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Source of the Amazon River identificated - 1996
Source of the Amazon River identificated - 1996
Jacek Pałkiewicz2006-06-18 21:57:19
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j proud to participate with enthusiasm, which is the spark that ignites harmony in the group, something that rarely happens.
ON THE TRAIL
This morning Serghey and Rimma have been measuring the volume of water in the streams Carhuasanta and Apacheta: the results show that the. volume of the latter doubles that of the former. After prudent and careful examination of the photograph taken by the French SPOT satellite, we follow the wide main valley which is crossed by the Apacheta River, two meters wide and flowing 150 liters per second. In this manner we definitely rejected the source found by Mclntire.
The whole day we explored the neighboring streams, Sillanque and Ccaccansa. At these altitudes, nature is inhospitable, almost inhuman, and silence is absolute. Moving about is quite tiring, we often stop to catch our breath because at 5,000 meters there is about half the oxygen found at sea level.
By this time we have lost interest in most streams, except Apacheta. Early in the morning we start off on our trip to the source of this river. Agusti'n Achaco, the Quechua Indian who has been with us from the beginning, has managed to get us two horses. One for the Admiral, the other for Andres, his aide, the same one who has remained by the sturdy officer's side for twenty years.
The Apacheta becomes narrower and less deep. After four hours along a trail which may have been leveled only at certain intervals by some shepherd with the help of his herd of llamas, we reach the bottom of the valley, a few meters away from the peak of the Quehuisha Nevado. Between the white rocks there are green patches of thick and insipid moss growing. and one or other grassy spot watered by the slightly fermented well from which the Amazon River sees its light.
The altimeter reads 5,170 masl. We can't move for a moment, we remain motionless in contemplation. Then Zaniel, the science coordinator; with the help of a tiny navigational
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Peru Gallery
