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4th September 1999
Search and rescue success allows
Kota Mama II to continue without problems
The realities are that
most expeditions go well and just the odd drama interrupts
plans creating a little excitement but with hopefully
a positive outcome. But you never know. So when Captain
Stuart Seymour failed to return to the Puerto Quijarro
from a re-supply trip to the reed boats downstream plans
were put in place to organise a search and rescue of the
river.
By midnight Stuart, travelling with newly encountered
15-year-old genius mechanic Mark Barth, was over four
hours late from the trip. We were unable to launch a viable
search of the 600-metre-wide river in the dark, so we
planned for a search of the river at first light. Using
Mark's parents' boat, the Robin Hood, and the Puerto Quijarro
to cover both banks of the main river channel, the Quijarro's
small tin boat would check out small tributaries and divisions
in the river.
At 5am, using the BT Mobiq satphones, we confirmed that
Stuart and Mark had left Kota Mama II safely. Using the
Motorola UHF radios we coordinated the search between
the three vessels. After three hours of good teamwork,
sharing out the looking and the cooking, we came across
the missing party heading upstream. Having broken down
twice on their return journey, Mark had managed to repair
the engine's cooling system which had overheated after
becoming entangled in submerged vegetation using just
one spanner and a screwdriver. Of the experience Capt
Seymour said, "The worst part was being attacked by mosquitoes
as we were out on the riverbank all night." He would rather
not mention being chased by a large Paraguayan woman ranch
owner with a stick who firmly rejected his request to
use the ranch's radio to call in and assure the expedition
they were safe.
Prior to this little diversion, the Expedition had been
running smoothly if not slowly following a couple of mechanical
breakdowns on the Quijarro support vessel.
The work continues
Our last report was filed as we arrived in Fuerte Olimpo.
The Expedition had split up to create several teams. Archaeologist
Andrew Millar set out with John Blashford Snell and others
to explore reports of mastodont bones located on a ranch
some 70kms inland. When the group arrived the mastodont
remains were confirmed but were found submerged in a small
reservoir under one metre of water. Work on the mastodont
- a prehistoric, elephant-like creature found in South
America and throughout the world will have to be completed
by an expedition with more time.
An interesting sideline on the return trip was encountering
a 340-head herd of cattle being driven by cowboys who
looked as if they had come straight off a John Ford western
movie set.
At Fuerte Olimpo we researched the history of the town.
Originally called Fuerte Borbón, the town dates from Spanish
colonial days when a fort was built to protect the area
from the advancing Portuguese. With Paraguayan Independence
in 1811 the town was renamed Fuerte Olimpo. The town was
lost to the Portuguese several times and also suffered
regular attacks by Chamacoco Indians wanting to drive
colonists out of the area. Between 1824-8 a 3kms long
wall was built encircling the settlement and a nearby
ranch to prevent the townspeople being starved out.
The fort was last used as an observation post in the Chaco
War with Bolivia between 1932-5. The Cathedral Church
of Santa Maria Auxiliadora, atop a hill near the centre
of the town next to the fort, was built in 1927. The church
dominates the skyline with its Italianate style and fortress
turrets on the western side. Of the wall, the group managed
to locate a 100-metre section of stones superbly dressed
on both sides to a height of two metres.
Other activities included more dental and medical work
- much appreciated by the town - and an engineering project
to advise on designing a new health project and analysis
of the falling church roof structure of the nearby Chamacoco
village of Santa Teresita.
We left Fuerte Olimpo to a huge crowd of waving, toothless
children who had enjoyed tours of the strange reed craft
Kota Mama II given by Aymara boatbuilder Erik Catari.
as much as we had enjoyed visiting and learning about
this northern Paraguayan town.
Rocket problems
Shortly after departure we realised our expedition mascot,
Rocket, was limping and letting out the occasional wimpish
squeal. Rocket, a hairy, russet brown piglet we had bought
from a market riverboat shortly after Bahia Negra, has
become an important part of the daily routine and the
team. Along with Leaders, QM (Quarter Masters) and several
other positions of responsibility, the rotating assignment
of ICP (In Charge of Pig) details the position holder
to feed, water and occasionally scratch young Rocket.
His food is collected in a slop bucket labelled "Rocket
Fuel".
