7 June 2004

Since the Rio Lager junction flotilla continued to encounter shallow conditions with several rapids where fast water races into a cliff face piling water up for a metre or more.

It was on one of these that we experienced our first flipover. However the pre-expedition training paid off and neither boat nor crew suffered any damage. Mike Laird caught the incident on camera and Otto B got some excellent footage earlier when Kite was rapped on a huge boulder. The robustness of the special Eurocraft inflatables, provided by J P Knight Ltd, has impressed even the veteran river runners amongst us.

Jules C found evidence of early settlements all along the river - especially at junctions with tributaries. Many of these indicate occupation by different cultures spanning over several 1000 years. RSG is regularly shown archaeological sites that are known only to the locals. All of these are being recorded for the Bolivian Archaeological Institute. Geologists have found a succession of Silurian rock consisting of basic quartzites overlain by black shale covered by a sandstone/silk stone sequence of shallow marine rock containing poorly preserved brachiopods and worm trails. These originally date from 430mn years ago. This Silurian sequence is repeated by faulting as we move down the Rio Grande gorges. Although the number of wildlife sightings have been few, a one metre long yellow snake swam across the river ahead of us and was photographed to be identified later. Tracks of puma, small cats, peccary and deer are common.

At the Hacienda Serapono a remote settlement of 50 persons, people were suspicious of us, never having seen boats on the river, but after Lt Col Hugh Cornejo and Yolima Cipaquata talked to them, they were friendly and sold us delicious oranges, bananas, carrots and lettuce, plus a goat! They were very proud of their school built only in February of this year.

We are now at the Hacienda Sanga Manga, a large settlement of about 200, where people cooked a sheep for us last night. RSG bought us more supplies by mule and donkey, having to trek up 2000m and make a challenging decent through incredible gorges, that almost closed in above them. To get pack animals Simon H had to negotiate with women of Buena Vista ‘you cannot take our husbands away for more than a night’ said ladies who run the community ‘we need them to work for us and keep us warm at night’. Although generally in good health our fingers are badly cracked and sore due to dry atmosphere, wind and constant water emersion. There have been a couple of very light showers. Little blood sucking flies appear together with the dust and is a real annoyance. Steaming cups of local matte de cocoa help to sustain us. We look forward to meeting the RSG at Puente Inca tomorrow when we shall take on supplies to carry us through the Devils Gorge and onto Punta Santa Rosa, our half way point.

So far we have sailed over 130 kms. Yesterday we negotiated the impressive Knights Canyon and a few kms further the Barrus Canyon, both named after kind supporters. In spite of constriction of the water near vertical cliffs, rising to over 350m, there were no serious rapids. Thanks to our NERA satphones and Motorola radios, communications are working well although protection against fine sand is a constant need.