Something Old and Something New

As my departure to my next Peace Corps assignment draws near – just 6 weeks away – I’ve started scouting the Tarapoto area online. Much will be familiar : the tropical rainforest, living at or near sea-level and proximity to the equator. My last sites have been at latitudes of -13, -11, +9 and now +6, as I inch my way ever closer to the center-line. The big difference will be that for the first time, I’ll be far away from the ocean - trading rivers, waterfalls and lakes for beaches and seafood.

As usual, I’ll be doing water and sanitation work, helping folks get access to more and better water and improving sanitation conditions wherever possible. And promoting renewable energy where I can. But, this time, I’ll be working through the Ministry of Health, rather than directly with small villages. And I’ll have the company of at least 2 other PCRVs living in the same city, which should make for a nice local ex-pat community and some inter-program synergy.

The online images of Tarapoto look spectacular. But then folks tend to post just the pretty face of an area. Be assured that I’ll be showing the complete picture of the area, warts and all.

Amazonian Exploitation and Devastation

While the search for gold and the latex rubber boom were certainly devastating to the indigenous people of the Amazon, they did little to degrade the environment and pale in comparison to the exploitation that was to come. Deforestation is measured in square miles, not acres. Such is the scale of destruction. To date, an estimated 230,000 sq miles have been affected, with another 11,000 sq miles added every year. Man has removed 20% of the rainforest and shows no signs of slowing the pace.

First to suffer were the trees. When it was discovered that the bark of the Chinchona tree contained quinine, a substance that lessened the symptoms and susceptibility to malaria, the tree began a decline to near extinction. The species was saved only by the process to synthesize the compound in the 1940’s, oddly by employees at Polaroid, who found it also was an excellent light polarizer. Next, a similar fate befell the exotic Amazonian hardwoods, like mahogany, ebony, cocobolo, rosewood and teak. The demand from North America and Europe for the gorgeous woods, created a rush the cut every tree possible, regardless of size. While the harvest was vast, clearcutting was not common and the main deforestation in this regard is caused by construction of the access roads required to get the wood to market.  In sum, this has only accounted for about 4 – 5% of the total.

Next came the big one – cattle ranches. About 80% of Amazon deforestation has been done to produce an ever increasing quantity of beef and leather. While Amazonian countries like Brazil have given lip service to controlling the rampant deforestation by the cattlemen, most of the politicians involved are either owners or investors. This makes Brazil the largest beef exporter in the world, shipping over 2 Million Metric Tons (4.5 Billion pounds) a year. It is the only major exporter that has to clear cut and burn land for beef production. Oddly, the US will have no Brazilian beef since that country vaccinates its herd against foot & mouth disease. Only outside refusal to consume Brazilian beef will stop the devastation, as the industry will continue to rape the environment for profit.

Another growing cause of deforestation is soybean production. While it currently accounts for only about 5% of the denuded land area, it is increasing rapidly. Worse than cattle ranching, it rapidly depletes the soil, resulting in an environmental wasteland that is slow to recover.

Other Amazon exploitations include : oil and gas extraction, mining for gold and precious minerals and hydro-electric dam projects. While all are small potatoes compared to cattle ranching, the greater environmental harm of the first two is caused by pollution. Again, the affected governments all pass legislation to prevent the toxic pollution, but none truly enforce them – probably since the governments are populated by owners and investors in these industries.

The effects of deforestation are well known and I’ll not belabor them here. Decrease in oxygen production, increase in greenhouse gases (CO2 and methane), lower rainfall and perhaps most importantly, loss of biodiversity from eco-system and habitat destruction.

The systematic destruction of the Amazon rainforest must stop if we are to prevent its total demise.

