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Often referred to as “Earth’s Lung”, the Amazon rainforest is 2.124 million square miles of sprawling vegetation that pumps out over 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. The region can receive rainfall in excess of 175 inches annually, more water than parts of the American Southwest see in a decade; these deluges feed the Amazon river and her many tributaries, which wind a path through the rainforest for over 4,000 miles. This is the largest river in the world, by volume.
Traveling the Amazon’s waters by boat during the middle of low-tide season is the best form of transportation to be found in the region. And so we set off from Iquitos, Peru, fondly dubbed the Capital of the Peruvian Amazon, aboard the Aqua Aria, a river boat that would take us roughly 100 miles up and down the Amazon River. Along the journey we caught and ate Piranha, danced with indigenous peoples the from Cocama-Cocamilla tribe near the San Martin de Tipishca reserve, weathered a notorious Amazonian rainstorm, swam with pink dolphins, bartered with locals, dodged poisonous dart frogs, and macheted our way through thick forest. When venturing into this part of the world, authentic adventure is never far from reach and only one thing is certain: expect the unexpected.