Daily Diary
Since I was not successful last night with my test effort to connect the computer to the satellite phone, I called the Inmarsat help line. I spoke with Al in the United Kingdom. He was quite helpful to this Mac-equipped, PC-challenged computerite. We finally determined that the PC loaned for the Expedition was set to Com2 and that the satellite works off Com1. I only hope that all my future challenges are so easily solved. I also got some last minute phone calls from Marc Weiss (Marc Weiss Companies) and the North American rep for Eheim. Perhaps the most exciting development of the day was conducting an interview with a reporter from USA Today while driving to the airport. The reporter is working on a story about tropical fish and thought this effort was a nice sidebar. We talked about all sorts of trends in the aquarium hobby. If the article appears while I'm gone I hope someone out there will send me a copy. I arrived at the Huntsville Airport about 3 pm. They checked all my lugage through all the way to Manaus. I sure hope that they code the airport code right so that the stuff is there on the plane when I land and not somewhere in Africa. The flight does not leave for about another hour. I'm going to get something to eat and take my weekly malaria pills. As of now it actually looks like this is going to happen. I'm sure there are many challenges ahead and that this is going to be an incredible adventure. My next stop is with the Atlanta Airport. The flight to Atlanta was an easy one - only 26 minutes. It actually took me longer to traverse the entire length of the Atlanta Airport to the international terminal than it did to get from Huntsville to Atlanta. I was over an hour early so I decided to taste my last "American" food, a pizza from Pizza Hut. I actually expect to find all the major fast food chains in Manaus. The flight ahead from Atlanta to Sao Paulo is going to last all night. Looking at the flight map in the Delta Airlines magazine I probably will be going right over the area that we will eventually be collecting. I am supposed to meet a representative from CompuServe Brazil in the morning. The folks with CSi are looking after me - they arranged for someone who speaks English. Once I catch up with Heiko and Paola I won't worry about speaking the "language." Until then I'll try to pick up on some Portugese. The flight from Atlanta to Sao Paulo was one of the longest I've ever taken. I left Atlanta at 7:50 pm and got to Sao Paulo at 6:30 am. While the flight was uncomfortable in a small seat, I sat next to Roberto who works with IBM. He had been in Rochester, Minnesota. We talked a lot about computers and stuff. This made the flight bearable. Also, the flight had fewer than twenty (20) Americans - mostly Brazilian families on their way home from a vacation in the U.S.
Thursday, July 24, 1997
Today was a busy day taking care of the last minute items at the office and find time to finish packing. Most of the morning was spent handling small items like final arrangements for access while in Brazil.
I finally found a representative of SwissAir, thank goodness for their neutrality, and they escorted me back to the Delta baggage area. I picked up my two pieces and went through the whole immigration process again. (I told the customs guy that my twin brother was flying with me). The flight to Manaus was a real puzzler. It was on a 747 that was converted to mostly haul cargo. I learned that Manaus is a "free zone" and as such a lot of Brazilians travel here to buy large appliances and other such items and take them back to Sao Paulo. This certainly brings new meaning to the term "carry on" luggage. The whole experience reminds me of the junkets to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. First class rides only to spend all your money when you get to the destination. As a converted 747 most all seats were first class. This was a most comfortable ride. Leaving Sao Paulo I noted the landscape as being much like the mid-west. There was lots of farming and cattle ranching. Slowyly this turned into the rainforest. I tried to grab a few shots from the plane clearly showing where there was burning of the rain forest taking place. While I did not see many of these places, where I did it involved large areas. About a hour away from Manaus you can see the topography change. When it did, everything was a dense green. I