Amazon’s White Gold – Latex

While Amazon explorers failed to find the fabled El Dorado (City of Gold), the jungle contained a treasure far more valuable, that was hidden in plain view. Latex, the dried sap from the Hevea (Rubber tree) , is the raw material of rubber – a critical component of the industrial revolution. For centuries, the indigenous people of the Amazon had tapped the Hevea and collected its sap for use in making balls, water sacks and for water-proofing clothing, footwear and shelters. This is done by scoring the bark of the tree with a knife and collecting the white sap in gourds, much the way New England natives collected Maple sap.

This remarkable material was overlooked by explorers until botanist Charles LaCondamine brought some samples back to France. He was also the fellow who discovered that the bark of the cinchona tree contained quinine – a curative for malaria. As the latex samples moved around Europe, it was found to be quite useful, as it could be used to lift pencil marks off the page by “rubbing” them out. Thus, the common name for latex – rubber. Latex erasers became ubiquitous in every home and office. The material also found limited use in rubber shoes and children’s balls.

But, the natural latex is unstable and breaks down over time, especially when exposed to sun. That all changed when American Charles Goodyear developed the process of vulcanization in the 1830’s. He found that when exposed to heat and elemental sulphur, latex became stronger, more elastic and durable. And the rubber game was on. The new material, now universally called rubber, found use in footwear, washers, conveyor belts and as insulation for the new electrical wires. The industry exploded with the advent of the bicycle, which became a world-wide craze at the turn of the century and required rubber for tires. That fad gave way to an even bigger market – automobile tires, belts and hoses.

Still one of the world's great opera houses
Teatro Amazonas in Manau, Brazil

All this demand created a “white gold rush” in the Amazon. As rubber trees grew only in their native Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, a flood of Europeans moved in to scoop up the profits. Those who succeeded, became rich beyond the imagination. Their collective plantations, using slave labor, gave instant birth to the Amazon cities of Belem, Manaus and Iquitos. Their homes, opera houses and public buildings rivaled any European grandeur. Rubber Barons lit their Cuban cigars with money and their pets lived in opulence. The Amazonian monopoly was carefully guarded and the punishment for exporting rubber trees or seeds was death.

It was a clever and enterprising young Brit, Henry Wickham, who smuggled some 20,000 Hevea seeds out of Brazil, carefully hidden inside hollowed-out fruit lined with (what else?) latex. These were taken to the renowned Kew Gardens and selected for vitality and disease resistance, then transported to Southeast Asia for plantation planting. Sounding the first death knell for the Rubber Barons. Wickham’s piracy was rewarded with a knighthood and a generous annuity from the British rubber plantations in Asia.

As the Brazilian collection of latex from wild trees could not compete with the cost of Asian plantations, the Amazon rubber industry began a steady decline. When Allied supplies of latex were cut off by the Japanese in WWII, it was the BF Goodrich scientists who came to the rescue with the first practical petroleum -based synthetic rubber (Ameripol), further exacerbating the decline of the natural product. Efforts by Ford and Firestone to institute plantation style production in Brazil were unsuccessful, as the wild trees withered and fell victim to disease when planted as a monoculture.

While the natural rubber industry is a small fraction of its peak production, the demand is still large and growing. The vulcanized natural latex is more elastic than its synthetic cousin and has uses in gloves and other products that can’t be replaced by synthetics. Indeed, 15% to 40% of the rubber in tires is still natural, as 100% synthetic rubber would degrade and stiffen too quickly.

So, natural latex collection in the Amazon continues, much as it has since the 1830’s, albeit at a much lower level, with new protections for workers and production quotas. The “Amazon White Gold” continues to flow from the world’s greatest river.

There was more treasure to be plundered from the Amazon – timber, cattle, gold, oil and minerals. Details in the next post.

