Posted from: Tabatinga
Today the new production team of Rob, Laura and Leti arrived in the border town of Tabatinga. It's an unusual place in that despite being tiny it has one half of the town in Brazil while the other half is in Columbia. They arrived pretty exhausted after three long plane rides and were greeted by a torrential thunderstorm and an electricity blackout in our hotel. It was fun to meet up and despite the jet lag it was great that they were all full of excitement for the adventure ahead.
Posted from:Tabatinga
We’ve a new team just arrived and Rob Sullivan is our new leader. How nice to have some new blood. Just like Matt at the beginning and Steve thereafter, Rob is now directing. I’ve only met him once before at a good friend’s wedding but we got on instantly. Also we have the amazing Leti who has worked non-stop for months sorting out the Brazilian phase of the trip. With her also is my mate Laura who it’s great to see out here and who’s been hard at work on recces too.
Posted from: Tabatinga
I heard from Steve today. Apparently he's just had the best few days surfing imaginable on the coast of Peru as a break on his long journey home to the madness of the office in Cardiff. It has given me a smile all day to think of him out in the water.
Posted from:Tabatinga
We've arrived in Tabatinga after a simply mammoth journey. Three planes, three time zones and 24 hours after we set off we (Rob, Leti and myself) are greeted by the superman himself - no not Bruce - but our incredible fixer Marco. Marco is not only a professor of biology, he is an ex-commando, pilot, skipper, cook, and a truly lovely guy. Leti and I both spent a month each with him on our recces (pre-shoot trips) for films 3-6.
Posted from:Tabatinga
We left the buzzing city of Iquitos at 06.00am this morning having said goodbye to Steve, Willow and Angel the night before. Bruce, Pete and I are joined by the new fixer Marco for a day-long boat ride across the border into Brazil to start film three
Posted from: Iquitos Airport
Well, we've finished film two and so we're officially a third of the way through the series. It's been bloody tough but also pretty fantastic. We've seen and filmed some amazing things, made some incredible friends and passed through some of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth.
Posted from: Iquitos
My ayahuasca experience last night was one of the more humbling nights of my life. Remarkably, it seems, my ego decided to take on Mother Ayahuasca in some sort of a battle. Horrified, I watched the whole thing from the sidelines, feeling very annoyed with my ego for putting up such a relentless attack.
Bruce takes ayahuasca under the guidance of Percy Garcia Lozano a shaman trained in its use. This clip contains some scenes of a strong nature.
Ayahuasca is used in medicinal rituals in many cultures of the Amazon Basin. Bruce experienced the ceremony first with the Achuar in Wijint and also here near Iquitos, with the healer Percy Garica Lozano. Find out more about ayahuasca
A sudden downpour as Bruce prepares to take ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is used in medicinal rituals in many cultures of the Amazon Basin. Bruce experienced the ceremony first with the Achuar in Wijint and also here near Iquitos, with the healer Percy Garcia Lozano. Find out more about ayahuasca.
Posted from: Ayahuasca Retreat Nr Iquitos
Standing under the dark night, washed in floral water and freshened after the day's walk to the ayahuasca retreat, this is one of those rare moments of reflection on a shoot. The jungle pours in around me with its clutter of insects and flow of the stream, illuminated by the occasional firefly. After three months in Peru, this is the last section of our second film to be shot. The thought of it being over seems implausible.
Posted from: Iquitos
We’re on the Amazon at last! Even though we’ve travelled well over a thousand miles since we started this epic journey, the river has always been called something else – Apurimac, Ene, Tambo and so on. Yesterday morning we hit the confluence of two massive rivers – the Maranon and the Ucayali - and at that point the river became officially known as the Amazon. It felt like quite a big moment for our bedraggled little team. It’s taken us three months to get to this point and we’re not even in Brazil yet!
Posted from:San Lorenzo
Yesterday we drove to a small group of houses next to a small river and spent the night in a temporary medical shelter. The sleeping options were pretty limited. There were a couple of medical trolleys and two small beds. I think that I am lucky to get one of the beds until I lay on it later that night and it stinks of pee.