saw quite a few tributaries and small river systems as we got closer. As an American with major rivers such as the Mississippi and Tennessee, I was not prepared for the size of the Amazon. It was huge. I attempted a picture that showed a standard size cargo freighter (ocean class) on the Amazon. It was dwarfed by the size of the river. It would easily take putting 10-15 Tennessee Rivers together side by side to match the Amazon at Manaus. Hopefully, on Saturday I'll get some better pictures. My hosts from Tec Toy met me at the Manaus Airport. Geraldo speaks a little English so we did communicate. We went directly to Tec Toy where I meet Mr. Eudes the Director and most of his senior staff. They have graciously set aside a small conference room for my use. (I'm using it now to prepare this document). Together we came up with a list of things I need to do before Monday. One of the first was to try to connect to CSi. We were not successful and instead decided to try again in the morning. My main goal was a shower and some bed rest. Before I left for the hotel I toured the Tec Toy plant. This company makes electronic games for Sega. I saw lots of them. I even wrangled out a few expert hints at how to win at the games. Perhaps now I can beat my son. At about 4 pm Geraldo took me to the hotel. A cold shower (they don't seem to believe in "hot" water) and I am ready for bed. I've still got to do a live conference tonight and go over my plans for Saturday. In case I forget to mention it, the temperate was a humid 92 degrees. So far I've swallowed four (4) tall glasses of cold water. In the midst of this I learned that "Antartica" is the most famous beer in Brazil. Somehow thinking of Antartica while drinking the beer seems most inviting right now. == John ==
Friday July 25, 1997
I arrived in Sao Paulo at around 6:30 am. It was a comfortable 65 degress outside. My first impression naturally was that no one was speaking English. This was an immediate problem when I checked the airline for my flight to Manaus. I learned there that my luggage was not checked through to Manaus, instead it was downstairs in Brazilian customs. The "learning" part was the lesson that you can not go backwards through customs and immigration.
On my first effort I was able with an alternate account to send all of the photos from Friday. I even managed to post my journals from Thursday and Friday. Around 9 am the folks from Tec Toy came by to check on me. Due to some of our communications problems they arranged for a local translator to spend the day with me as well as hopefully help me find the spark plug for the portable generator. I was next introduced to Marcos. He teaches English to the management at Tec Toy. He is fluent in several languages. He has also worked as a jungle "guide" taking folks on multi-day trips into the jungle. He has escorted Tom Cruise and Dolf Lundren to mention a two. Having been tagged with the nickname "Indiana John" (mostly do to my hat) Marcos and I headed south to visit Turky's Aquarium. I was not disappointed. Turky's Aquarium is the largest collector/exporter of tropical fish in South America and ship fish all over the world. The business was founded many years ago by Willi Schwartz (yes there are a few fish named after him) and his brother. I observed several hundred holding vats including some special tile ones used to house discus. They use mostly water pumped (and filtered) from a local tributary. All fish are wild caught. They are painstakingly quarantined before any are shipped. I saw several boxes of fish that were collected only yesterday and transported to Turky's earlier this morning. All of the fish were extremely healthy. In fact, I did not see a SINGLE dead fish while I was there. In a given year this facility processes between 4-5 million cardinal tetras. Since this is the "dry" season they had very few discus. They had lots and lots and lots of catfishes. While I struggle to identify a single corydoras species, my host Shimon could look down at a vat with a few thousand corys and immediately tell me what species and river system they came from. I saw all sorts of extremely rare species of catfish, both large and small sizes in each. Interestingly, Turky's uses Amquel. The facility employs about 20-30 folks during the off season and about twice this many during the peak season. They are open 365 days a year. I took