Amazon Heroine – Isabel Godin

While all of the Amazon stories I’ve read thus far are amazing, none are more extraordinary than that of one Isabel Maria de Jesus Grameson Godin de Odonais. Born to the Peruvian governor of Otalvo (just south of Quito in present day Ecuador), Isabel was a bright young woman, who spoke her native Spanish, French, Portuguese and Quechua, the indigenous language of Peru. At the age of 13, when most women of her class were already married, she fell in love with a visiting Frenchman, Jean Godin. Over the protests of her parents, they were married a year later and she gave birth to her first of 9 children, none of whom would survive to adulthood. Just as they were planning to return to France, Smallpox hit the Quito area hard and the Godins lost their first child and moved far south of the city to Riobamba. For 7 long years, their dream of returning to France was shattered by a series of births and childhood deaths, exacerbated by failing finances.

In 1748, they received word that Jean’s father had died and he elected to return to France, settle his father’s estate and return for Isabel, who was again pregnant. Rather than go the normal route – up the coast and across Panama, he elected to go straight east, crossing the Andes and travelling down the Amazon to the Portuguese coast. Miraculously, he made the trip safely in just 13 months and settled the estate as planned. Unfortunately, the European powers were headed towards the Seven Year War and he was not able to secure permissions for the return trip up the Amazon. Why he didn’t just take the Panama route back to Peru (or why he didn’t consider birth control) remain a mystery. He did manage to make it to French Guianna, where he waited 15 years for the war to end and international relations to settle.  At long last, he resumed his trip to fetch Isabel, who had been waiting (childless) with her parents in Quito.

Once again, fate intervened, and Jean was struck ill. Unable to continue, he dispatched his friend Tristan D’Oreasaval to go in his place and return with his wife. Jean’s private boat carried D’Oreasaval up the Amazon to Loreto (present day Iquitos, Peru). Instead of making the difficult journey up-river and across the Andes, D’Oreasaval gave the papers and some of the funds to a Jesuit priest, who was headed to Quito, and stayed in Loreto to party and start his own trading business. As any good Frenchman would do. The Jesuit was never heard from again, but word reached Isabel in Quito that a boat was waiting for her on the Amazon to take her to Jean. On the basis of this flimsy evidence, Isabel, now 42 years old, would begin a most extraordinary odyssey of survival to reunite with her husband, absent almost 20 years.

Isabel sold all possessions and organized a party that included her two brothers, a French doctor and some 40 guides and servants to carry her across the Andes and down the Amazon. The journey began well, as Isabel was carried on the backs of servants across the mountains. But, when they reached a river outpost on the eastern slope, where canoes and rafts were supposed to be waiting, they found just a smoldering village – burned by its inhabitants to stop the spread of a smallpox outbreak. The next day, the party awoke to find that all of the guides and servants had fled, fearful of the Pox, leaving just Isabel, her brothers, 3 Frenchmen and 2 loyal servants to ponder their situation. They located a few of the returning villagers, who disclosed a raft and canoe, and hired them to travel with them down river. The next day, the villagers took off with their pay, once again causing thought of returning to Quito. But, Isabel was not to be deterred from her marital reunion after 20 years and convinced the group to press on. Besides, there was a mission just a few days down river where they could resupply and hire more help.

Their over-confidence was typical of most Amazon travelers, as their raft and canoe quickly overturned in some rapids and they lost almost all their supplies but managed to reach shore safely. The canoe was recovered and two of the Frenchmen proposed that they travel to the mission and send back help. Never trust a Frenchman, let alone two. After waiting over 3 weeks and using up almost all their remaining supplies, Isabel decided (correctly) that the Frenchies were not coming back and directed the construction of a raft. Sadly, her determination far exceeded her ship-building skills. This flimsy craft shortly hit a log and broke apart, stranding the group once again, but this time with zero supplies and creating a desperate situation. She then decided they should abandon the river and set out on foot through the jungle for the mission. They wandered through the rainforest for 2 weeks, living of what bits of food they could find, until collapsing from fever, hunger and thirst. Isabel watched in horror as, one by one, her brothers, nephew and friends died. When the last of her comrades died, she set out alone, wearing her brother’s boots, still determined to reunite with her husband.

