I’d been traveling for about a month since
I finished my service with the Peace Corps in Paraguay. I was
with my Chilean girlfriend, Pali, and our hope was to reach
Venezuela by land. We had already explored Paraguay's Chaco
region, Bolivia and Central Peru. We recently left Huancayo
and after a long, bumpy bus ride, arrived in a town called Pucallpa
located in the Peruvian Amazon.
We were going to catch a riverboat in Pucallpa
and float down the Ucayali River to Iquitos, located on the
Amazon River. Pucallpa was a muddy, bustling town that reminded
me a lot of other flat and dirty towns I had visited in Paraguay.
We walked around town a bit and found an inexpensive hotel near
the river. Once we unstrapped our backpacks and toweled off
sweat, we decided to explore the city. We walked to the river
port and looked at the dilapidated boats and people selling
fish and produce. As we strolled through the port area we saw
a long, yellow and green canoe. Pali and I had earlier joked
about floating down the Amazon in a canoe during the bus ride
to Pucallpa. So, just for the fun of it, I asked the man who
made the canoe about its price. It was too expensive for our
budget and it was so large that it would have been difficult
to navigate with only two people and no outboard engine. I questioned
the canoe owner, George, if there was another way to go down
the river, besides the public riverboats. He said another option
is to float down the river on a raft. Ironically, as he talked
about rafting down the river two farmers floated up to the shore
on a raft full of bananas. As they unloaded the bananas I asked
them if they were interested in selling their raft and their
price. They quoted $2 for the raft and a $1 for the oars. I’m
sure they would have discarded the raft if I did not buy it,
but I obviously could not complain about the price.
I debated about buying the raft. I had no
idea what to expect on the river, had no experience at navigating
a raft and did not know how long it would take to get to our
intended destination, Iquitos. I suppose since the raft was
basically free, and since I was encouraged a bit by Pali and
George I purchased the raft and the oars. George even offered
to help us modify the raft and make it sea worthy for our adventure.
The raft was a bundle of logs they called Topa wood, probably
cork, that was lashed together with the log’s bark. It was about
7’ wide and 10’ long. I paid two kids 50 cents to paddle the
raft to George’s house.
We walked to a hardware store and looked
at life vests for the trip, but they were too expensive so we
did not make the purchase. I still worried a bit about the idea
but as Pali and I ate ice cream and talked, we convinced ourselves
that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
NEXT
