of the city is the most narrow point of the entire 4,000 miles of Amazon River.  We were settled in sleeping and woke up to the boat rocking back and forth.  Scotty and I sat up in our hammocks just in time to see the water box that "was" on top of the boat, go over the side into the river.  We were rocking so much that with one more hard rock the boat would have taken on water.  Scared?  Yes, it almost scared me to death !!!  This was the first time that had happened.  There was no storm or wind that night.  However, on the other side of the river was two large cargo ships passing one behind the other.  The pilot of our boat did not turn into the waves and we almost went over.

Now you know that the possibilities of our highway being dangerous is there.  The last time we asked about the depth of the river in front of Obidos the people in that city knew it was at least 800 feet deep.  The water is very turbulant and rough there at times. 

Going up the Amazon toward Belem is a different story.  The closer to Belem you get on our highway the rougher the water is.  There are large whirlpools.  IF a pilot doesn't know how to navigate that part of the river the back of the boat could get into a whirlpool and be sucked under.  That has happened several times since we have been here.  Lives are always lost in those situations.

Our highways are hugh and very long. Even tributaries like the Tapajos are wide.  In some places as much as 8 miles across.  Each river has it's own personality, it's own set of cautions.  Inspite of all the dangers there is no place I would rather be than on this river system traveling.  I always see something new when we are out.  There is always a new adventure!  It is amazing to know that when God made this planet his imagination was so big.  Well, just think about it....This river system is the largest on this planet and the significance of the forest is huge for the entire world.  Yet we take it for granted. 

When you stop to think about how big this Amazon River system is with all the water, forest, wildlife, and people who live here, it is like a vapor in the universe.  When I stop to think about how big the universe really is.....God is bigger!  His hand holds the universe!  All of this is almost beyond my comprehension!!  Well, I guess it is beyond my comprehension.  A God so big, so powerful that He created ALL and we still doubt him.  We are as a vapor in this universe.  Yet I want to leave my legacy for the next generation to benefit.  My legacy of a HUGE God of the universe.  I want the children of the Amazon to carry my legacy into their future as they tell others about this Great God of our universe!

I know these pictures can't come close to expressing the beauty and vastness of where we live.  Just let your imagination run with you for a while and maybe you can understand a small part of why we are here.

Until later....Va Com Deus....Go With God!