Eight days after she left her dead party, two natives were stunned to see a small tattered white woman emerge from the jungle as they were about to head down river. They were further shocked when she spoke in their Quechua language, begging for assistance. They took her to the mission, where she recovered for the next  6 weeks. In the 5 weeks since her party boarded the raft and canoe, she had travelled only about 20 miles. The director of the mission was quite surprised to see her, as the Frenchmen had reported them all dead and continued down river. Her continued travel down the Amazon was heralded in advance with some fanfare. She had become quite the heroine and gained the friendship and assistance of all she met. Along the way, she ran into one of the Frenchmen who had abandoned her, as well as the traitorous D’Oreasaval, who actually had the nerve to sue the Godin’s for wages while he lived in Loreto. I would have loved to have been there to see either of those meetings.

And so it was that Isabel and Jean Godin were finally back in each other’s arms, after almost 21 years apart. They stayed in French Guiana for a few years, recovering their health before returning to France. And living happily ever after.

Two morals to the tale:

11.      Love can conquer all.

22.      Never trust a Frenchman. Especially in the jungle.

Amazon Stories – Explorers

Statue of the Pinzon brothers

Spanish explorers, or exploiters as they might properly be called, were the first Europeans to see the Amazon. Vincente Pinzon, who sailed with Columbus as skipper of the Pinta, was the first to find it. The Pinzon brothers played prominently in the New World, as Vincente’s brother was captain of the Nina and his other brother was first mate. Yet, history books give them barely a nod. He was given his own fleet to explore south of the Caribbean in 1499 and landed in central Brazil. While making his way back to Puerto Rico, he noted some brownish water miles out at sea. When his crew reported that it was fresh water, his curiosity adroitly turned him to port to discover its source. He landed in a huge bay that was actually the mouth of the great river, which he learned when sailing some 50 miles inland. He named the river “Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce”. Fortunately, he was a better explorer than river-namer and the name never really caught on. In true Spanish conquistador form, he captured dozens of natives as slaves and confiscated what small treasures they had, leaving nothing but disease in his wake. Thinking that it might be the sought after passage to the west, he returned a few years later, only to have his expedition wiped out by the then wisely hostile natives.  The Amazon would go untouched by the Spanish for the next 40 years, thanks to a Papal decree that gave exploitation rights to the eastern South American bulge, east of the 40W longitude, to the Portuguese.

Enter the Conquistador par excellence Francisco Pizzaro, who began his illustrious career as a member of Balboa’s monumental 1513 trip across Panama to the Pacific. He repaid his leader by arresting and beheading him just 6 years later, which got him promoted to the post of Mayor of Panama City. After hearing of Cortes’s excellent exploitations of the Aztecs in Mexico, his position gave him latitude to launch his own expeditions along the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Peru, hoping to find riches of his own. His instincts were spot-on. After his first two attempts were repelled by the fierce Incas, his luck turned when he caught them with their pants down and succeeded in butchering and looting untold wealth from the Incan empire in 1532. Pizzaro’s greed and treachery led to his own demise at the hands of fellow Spanish exploiters. But his younger brother Gonzalo, who has been said to be the one who actually killed the Incan ruler, would carry on the fine family tradition and lead the next Spanish foray into the Amazon.

Orellana lost an eye to the arrow of an Amazon warrior

Gonzalo Pizzaro, anxious to emulate his big brother’s success, led an expedition south-east from Quito, Ecuador in 1541 to find the fabled El Dorado – the city of gold. By the time the ill-fated group crossed the Andes and entered the Amazon basin, over ¾ of his original party had been killed or deserted. Pizzaro then built a small sailing vessel and sent his second-in-command Francisco Orellana down-river to explore and report back. Big Mistake. Orellana and his small crew had to shoot several rapids in the clumsy craft and upon reaching the confluence with the larger Napo River, decided that returning with the craft or on foot would be impossible. So, just as Balboa and Pizzaro had done, they mutinied and continued down river, miraculously reaching the sea and sailing into history as the first Europeans to navigate the length of the Amazon. On the journey, they encountered a tribe of fierce and large women warriors. Orellana thus named the river Amazonas, after the legendary Amazons of Greek mythology. He returned to Spain a hero and was granted control of the Amazon basin, which caused a crisis with Portugal, since the mouth of the Amazon rested in Portuguese territory. All this mattered little, as his expedition was fraught with problems and ended in abject failure and Orellana’s death. Karma is a bitch.

