Month: December 2015

Amazon Jungle Canopy Walkway – Strolling Between Heaven and Earth

When flying overhead, the Amazon jungle looks impenetrable. Gaze upwards from the jungle floor and the light and sky are nearly obscured. But at the interstitial between top and bottom one gets a perspective of the vibrancy and vitality of the Amazon River jungle. It’s a place to see both the trees and the forest.

For arboreal lovers, ambling along the top of a forest is a true delight. The longest canopy walkway in South America, which is also one of the longest in the world, is located in Peru’s Amazon jungle. The walkway is owned and maintained by Explorama Lodges, which for more than 50 years has been providing a place for visitors to spend time in the Amazon jungle. Their expert guides escort guests on hikes, excursions and even piranha fishing trips, in addition to a trip to their canopy walkway. read more

Yagua, Namesake of the Amazon

As time marches on some people get left behind. The Yagua, today a diaspora of fewer than 6,000 people scattered in small and remote villages along the Amazon River in Peru and Colombia, are an example of how “progress” can ravage a culture unprepared to deal with a changing world.

Yet the Yagua have a distinguished heritage and remain proud. The Amazon River was so named because early Spanish conquerors mistook the Yagua men, who wear a type of grass skirt, as women, and named the region “Amazon” after the legendary female warriors who were bitter enemies of the ancient Greeks. read more

The World’s Biggest River

Compared to every other one of the world’s great rivers, the Amazon is by far the biggest. However it’s measured, by the amount of water, size of its drainage basin, or total length, no other river comes close.

Yes, some argue the Nile River is a bit longer in total length, but that fact too is in dispute. The Amazon River, with an average discharge of 55-million gallons per second, releases more water than the next seven-largest rivers in the world combined. The Amazon River discharges approximately 20 percent of the world’s total fresh water. The Amazon basin, at more than 2.7 million square miles, is nearly twice the size of the world’s second largest river (by water discharged), Africa’s Congo River basin. And the Amazon’s mouth stretches over 40 miles and pushes freshwater more over 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. To date, no bridge has been built across any portion of the Amazon River. read more

The Floating Islands Where the Uros Live on Lake Titicaca

For thousands of years the Uros people have proven to be survivors. When faced with adversity this ancient peace-loving civilization in southern Peru adapts.

When the Incas were ascendant 1,500 years ago it could have been life or death for the Uros. Their choices were stark: be subsumed by the Incas, fight and face extinction, flee the rich bounty of Lake Titicaca, or perhaps come up with another answer. Their ingenious solution – build floating islands using the plentiful totora reeds of the lake – became the answer that has defined a way of life for centuries. Their mastery of the water kept the land-based Incas at bay. read more

Machu Picchu, Most Famous City of the Inca Empire

Travelers keep a list, if not on paper then in their heads of the places they would love to see. Some destinations are decided early on and for others it’s a notion that comes along later. No doubt virtually every list includes a stop at Machu Picchu, where upwards of a million people a year visit one of Mesoamerica’s greatest places.

Researchers say it took nearly 100 years to build and it was in use for only about that long before it was abandoned and lost to obscurity for 400 years more. But in 1911, when American archeologist Hiram Bingham stumbled upon Machu Picchu, about 45 miles northwest of Cusco, Peru, he reintroduced to the world a magical place that grows increasingly popular with tourists from all over the globe. read more

Peru’s Ancient Salt Works — Maras

Salt is both simple and complex. An ionic compound of sodium and chloride, it is easy to produce. Salt’s complexity arises from its importance to civilizations, its value and role in human health, and food preservation. Societies prospered and failed because of it, and wars were fought over who would control the salt. Today it is a commodity easily and cheaply obtained.

Our value as human beings has been compared to salt. Someone highly regarded is said to be “worth their weight in salt” and someone of integrity is considered a “salt of the earth.” The all-important word, “salary” comes from the word salt. read more

A Man A Plan A Canal Panama

The above title is a palindrome and also sums up a collective ambition to construct one of the world’s great engineering marvels that immediately became an indispensible asset to the global economy.

Today, the Panama Canal is a thriving and efficient method to move ships, cargo, and people between the two largest oceans on the planet. Yet, for hundreds of years a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was a pipe dream. But before the first ship steamed through in 1914, the massive project would claim more than 30,000 lives, advance the fields of engineering and manufacturing, cause a mighty nation to teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, reshape the geopolitical map of the world and fulfill the grand ambitions of an American president. read more