Homeward Bound

End of expedition, the team contemplate the Atlantic

 

Cut short and denied access to Brazil the team became retrospective; what were we truly aiming for?   

 To travel the Amazon source to Sea certainly yes, but our motives have always been so much more than a qualification, a quantity of miles. What we have gained is more than we dreamed possible, and we’re big dreamers. To be challenged, to experience hardship and difficulty and come through a better, stronger person is a bi-product of an expedition but the aim of an adventure. We are first and foremost adventurers. That is; primarily on a personal journey and secondly on an aim-driven exploit. The experiences we’ve shared, the real-life adventure we have lived was, and always will be, the driving force behind our leaving home shores for the remote and wild extremes of the world.     

“Triumph and disaster” are two imposters we wished to court and when seeking one it seems probable you’d find the other. To treat them the same is one thing, we’re still trying to understand the first. Why, despite failing in our aim, do we feel we’ve met with a success unimagined by us, a sense of accomplishment and pride that has little to do with mileage? Hopefully it’s that we’ve grown and matured as men and know more about the wider world and our path through it. Well that’s what we hope; told recently that our tanned and rugged selves looked professional and serious, scary and intimidating even, brought the biggest boyish grins to some very smug faces that it seems you’ll find much of what flew out of Heathrow, almost half a year ago, on our return.   

And yes, our return is imminent (for some of us). Since writing about Columbia a whirlwind of travel at speeds we are now quite unaccustomed to has taken place. I am currently sitting on a freshwater beach staring out at an Ocean, the jungle at my back and no longer surrounding me. It is the Atlantic, that sea of our dreams and for so long our aim. Sat here staring east towards home we’ve been contemplating the last 6 months and how fast the past month in particular has gone. Once the relevant hard decisions were made we applied ourselves to the tasks at hand with all the energy and enthusiasm we brought to this continent and a blur of activity ensued; a very sick monkey that needed nursing was top of the list. He gets far more love and attention than we four combined from you all on the blog so we’d probably not be so welcome home if we let anything happen to the little guy! Besides he’s been such a wonderful accomplice for nearly two months that we were generally upset when he ate something he shouldn’t have and went comatose for nearly two days. Rushed to the vet by Patch and fed medicine through a syringe he’s now absolutely fine I assure you. We left him in the capable hands of our good Swiss friend Herve who has now taken him to a monkey sanctuary to be rehabilitated in to the wild professionally, our own efforts having run out of time.   

Monkey A & E over, secondly was a frantic auction off the back of the boat, we seemed to have acquired an outstanding quantity of kit and a huge crowd of locals took the opportunity to grab a bargain or just be plain nosey. After much haggling we managed to shift everything from our dodgy generator to the chicks; Chicken and Chips. Jason could sell snow to an Eskimo. Next finding a ferry to Manaus and hectically trying to get ALL the team and equipment on it was emotional while attempting to cancel import documents for the boat. Customs are as slow and evil here as anywhere else it would appear.   

With our hammocks hanging sandwiched in between a thousand others we waved goodbye to the tri-border for the deep Amazon basin city of Manaus. A four-day nonstop journey that would try the good will and morale of the hardiest backpacker but one we thought was rather luxurious; dry, WITH running water, what more could you possibly want? Long forgotten social skills are painfully brought back to life as we engage with English speakers other than ourselves and try to participate in actual intelligent conversation (our own having run out a long time ago).   

Manaus came and went, our time spent there ponderous and strange with no odd tasks to fulfill, no tool shops visited, no supplies needing stockpiling, not even the customary tar to be bought and poured on new leaks. We try our hand at tourism and fail miserably. So on to Belem with another six-day boat journey and a new friend for the book of faces. This one though with quite a story to tell and one that we in particular were very interested in. His name is Logan, from America, he was also travelling the Amazon with another friend. Starting near Iquitos they were paddling in a local canoe to the coast 2000 miles away when serious misfortune struck close to Manaus: accosted by armed drug runners, roughed up and chained to their boat the situation started to turn really nasty when, frustrated by the difficulties of communication, Logan was threatened with a shotgun and the imminent loss of a foot if he didn’t start understanding. Well total robbery is easy to understand as that was what was taking place as the drug runners took everything. Understandably shaken Logan’s partner departed for home from Manaus which leaves yet another young man on the Amazon seeking the ocean by alternative means. Read into this encounter what you will, the implications of providence and a close avoidance of a similar, possibly worse, fate for ourselves is clearly there.   

So we arrived at the long-awaited Belem, a much bigger and more built up city than expected. Arrived and quickly departed as we’ve quickly travelled on to the island of Marajo (an island the size of Switzerland!) that plugs the mouth of the Amazon and closer to our goal of the Atlantic (which conveniently has wonderful beaches…) Currently living in a bar for free on the beach, our hammocks literally swinging 20m from the sea Rest and Relaxation is definitely the name of the game currently. Right to the very end we remain stunned by the unexpected generosity and friendship of complete strangers on our journey, be it vegetables from a poor Peruvian farmer high in the Andes to the hospitality of a family run bar on the coast that comes with free breakfast and a mountain of our kit in their kitchen.   

 In thigh deep snow and thin air we climbed to 5600 meters on Nevado Mismi. Walked over 300kms through the wild and untamed high Andes with our homes on our back. Rafted 140kms through intense white water. Cycled up and over the last bastion of mountains on the final road before coming up against a wall of jungle. Then to have paddled over 1500km on small twisting tributaries. Fought with whirlpools and narrowly escaped minus one canoe leaving us stranded. Literally ghosted past pirates and been held at arrow point to the accusation of harvesting organs. Made a boat. Nearly sunk said boat. Adopted a baby monkey and then rowed it all another 1500km to Brazil. A further 3000km on and we are stood staring out of the mouth of the greatest river on Earth, a river for which we climbed to a still, icy pool to witness being born just over  6000km away. Well, we feel rather grateful to have survived it all, grateful for all the love and support from so many who have followed us and grateful to have shared it. If you’ve enjoyed reading about it, I assure you, we have thoroughly enjoyed living it. Ladies and Gents, it’s been a pleasure.   

James   

Jungle homes

Home on the River

Peaceful early morning in a hammock

Home on the Atlantic

Our arrival into Belem

First glimpse of Belem after so long on the River

The obligatory washing sessions

End of expedition, the team contemplate the Atlantic

The waterway in Manaus

Buffalo – transport Marajo style

A glimmer of hope to continue paddling?

The family from Marajo that kept us – we continue to be blown away by peopoles kindness

Logan – our fellow explorer

Life on the beach – time to unwind

Attempted tourism – not feeling it

Life on the lancha

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