several pictures and I'll get more when I return as I believe they are going to handle the shipping of any species we collect. If anyone has a specific request for a picture of a specific catfish, please let me know about it this week. After a couple of hours at Turky's, Marcos and I returned to Tec Toy. We checked further on the spark plug and located a company in the downtown area that probably had the spark plug we needed. We grabbed a taxi and off we went. When I noted a few "Coleman" boxes when we walked in, I was confident that this was the place...and it was. They helped me learn that, contrary to the instructions with the generator, there was already a spark plug installed. They sold me an extra one, some oil to mix with the gasoline and even tested the unit. They were extremely impressed with how small this unit was. The manager even negotiated with me to buy it when I return to Manaus. Marcos and I next located a car rental company and rented a vehicle for the rest of Saturday and Sunday. With our own transportation, we went right to the "mall" to locate an exchange center for my currency. If you ignored the names of the stores, this mall - about six (6) years old - looked like any mall in the U.S. I exchanged some currency and then Marcos and I stopped by the mall's food court and got lunch. While Marcos was in one line, I opted for a "Bob's Burger" place where I merely pointed at a picture and held up a finger to indicate I wanted "one" of them. From the mall we returned to Tec Toy where I spent a couple of hours processing the photos from Turky's and posting my daily logs. We then headed to the Tropical hotel. This is where I'll meet up with Heiko and Paola tomorrow. The Tropical was fascinating. It is located on the Amazon river. It is a resort-like complex with tennis courts, wave pool, and even its own mini-zoo. I am looking forward to moving there on Sunday. After confirming a reservation for Sunday, Marcos and I walked down to the Amazon river front. At this point the Amazon is six (6) miles wide. Upon seeing this I have decided we will do our conference on Sunday from this location. We probably can even order a few cold ones as we sit before the computer. == John == (reporting from Manaus, Brazil)
Saturday, July 26, 1997
Today was my first effort at locating some fish. I got up around 8 pm and returned to Tec Toy. Since I was unable to solve my connection problem(s) on Friday, I thought it would be best to start there.
Also, during the time in the collection area, they discovered a small pod of baby freshwater dolphins who were trapped in the pool due to it being the dry season. They will be fine there until the rainy season comes again. Heiko told me that they seemed friendly and even seemed to communicate with him. While I waited for Heiko and Paola to return, I suffered through hundreds of mosquito bites and my first rain storm in the Amazon. It was very heavy rain. I held out a cup to catch some water and got about three inches in a very short time. I drank the water and the taste was very good. There was lots of lightning which made a very impressive display. On the trip back to the hotel (a $10 per night hotel with electricity during the day only - they turn it off at 9:00 PM!), we saw more of the freshwater dolphins, which was very exciting. We were on the river until it was quite dark, and during that time I saw hundreds of "fireflies" that were much larger than the ones I normally see at home. I could still see them very well from what should have been about 200 yards or more. Also, I found it amazing to look into the sky of the Amazon at night. With no lights from the city around, there seemed to be millions and millions of stars in the sky. It was very beautiful and awe inspiring. Tomorrow we begin a new adventure, but thankfully not at 4:00 AM! == John ==
Wednesday, July 30, 1997
Today we took a "day" trip to do some collection about 60 kilometers out of Eirunipe in a blackwater tributary of the Jurua river system. We went by large boat to the mouth of a small stream and then Paola, Heiko and a guide went up in a dugout to collect. While there they collected what Heiko thinks is a new species of Corydoras catfish and a new species of Apistogramma as well. They collected a total of 50-60 species of fishes, many of which they brought back in the special breathing bags supplied by AquaScience Research Group.
