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"
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.