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While in Fuerte Olimpo Rocket's
foot had become entangled in the cord that stops him wandering
too far. A few strands of string had worked their way
into his trotter and Rocket was clearly in pain. A small
operation was carried out to release the little chap's
leg and after much squealing and struggling he was released
to continue life as a healthy, four-legged beast.
Further down the river Rocket's sexuality was brought
into question so he is also a she and is also being called
Rocketa. So now we are curious as to how you establish
the gender of a piglet.
Rocket's future is uncertain but for now at least he is
certain to continue life being pampered up near the bow
of the boat.
In the land of the Ayoreo
Entering Ayoreo land we headed
downstream for the full day on 25th and stopped just short
of the town of Colonia Peralta on the 26th. Colonia Peralta
was an unplanned but welcome stop. We camped on the banks
of the River Paraguay and enjoyed the relative quiet of
the night sky with a near full moon.
In Colonia Peralta we had some interesting work planned.
The Royal Engineers looked at a water pump that served
the village. The pump had broken down so they provided
a list of parts needed and estimates of cost. Dental and
medical teams assisted the local health clinic providing
essential services.
The wildlife team took horses into the hinterland and
spending quiet time at the side of an algae-filled, murky
swamp saw a 12ft anaconda, several large caiman, an otter
and a number of birds to add to the list.
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The anthropological team walked
four kilometres inland to the Indian community of Isla
Alta. Called Abueha by the villagers, this is the first
group of Ayoreo (ai-o-reo) Indians we have met. The Ayoreo
people used to live as nomadic hunter-gatherers deep in
the Chaco. Now the community has relocated and live a
basic lifestyle fishing and hunting in the nearby Chaco
supplementing food with produce from vegetable gardens
and income from work, usually in Brazil across the River
Paraguay. We gained some information about the clan system
amongst Ayoreo tribes, some interesting details about
basic belief systems and a degree of understanding of
relations between this formerly nomadic community that
were now located near the town of Colonia Peralta.
A dental team also visited the community to provide badly
needed dental assistance. While there Surgeon Lieutenant
Melissa Wingfield, of the Royal Navy, created a new, but
somewhat unenviable record, extracting 12 teeth from one
woman's mouth.
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The following day the anthropologists
visited the town of Maria Auxilliadora further down the
west bank of the River Paraguay. With just over half a
day we wanted to use the time quickly in this town called
Cuucani by the community. Previously playing music had
yielded encouraging results giving direct inroads into
the spiritual beliefs and rituals of Indian communities.
We played some songs from the Chamacoco Indian communities
upstream and one of the village elders sang some Ayoreo
songs. Ayoreo music is very different in style, still
using a gourd for percussion but as accompaniment to the
stronger voice section.
Listen to Ayoreo songs
With the icebreaker of song proving so productive we were
able to learn more about the Ayoreo people
The 5,000 strong Ayoreo community live throughout Paraguay
divided in to several tribes. Formerly nomadic hunter-gatherers,
they lived independently but shared a common clan system.
Each community is divided into seven clans and choosing
a partner is only allowed outside of your own clan system.
We also learnt more about the relationship between the
Indians of Abueha and the people of Colonia Peralta. In
1998 a cow wandered onto the vegetable patch of an Ayoreo
Indian. The cow was killed. After a couple of months a
group from Colonia Peralta visited the cacique (head)
of the Abueha community and attacked him with machetes.
Four days later he died. While several organisations should
be interested in the murder, including the police, the
people of Cuucani allege that nothing has been done to
catch the killers.
A gruesome tale told not for pity or anger but to exemplify
the feelings of the Ayorea Indians who believe that whilst
they have moved out of the Chaco to settle and integrate
with Paraguayan life, many people in Paraguay continue
to treat them as second class citizens.
Building
relations in Valle-Mí
From Colonia Peralta we headed downstream for our first
excursion to the eastern bank of the River Paraguay in
the town of Valle-Mí. We quickly established good relations
with the Industria Nacional del Cemento cement plant director
Engineer Alfredo Escobar, who promised to help the expedition.
Groups once again divided to conquer… in the exploratory
sense at least. A small party explored a cave system near
the town and disturbed a barn owl that had been roosting
just inside the mouth of the cave. But this was not exploration,
we need to find new caves to explore. A group of cavers
led by Luke Cox, a Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers,
set off to the west for the town of San Carlos where a
network of caves have been reported 60kms southwest of
the town. Travelling with explorers from the Argentine
chapter of The Explorer's Club a labyrinth of caves partially
submerged in a mosquito-ridden swamp was located and explored.