We started out with Heiko, Paola, me and four porters, one of which was an Indian huntsman who knew the area well and was familiar with the native tribes. Heiko set a quick pace which left me and the porters quite a bit behind. After about 8 kilometers, we reached a small farm, the last such area before getting into the deep jungle. The farm was set next to a beautiful stretch of canopy under which a small stream of black water ran. Heiko had been there long enough to fish the stream for one hour before the porters and I made it there. Heiko and I discussed the fact that I was having trouble keeping up with the quick pace and also that the porters were having trouble keeping up carrying my things (like the generator). After a short conference, we decided that I would stay at the farm for a day or so and that Heiko would pick me up on his way back. I was just not in any shape to hike 20 kilometers at the pace Heiko set. He was expecting to make the full 20 kilometers in just over a day. This would also give me a chance to try to work out the problems with the equipment that has not allowed me to send any photographs of my last three days' adventures. Heiko explained to the farm's family who I was and why I was there, and they agreed to take care of me. I fully expect to use their son to help me explore the area tomorrow. This is a beautiful place - a little piece of paradise. The stream is fast running but has a place that is deep enough to sit in with logs for chairs so you can sit in water as deeply as you want. I have decided to dub this place "John's Jacuzzi" and Heiko told me he would put it on his map of the trip. The water is cool and feels wonderful after my long hike. Tomorrow I will snorkle in "John's Jacuzzi" and check out the fish types, of which there are many. I will get lots of photographs and work on my equipment. Hopefully I will also be ready for a fast 8 kilometer hike over rough ground back to Eirunepe on Saturday. We are going to another collecting place then to hunt for the "mystery fish", the purpose of this entire trip. == John ==
Thursday, July 31, 1997
This was my most challenging day so far. We were going about 20 kilometers by boat from Eirunepe, then 20 more kilometers by foot to a new tributary of the Amazonas river system that Heiko wanted to try. This new tributary was deep in the wild Indian territory and required us crossing some very rough terrain.
Later, the head of the family, a boy of approximate 19 years of age, brought me some fresh lemons and made me some lemonade. He and I went later down to John's Jacuzzi and had some fun in this area I had renamed. The water was wonderfully cool to me and very refreshing, but to him it was cold. I spent the rest of the morning working with my generator which gave me other problems to add to the ones I had already encountered. After about 5-10 minutes of operation, the generator would go into some sort of power surge after which the generator would shut itself off. I would get a graphic part of the way sent and then the generator would go into overdrive and shut down, cutting off my power. Later that afternoon the boy and I went back to John's Jacuzzi for some snorkeling. I got out my video camera and shot some video of the area. While snorkeling, I lost my snorkel and in an effort to catch it in the fast-running stream, I managed to gash my foot on an underwater limb. I know I lost about a pint of blood as we struggled to apply a pressure bandage to stop the bleeding. With the boy's help I managed to hobble back to my tent and spent the rest of the evening putting antibiotic cream on the wound and keeping it elevated. The night brought more of the monsoon-like rains which my tent weathered quite well. However, the clothes I had hung outside on a barbed-wire fence were drenched. I think tomorrow I will try to get back to Eirunepe to get the rest of my gear, some clean clothing and medical attention for my foot. It will be a personal challenge to hike back all the way with my injury. ==John==
Friday, August 1, 1997
This morning I awoke to the calls of the roosters and chickens as well as the noises of the farm family. Apparently at daybreak, everything gets in order, with the first thing being to milk the cow which they have for the small baby in the family. I was offered a small glass of warm cow's milk on a plate and thought that this was hospitality of a high degree from this small, in our eyes, poor, family.