Posted from: Andoas
All the long days on the river and the ever-changing logistics and rainclouds above seem worth it today. What a perverse claim to make as we look out on the oil-spilt banks of a stream. Black snakes through the muddy water and clings to all it touches. Rain runs down our faces and over the polluted ground towards the Corrientes River. Words are inaudible in the downpour but the scene speaks for itself.
Posted from: San Lorenzo.
We’re back in San Lorenzo again on the way out of Achuar land at last. We’ve filmed the end of our story and are on our way to the next. Thankfully this time we’re not in the prison, but in the hostel next door, which is more like an open prison than the maximum-security unit of previous visits.
Posted from: Andoas
After days of travelling in tiny boats we make it to the grotty settlement of Andoas. We arrive late and are staying in a hostel made of plywood, as it’s the only accommodation in town. Around us are a few sparse bars and directly opposite a brothel lit up with twinkly fairy lights and blaring out 80’s music until the early hours.
Posted from:Andoas.
We’re still here, stuck in Andoas on a grey wet day in January. The vehicle turned up from Nuevo Jerusalem at about two this afternoon, five hours late. Then the driver told us he had to do a driving course with the oil company and would be back later. He’s still not back so we hope we can drive out tomorrow at first light. It’s frustrating as hell.
Posted from: Andoas.
We're in Andoas at last. It's been a mission to get here, as always. First the oil company agreed we could fly up here on one of their planes. Then they decided we couldn't (we later heard one of their platforms had been peacefully occupied by the Achuar so they didn’t want us around). Then they said we could fly again but then they bumped us off the flight. Eventually we reverted to Plan A, which was the usual option of three days on a boat with a stop-off in the Prison Hotel of San Lorenzo and the usual boat diet of crackers, tinned cheese, frankfurters and tinned peaches.
Posted from: Somewhere between Andoas and San Lorenzo
It’s great to be off again after our break and cool to meet up with our new team member Pete. He seems like a right laugh and though we all miss Zubin it’s great to have an influx of fresh blood. He’s very experienced and used to this sort of shoot and his dry sense of humor has had me in stitches more than once already. Everyone else seems on great form and we’re all re-energised for the next phase, which includes (as ever) a lot of journeying.
Posted from: Ushpayacu
There is something conspiratorial about the gathering outside the hostel tonight. Hunched over and concentrated, the crew sit and eye each other with suspicious hunger, each clasping their own chosen packet of ration food.
Posted from: River Maranon between Yurimaguas and San Lorenzo.
We're back on the river again, going back to San Lorenzo, the ugly town on the banks of the Maranon. It's cold and grey and we're all wrapped up in Goretex and fleece as if we were on the Wye, not a tributary of the Amazon just south of the equator. Everyone is hunkered down inside the private world of their Mp3 players.
Posted from: Iquitos
Ron told me to meet him at two o clock at Ari's Burger. I was meeting him to find out about ayahuasca in Iquitos and to plan how Bruce could experience it. Ron told me to look for the guy with long hair and a bandana. I arrive at Ari's burger and spy a young man who fits the description and so I approach, shake his hand and sit down. He looks at me uncertainly and so I ask if he is Ron.
Posted from:River Maranon between Yurimaguas and San Lorenzo
My first day on the river started well enough. As we clambered onto our 25 foot aluminium boat, my now new chums gallantly offered me the front seat. How thoughtful - as a sound recordist I rather appreciated being furthest away from the outboard motor. I settled in with my book and camera, only vaguely aware of the muffled sounds of bag shuffling and zip fasteners behind me. As the banks of the Maranon began to glide effortlessly past me, I turned round to share this moment with my colleagues. Having nested into a carefully arranged pile of all available soft bags, they were fast asleep. Well it was 5.30 in the morning and the dawn was breaking. Ah, bless them, I thought and returned to enjoy the rest of the journey.
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About Amazon
Bruce Parry, presenter of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Tribe, travelled the length of the Amazon to film a major new series for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two, shown in autumn 2008. You can relive his journey online through exclusive blogs, video and much more.