13 years after Orellana’s Amazon expedition, another Spaniard, Lope de Aquirre, copied the feat. After seizing power of the expedition, slashing, burning, torturing and looting everyone and everything in his path, “El Loco” (the Crazy Man) made his way to the mouth of the Amazon, proclaiming himself King of Peru. In another karmic display of justice, his own men repaid his cruelty by beheading him and proudly displaying his severed head on their top mast.

Brazilian history tends to ignore all the Spanish work and instead credits Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral with the first explorations of Brazil in 1500, just months after Spanish Pinzon had landed there and found the mouth of the Amazon. Moreover, Cabral’s “discovery” of South America was quite accidental. He was aiming to follow De Gama’s route to the orient around the tip of Africa, when contrary winds and currents blew him into Brazil. Since he was still within the Papal zone assigned to Portugal, he claimed the land for his country and returned as an accidental hero, though he never even saw the mouth of the Amazon. Brazilians point out that since Pinzon was illegally in Portuguese territory, his discoveries didn’t count. Such is the power of rabid nationalism to change history.

Nearly a century would pass before the Portuguese got around to exploring the Amazon. In 1637, Pedro Tiexiera travelled up-river, from the mouth of the Amazon to a source high in the Andes (near Quito, Ecuador) and returned, more or less intact. While earlier Spanish expeditions had noted many towns and cities along the Amazonian banks – some with gold and silver treasures, Tiexiera’s group found only “virgin forest, rich in game and fish” and sparse populations. As usual, the Spanish had left their traditional gift of European disease, which had wiped out an estimated 90% of the indigenous population in the intervening years. Owing to the expedition’s reports of no riches to plunder, the Amazon was left to the Christian missionaries to explore and convert what few savages remained there.

 

Percy Fawcett never did find his City of "Z"

The next wave of Amazon exploration came in the late 1800’s, as British, Dutch and German botanists flocked to the area to study its extraordinary diversity of flora and fauna and to map its extent. Perhaps the most famous of this group of explorers is Percy Fawcett, a British Army Major who was sent to map the jungle of the Brazil-Bolivia border. In the course of his mapping, he found evidence of an ancient civilization, which intrigued him. Further research uncovered Spanish documents which hinted at the location of an El Dorado, deep in the Amazon basin. Fawcett became obsessed with the idea of finding this great city, which he named “Z”. He made several trips to the area, all of which failed to find his “Z”. His final trip, with his eldest son, was to be his last. Despite his wealth of jungle experience and fortitude, his party disappeared into the Amazon rainforest, never to be heard from again. His disappearance sparked many expeditions to find him. All of which met with a similar disastrous fate.

Since then, many an adventurer has used the Amazon as a vehicle for fame and glory, including Teddy Roosevelt. Folks have kayaked, rafted and even walked the entirety of the great river, in order to claim some “first” title or other. The one thing they all have in common is an uncanny underestimation of the power of the Amazon, and the many dangers and obstacles it contains. The Amazon has claimed thousands of lives this way. It is a river and a land that commands respect. I certainly intend to give it that.

The Amazon

In researching my soon-to-be home of Tarapoto, Peru, I’ve gained a whole new respect for the Amazon River and the jungle of life it supports and influences. It is, after all, the mightiest river on the planet. In length, it competes with only the Nile for sheer distance of flow. At 4,225 miles, it is 165 miles longer than the Nile. It eclipses our own Mississippi by 329 miles. But length, as many of us have learned, is less important than width. By that measure, the Amazon has no equal. In many places the river’s width puts land out of sight and is measured in miles, not feet – up to 52 to be exact – and holds within its flow an island the size of Switzerland. Compare that to the Nile’s puny 7,000 feet across or 4,550 for the mighty Mississippi.