Reporting from the Amazon
I was up quite early this morning with the thought that I need to trek back to Eurinipe to find my other gear and medications. My belongs left in Eurinepe included some clean socks as well as other possible medications for my cut. Although I did not speak any Portuguese I was able to communicate with my hosts and get him to agree to lead my back. I wanted to leave as early as possible in order to avoid the heat and sun of the early afternoon. My host, who I learned maintains this part of the "farm" for an absent landowner who visits whenever the roadway is passable by four-wheel vehicle....about once in every couple of years.... told me that the cross country trek would take about two (2) hours. I packed up most of my things and left them with the understanding that when Heiko, Paola and the porters exited the jungle area they would pick them up. Armed with a day's water supply for me (about two quarts) and the computer/satellite phone we headed out around 7:30 am. I did not arrive until 12:30 pm. This trek was quite different from the one we took to start this effort. Instead of following the "roadway" my host took me across country through all sorts of jungle areas. I saw a number of birds, some pigs and lizards. As we got closer to town I even had an encounter with a bull. This specific area had been cleared for cattle farming. Along the pathway a local farmer was pulling a bull behind his mule. The bull was definitely not interested in going along peacefully. The bull would range from one side of the pathway to the other destroying most everything in its way. My host had me stop and indicated I needed to climb a small tree. Up I went and watched as the bull passed just a few feet away underneath me still rampaging everything in its way. When we neared the airport we came across a person with a small car who agreed (he was heading to Eirunepe anywhay.....where else could he go?) to drive me the final distance to the hotel. Upon arrival I cleaned my wound, consumed several bottles of lemonade and immediately fell asleep for a couple of hours. When I got up I began to submit the backlog of photos I had taken (a limited number of those due to satellite transmission). At about 5 pm I was officially caught up, sore foot and all. The rest of the day proceeded very casually. After the conference (9 pm) I went back to my room and got ready for bed. By now I had my personal belongings spread over three (3) different places in Brazil. In Manaus at the Tropical Hotel I had my "good" stuff, in my room I had my "fair" - but clean - stuff, and still out in the countryside was my tent, sleeping bag, generator, toileteries and such. I dozed off quite blissfully. Some time later I heard someone quietly call out "John, John" outside my window. After a moment or two to orient myself I recognized the voice as that of Paola. They were locked outside the hotel and needed me to let them in. It was now about 11 pm and the rest of the Explore Team was now arriving. They had started back at around 5:30 am, arriving at around 11 pm. They had covered approximately 50 kilometers that day. Heiko was literally giddy with the excitment of the past two days. They had made a successful trip to the targeted river systems. They had been, as Heiko called it, in "pure nature" with no obvious impact from man. While Sunday's conference will offer more of the details, Heiko took over 1,500 photographs. They collected on streams #8 - #18 (each stream/area collected is assigned a new number under his tracking system). In his efforts they found several suspected new _genera_ of fishes including one that might be the link between the Neon Tetra and Cardinal Tetra. This fish is a solid metallic blue throughout the body with red in the fin area. Unfortunately only one specimen was found, which will make establishment of new genera most difficult. Heiko continued that the trek was most difficult with any pathway being limited to climbing between the tree trunks. What may have been an established pathway for yesterday was washed out by the same monsoon-like rain storm I experienced with them. Heiko described the bottom area as containing up to three feet of fallen leaves. In addition to the new Tetra, Heiko also found a killifish that was extremely exciting to him. I'm sure that after a night's rest I'll see (and hear) much more about what he collected. Heiko also told of seeing wild pigs, finding what was left of an Indian tribe, many birds, new insects never before recorded by science, and a spider monkey. It is apparent that much of this trip will continue to be told in the weeks after our return as photos are developed and processed. I am definitely struck by the insignificance of any personal hardship I feel I am experiencing. A trek of 50 kilometers, of which more than half was through the dense virgin jungle with no established trail, in Brazil in August is a fete worthy of most marathon atheletes. To add to this the task of stopping to collect at every newly encountered stream and manage some 200 pounds in collecting gear and camping equipment leaves me in pure wonderment at the fanatical force which drives Heiko. To be sure what Paola experienced in the past 48 hours in no small fete for a woman. She could barely climb the one flight starcase at the hotel when she arrived. After a quick shower for both of them I joined them next door at what is becoming Heiko's exclusive restaurant and watched Paola as she made short work of a chicken, beans, rice and most anything else that was available. I even jokingly suggested that I could find some ketchup and put it on cardboard and that she would probably eat it too. She smiled and noddingly agreed. Despite her personal sacrifices it is very apparent that the force behind this effort is Heiko. I'm sure that Paola had to keep up or else face the possibility of getting lost in the jungle. Having spent almost a week with Heiko I am fascinated beyond belief with the energies and dedication this man has for fishes and nature as a whole. Even at 11 pm tonight he is already working on organizing a 7 am effort for tomorrow. Our world is blessed with few such pioneers. We all recognize the impact Jacques Costeau had on our learning more about nature. In every respect Heiko has, without a lot of the monies Costeau had available to him, made such an impact on the aquarium hobby. He is truly a pioneer for all. We all may know better the names Axelrod, Baensch, Socoloff, or Loiselle, but we owe much more in this hobby to Heiko than any of these individuals. It is shameful that there are those in the luxury of modern day living who wish for us not to know more about Heiko and his many expeditions. The personal vendetta with which one such person has chosen to target Heiko has meant the loss of many expedition opportunities. ==John==
Saturday, August 2, 1997
Today was a day of contrasts for members of the Explore Team.
