DRIFT Travel Spring 2021

Here in Iquitos, the age-old vision of the Amazon River as a watery wilderness
that crosses a continent flanked by steaming rainforest, teeming with wild animals
and populated by isolated communities of indigenous Indians couldn't be further
from the truth.
I can't remember when I first had the romantic notion to travel the length of the
Amazon River, and for some reason I'd always imagined doing it by dugout canoe.
But time and reality have made drastic changes to both my dreams and the river,
and by the time I find myself on banks of the Amazon in Peru, the boats have
become bigger and the river has become a highway for the endless tide of landhungry
humanity that has populated its furthest reaches.
The lifeline of the river communities is the boats. Mostly constructed of wood
(many are in a disreputable condition and way overcrowded), they ply the
river creating a super highway of commerce. Laden with all types of cargo,
from vehicles and livestock, to farm machinery, boxes of groceries and building
materials, the ferries are the Amazon's public transport system and I have come to
travel and experience it the way the locals do.
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