The whole place is a melting pot—a mysterious wonder in the middle of the jungle.
In the fascinating journey of the species, a tireless element makes existence possible: water—a traveler who changes to get where no one else goes. And we go with her. The Globo Repórter team went to Peru, where the Andes Mountains divide the country into three regions and traveled more than two thousand kilometers from the coast to the Amazon, facing an immense complication: the highest altitudes in the Americas.
The adventure begins at zero altitude, in the Pacific Ocean. The gateway, or step up to the frozen Andes, is Huaraz. A friendly and calm city. Soon after, following the adventure, the program team stops in the only village in the region. Guide Wilfredo Morales warns that he will be out of breath. The stretch of the Cordillera, where the team will cross, is the second-largest mountain network in the world. It only loses to the Himalayas. There are more than 20 peaks that exceed six thousand meters. Physical effort and cold consume energy, but the landscape heals. Always with a different beauty.
The team spends the night by the Jahuacocha lagoon and has the privilege of watching the birds of the altitudes and a majestic resident: the Andean wild goose. All of this happens in Dona Alba’s backyard. She has lived in a simple house since she married 49 years ago. He says that, far from everything, he always had to turn around and learned to spin wool and make clothes.
The path is still of flowers and farm animals. The danger increases on the steep slope. In the most challenging sections, care is doubled. Trees, animals, even birds disappear. Ice pellets fall from the sky. The level of 4,900 meters was almost impossible. At night, minus 18 degrees. In the clear and cold sky, the Andes Mountains are a reflection of the stars.
In the last section, helmets and shoes with metal cleats. The steps are now on the ice. Everything gets more complicated. The legs weigh, the breath tightens, and the heart races, at 5,200 meters of altitude. Finally, the team reaches the goal of the climb: the Jerupajá glacier, one of the highest in the world.
From the crest of the Cordillera, the Globo Repórter team moves to the other side of the Andes. The currents have changed: now the water flows into the interior of the continent, in the direction of Brazil. After a week away from civilization, the road is a relief.
The team arrives in Pucallpa, in the Amazonian province of Ucayali. And it’s not just the landscape that changes. There the immense Amazon basin begins. And somehow, all rivers will end up flowing into the Amazon River. Only there, they have a long way to go, full of wonders and mysteries. A story that ended up becoming legend: that of a river, lost in the Peruvian jungle, where water is said to boil.
With a digital thermometer that measures the temperature by laser, you can see that the water temperature in the middle of the road is already above 20 degrees. Measuring elsewhere, further on, the water has already heated up: the thermometer measures 34 degrees. The mysterious river is also getting narrower. The depth decreases, and the forest closes. In the last kilometers in the middle of the forest, the Xanaya Tipisca river is finally found. The Globo Repórter team measures the water temperature: 65.8 degrees. Going up the bank, adventurers seek to know if there is still a place where the water is even hotter. Using the thermometer, the water rises above 80 degrees. So those waters got the name of the “Boiling River.”