Reporting from Eirunepe
That evening Heiko and Paula treated me to fish soup made with the local catfish along with green beans and other items - my first actual Brazilian meal since I got here. We made our plans for a very productive day tomorrow - our last day collecting. ==John==
Sunday, August 3, 1997
Today was a very leisurely day. It began with church bells ringing at about 8:00 AM. It was interesting that about a block away from the church was a street vendor playing popular music. We had breakfast and afterwards decided that we were not going to be able to make any connection with anyone for collecting today. We did go down to the edge of the Juaru River to see if we could collect any fish from the shallows, but we had no luck.
Reporting from Eirunepe
At 7:30 AM we met with the person who would take us in his boat downriver. We took an approximate 3 hour boat trip in a fairly fast boat to a portion of the river where we would then make a cross-country trek to a particular area Heiko wanted to visit. Once we reached as far as the large boat would take us, we carried dugouts across an area of land approximately 200 yards to a different area. We went by dugout for approximate 30-45 minutes from there along the tributary. Along the way we noted areas where the tributary was fed by streams emerging from the ground. Heiko noted that this water was good to drink, so I got out of the dugout and went over to try some. It was, indeed, very tasty. However, I then noted a thrashing in the water about 10 feet away where the foliage was very dense. Heiko said not to worry that it was only a small alligator and that it would not be interested in me, but I was sure that was a close as I wanted to get to an alligator and I immediately got back into the dugout. We traveled up the tributary and pulled the dugouts up and then hiked for about an hour to an Indian village. The village actually had a small airstrip that had been built by the missionaries and had then been turned over to the Brazilian government. We went by the mission and were told that we could collect in the stream area. We went down to the stream which was black water with a pH of about 4.8 and immediately caught a number of fishes, many of which were probably new species, including an incredible Corydoras catfish. Shortly thereafter, a couple of Indians showed up and we noticed that we were beginning to draw attention. Soon, the Indian chief, whose name was Pedro, came over and he was quick to let us know he was not pleased to find us here. However, Paola took out some gummy bears and presented them to the children who were gathered around to watch. Before long the entire village was helping us collect and watching the proceedings. It was interesting for me to see that every adult male had some sort of tatooing or body etching and that even the youngest children were carrying bows and arrows. We collected there for quite a while and found an unusual species of Farowella as well as others. Heiko was especially delighted to find other examples of his new "intermediate" tetra. During our collecting efforts I drank quite a bit of the black water as it was very good. About the time we finished, there was a rainstorm and the entire trek back to the boat was under heavy, driving rain. Once in the boat again, it took us four hours to return to Eirunepe as the owner of the boat navigated a good bit of the way by flashlight down this fairly large river. We made it to Eirunepe shortly after 11:15, disappointed that we had missed the conference, but elated at our finds and our day of adventure. I personally, felt that I had met a challenge in that I had completed the trip even with the injury to my foot. Tomorrow morning I begin the trip home starting with my first plane ride at 7:30 AM. I will not arrive in Huntsville, Alabama, until about 9:00 AM on Wednesday. Once home, I will process more of the photographs for release, and will be able to share more about my experiences in the Amazon. ==John==
Monday, August 4, 1997
This day began very early with Heiko and I going to the local market where we saw a number of species of fish including Oscars, Arowanas, and several types of catfishes. We took photographs which will be available at a later date.
Reporting from the Amazon