Scout Troop 175 Explores Deep into the Amazon Jungle

On July 18 , twelve members of Simsbury Troop 175 left for Peru as part of an expedition to explore deep into the Amazon jungle. The Team  flew to Lima Peru and then on to Iquitos ,Peru, the largest city in the world(600,000) that cannot be reached by road. It is the western most city on the Amazon. There the group boarded motorized aluminum boats and traveled 50 miles up  the Amazon to Tahuayo River  and then an additional 40 miles to a rustic lodge built on stilts with no electricity where the Team met their guides and porters , all members of the local villages.

The next three days were spent training to travel into the jungle with instruction in jungle movement, machete use, poisonous snake identification,fishing for Piranha, and camp building in the rain forest. The Team and their guides ( all hired by Dr. Paul Beaver , famed Amazon Jungle explorer),would be exploring a part of the jungle that had never been visited by human beings searching for and cataloging monkey species.

The Team then traveled by dug out canoe to the outmost research station, La Cia operated by the Tahuaya River Amazon Research Center (TRARC) where they were briefed by Dr. Michael Pereira the noted primatologist. He instructed the Scouts in the various monkey species that were being tracked and that the Team  had been given permission  for the group to enter an unexplored region . The Scouts , all members of the elite Immortals group in Troop 175  came with their machetes (Standard issue when members are inducted) and once the porters and guides were loaded up they headed off into the jungle. The guides hacked out the main trail and the group followed in line ,often up to their knees in mud and subjected to frequent downpours of rain. According to Scoutmaster Brad Mead, the organizer of the expedition," Some  of the Scouts on this trip were with us on the Kilimanjaro climb last summer. This was a very different kind of hike.We found the going hard in the rain forest. The mud slowed us down, we were wet all of the time and there was the constant need to keep watch for snakes, poison dart frogs, tarantulas and vegetations that was ready to scratch and infect the skin. We came upon just about everything you find in the jungle including a Fer-de-Lance, the most poisonous snake in the world and sitting coiled on a log to the side of our trail. We gave it wide berth.  At one point the guides asked us to stop and they started chattering amongst themselves. The we heard the sound of stampeding and the guides told us to quickly stand behind trees. A minute later group of about 100 wild boars , each about 200 lbs, came running through our camp" 

After two days the group reached a boundary river where they set up camp, hacking away the jungle to put up tents. According to Lee Adamowicz, Troop 175 lead Scout, "The jungle skills of the Indians were truly amazing. We learned allot just watching them make camp sites, using palm fronds for bedding, stripping bark and making rope on the spot.These guys were exceptional outdoorsmen". As camp was being set up the group was observing the different monkey species in the trees. At one point the Scouts spotted a group of Red Uakari , a species so rare it has not been seen in the northern Amazon for 26 years . The guides who identified the species were  ecstatic.

The groups Expedition doctor, Dr. Mike Ring, formerly of Simsbury and now Head cardiologist in Spokane Hospital kept watch over the groups health as a number of adults and Scouts became ill from the constant wet, cuts that didn't heal and bad stomachs from the local food. All recovered on the trail .

According to Mead, "We collected allot of information for TRARC and eventually made our way back to the Tahuayo Lodge where we finally got to dry out and get a cold shower of river water. Our guides asked us to play their village in a  game of soccer and we agreed and got beaten solidly by the locals. They toured us through their thatched hut village and we got to see a very different way of life."

Twelve days after the group arrived in the jungle they flew back to Lima and then back to Simsbury. The group members were Scouts  Lee Adamowicz, Rob Moore, Carter Hill, Ryan Mead, Jeffrey Mead, Cortland Carter, Rob Carter. 

Scout Leaders included Brad Mead, Peter Adamowicz, Dave Moore, Dave Carter, Mike Hill.  Additional members of the group also from Simsbury included Andy Glassman, Nathan Glassman, Sam Glassman ,Amanda Glassman, Allison Mead, Lis Phillips.