The first of several caves that must exist within the
1100 square km area of limestone that can be found in
this mid-eastern region of Paraguay.
A wildlife group headed off in the same direction in search
of flora and fauna. A few new species of birds were added
to the list along with a sighting of coatamundi.
While the Puerto Quijarro stayed moored in Valle-Mí, the
remainder of the group visited the town of Puerto Casado
15kms downstream on the eastern bank of the River Paraguay.
The author and naturalist Gerald Durrell visited the area
in the 1950s to collect animals, recording the events
in The Drunken Forest (Penguin). We have our own raconteur
and historian Richard Snailham who was tasked with putting
meat on the historical bones of this former boomtown.
Dick will also be heading the school's broadcasts that
are an integral part of building relations between the
countries of South America we are visiting and schools
throughout the UK and Europe. The broadcasts start on
9th September. When we arrive in Asunción children from
the UK will be putting questions to Paraguay's First Lady,
Susana Galli de Gonzalez Macchi.
A
tired port town
The town of Puerto Casado was founded in 1893 to supply
quebracho wood for use in the tannin industry to cure
cow hides. The name quebracho means "axe breaker" - the
wood is very hard and does not float in water. A tannin
factory was built at Puerto Casado and the town grew to
employ almost 1500 in the factory. The town reached its
hey-day in the 1930s as the railway line built to bring
quebracho wood from the Chaco interior, now stretching
for 161kms inland, was used to transport troops in the
Chaco War. Since the 1940s the town began to fall into
decline and is now a run-down town that is clearly past
its prime. Wide boulevards and the odd romantic hotel
formerly used by honeymooners are the only reminders of
a town that once held an important and valuable position
in the Paraguayan economy.
One of our tasks was to explore the possibility of reopening
the rail line for ecotourism. Captain Nathan Arnison,
of the Royal Engineers, led a group to follow the line
as far as possible. The highest temperatures to date,
well over 100°F, had dried out waterholes and an encroaching
forest fire stopped the group travelling any further than
the 35kms mark. The rail line encountered was considered
reparable but the resources, labour and money required
to refurbish the line would be considerable. Extensive
hunting in the area has meant that most large mammals
have been shot and any still remaining would follow their
fate soon. Nathan concluded, "as an ecotourism study,
refurbishment is not viable because any self-respecting
animal in the area would have left long ago."
A notion echoed by Shaun Linsley who led a wildlife group
along the same rail line. Despite seeing almost 20 new
species of birds to add to the bird list - now pushing
175 species - and encountering a family of anteaters,
Shaun added pessimism to the viability of sustainable
ecotoursim along the rail line. Puerto Casado, it seems,
is destined to wallow in the hot, dusty shadows of its
recent successes for some time to come.
Immediately after leaving Valle-Mí the Quijarro support
ship again broke down and we spent a day and a half moored
within one mile of the town. Our new arrivals Les Winterburn
and Roger Godfrey were thrown straight into work replacing
the head gasket of the ship's main engine. They, with
the input of the genius mechanic Mark Barth, managed to
repair the engine and we were ready to move on but delayed
departure until morning. Marigold Verity Dicks, another
new arrival, joined the expedition with her harp in tow.
On the first night, almost without notice, Marigold gave
a beautiful harp recital in the bow of Quijarro.
The expedition regrouped
after the successful search and rescue mission.
The 4th of September was an important day as we made good
progress to Concepción down river and many listened to
the Radio Five Live broadcast of the England 6-0 victory
over Luxembourg on the BBC World Service. There is something
special about drifting down a mirror-flat, kilometre-wide
river in the midday heat of the tropics avoiding hundreds
of floating islands of hyacinths listening to a football
match.
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So all in all it has been an interesting
few days. Missing persons, boat break downs and we've
just heard over the radio that Kota Mama II has torn a
sail for the second time. But as John says, "all are fit
and healthy, for that we can be grateful." Now we are
in Concepción for a day before the group divides to form
a land party and boat crews to reach Ascunción, the capital
of Paraguay, on 12th September. As with other towns, the
Paraguayan Navy put on a reception, a band and several
dignitaries came aboard to see the reed boats and the
team. The next few days will take us across the Tropic
of Capricorn but we are unaware of any ceremonies that
should be carried out. |
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