But, the Amazon’s most telling features are drainage area and flow. This one river discharges 4.2 million cu ft of water per second and constitutes 20% of the fresh water flowing to the world’s oceans. For perspective, that is over 6 times the flow of the Mississippi and 34 times the Nile. 47 Olympic size pools every second. In drainage area, the Amazon dwarfs every other river system on the planet at 2.7 million square miles – more than 1/3 of all of South America and ¾ the area of the US.

No wonder then, that scientists and competent world leaders are concerned with the health of the eco-systems of the Amazon. What happens there has an enormous impact on climate for the rest of the world. At this point, deforestation for cattle ranches, oil and gas extraction and deadly mining pollution seem to be the biggest threats. As a resident of this vast rain forest, I will be doing what I can to raise awareness of the importance of this precious part of the planet.

And OH what history, legends and stories this river has to tell. They will be the subject of my next post.

The Adventure Continues

Rio Cumbaza flows through Tarapoto on its way to the Amazon.
The rivers (and airplanes) are the only transportation east
from Tarapoto 

Peace Corps has once again invited me to serve as a water and sanitation specialist – this time, in Tarapoto, Peru – in the Amazon Basin. I’ll be the first Volunteer ever sent there, though many others, including some of my WASH 18 group served in Chachapoyas, about 4 hours away and high (7,000 ft) on the eastern side of the Andes. I’ll be at about 900 ft altitude, 1800 miles (straight line) from the mouth of the Amazon River. I begin my new assignment in mid January, 2019.

I’m excited about the assignment and at the prospect of returning to my beloved Peru and all my friends and host families there. I’m flattered that the PC Peru staff reached out and invited me back for another adventure and opportunity to serve the good folks of Peru.

The Beaver is now my mobile home, though with gas mileage
of only 4.3 MPG, I don't travel far.

Meanwhile, I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in beautiful Fort Myers, FL, getting to spend some long-overdue time with my son and 4 grandchildren. Alden found a very comfortable Beaver 31 RV, which I bought. He also got me a spot in the RV park right across the street from the firehouse where he works. I have a scanner that alerts me to his calls, so I can step outside and cheer the lads on, as they head out for emergency calls. I also get to eat dinner with the fire crew on occasion – a great bunch of men. When Alden was called to an emergency at my neighbor’s trailer, I got to see him in action – so proud of him, what he does and how he does it.

The Beaver kitchen includes a microwave/convection oven and a dishwasher

Plenty of space in the Beaver living room

It’s also been a joy to explore this area of Florida, after living exclusively on the Right Coast for so many years. The many rivers, bays, estuaries and islands have captivated me, though the beaches and surf are somewhat lacking. I arrived just at the end of a Red Tide and algae bloom, which cast a great pall on the areas beaches. I’ve visited Sanibel/ Captiva and most of the other areas around here, with Pine Island and Bokeelia being my favorite spots. The mango plantations and “Old Florida” rural feel are a welcome respite from the mega condos and over-development of the “other” coast.

Alden and the kiddles come to visit

I’ve visited the shrimp fleet and sampled their pink delights, learned about the gladiolus bulb industry which dominated the area from the 1940’s to 1980, and about the history of the beautiful Calusa Indians, who populated the area and fended off 2 incursions by the famed Ponce de Leon, though eventually succumbing to their universal gift of European disease.

 

Entertaining some of my new neighbors

Alden's firehouse Engine and Rescue 72 are right across the street

Dinner with Alden and his great crew at the firehouse

Grampa introducing the kids to the microscopic world

My angelic grand-daughters

Lover's Beach, south of Ft Myers beach

The community is proud of their beaches. I've helped with
two beach clean-ups since I arrived

Thoroughly enjoying my time until January, when……

The Adventure Continues.