The Urucu River carries away the foam of its
spectacular falls upstream. Its waters are reddish like tea because, when
overflowing their banks, they infuse the forest’s dry leaves. They even taste
like tea.
The
Amazon rain forest is not the Green Hell some explorers of old, in search of
glory, would make people believe. At least not if you are not lost in it and
losing your wits and your life. It provides its
Indians a happy and comfortable life working on average less than three hours a
day.
In fact,
it is the world’s most beautiful garden. Photographing this river made me fantasize about
floating down it on my back, as it seemed that
it must lead to some terrestrial paradise.