Dangers in the river

Dangers in the Amazon River drums.jpg (30626 bytes)

Chapter Two

After a week of preparation we set sail from the Port of Manaus deep in the Amazon Jungle. As our majestic boat was plying through the waters, my heartbeat rose in anticipation of the adventure ahead. Adventure is also there in the service of the Lord and somehow by the mercy of Lord Caitanya we had been given this wonderful facility in service by taking the first sankirtana party into the wild Amazon Jungle.

Everything just seemed to have fallen into place. All we actually did was desire a program, preach to the wife of the Governor, and then almost magically we were setting sail. Just as surprising was the fact that our hold was full to the top with a ton and a half of grains for prasadam distribution. Mrs Mendez had even purchased a smaller boat with a fifteen horsepower engine so we could go ashore in difficult areas where our big boat could not reach.

As we neared the conjunction of the Amazon and Negro Rivers, I saw how the whitish-brown water of the Amazon did not mix with the darker waters of the River Negro. Almost mysteriously they ran side by side for many miles without mixing. Finally as we rounded a bend, the Amazon River seemed to overpower the other as the water became decidedly whitish-brown.

Disaster almost struck when a huge sandbar loomed up just ahead of our bow. We were going straight for it at full speed. The captain suddenly noticed it and, just in time, made a violent turn to avoid it. We were thrown off our feet. With the river being so low, this was actually the most dangerous time of the year to travel. The rains come in January and last till March, but in October there are many sandbars, old trees and logs sticking up everywhere, making traveling very precarious. The captain told us that was the last time we would risk traveling at night.

That first night we had another meeting. The captain gathered us together and said, "While traveling on the river, there are certain rules that one must follow. The first rule is - don't go too close to the rail because if you fall in, there is nothing I can do."
I said, "I can swim."
He said, "It's not a question of being able to swim. It's a question of the piranhas. The piranhas swim in schools and you don't always know where they are, but they can scent flesh. Although they are generally along the river banks or small tributaries, if you fall into the river, there is every chance that a school of piranhas will devour you."

After the captain's speech, I found that the piranhas were constantly in the back of my mind as I trod through the water from the boat to the shore or put my hand in the water to cool off while traveling by the river on a hot day.

Later in our journey, as we were cruising along we saw a little tributary stream coming into the river. As we were passing it, a wild pig crossed the stream.
"Oh look at the pig," someone on the boat cried.
As we turned to look at it, it was attacked by a school of piranhas. They pulled him under and the water turned red. Then they just disappeared, and all that was left of the pig was a clean white skeleton. This had all happened in the time that our boat was passing that tributary.

The famous anaconda also lives in the Amazon and is a water dweller. It is the largest snake in the world, growing up to twelve meters in length. The anaconda is not usually a threat to man, and will only attack when provoked. His prey is the caiman, a relative of the crocodile. He will often wait underwater, and when an animal comes to drink at the water's edge, he quickly strangles and eats it.

And of course we should not forget the electric eel, which can release up to four hundred volts in the water. The electric eel has very poor vision but used its electric sense to stun and kill prey. There have been cases of men losing consciousness from its shock, and then drowning.

Interestingly enough, many people in the Amazon die from trees falling on top of them. Due to the silty nature of the soil, a tree's roots grow out rather than down. Therefore it doesn't take much to topple one over. All the man on the ground will hear is the swirling of wind in the canopy of the tree and then the tree falls down - unannounced.