20-Feb-2007 -- I traveled to South America on the support crew of professional swimmer Martin Strel in his attempt to swim the length of the Amazon River. Partway through the expedition, I noticed that this confluence appeared to be located just off the right shore of the river.

I made a plan to attempt to visit the confluence and arranged the team schedule so I'd be unoccupied when we passed nearby. Thanks to Matt Mohlke for covering my duties for half a day.

Martin swims during the day alongside a small escort boat, and the rest of the team follows in a large riverboat, the Cielito Lindo. The morning of my confluence attempt, after Martin and his escort boat had left, I went to the captain of the Cielito Lindo and made my proposal. "Is it possible we can beach the riverboat on the side of the river in the middle of the jungle?"

The captain agreed without hesitation. I took our detailed maps to the boat pilot, along with my GPS and helped him navigate as close as possible to the confluence. The shoreline near the confluence is very shallow, and the pilot had to maneuver for some time before he found a suitable place to beach the boat. We stopped directly in front of a small thatch-roofed hut.

I disembarked carrying only my GPS and a machete. From the shoreline, the confluence lay 400 meters southewest. This is the jungle, but fortunately (at least for confluence hunting) the area of the confluence had been deforested for cattle pasture. I had a fairly easy walk, aside from some tense moments cutting through the herd of cattle, the bulls staring at me curiously. Aside from the occupants of the hut near the boat, I saw no people.

According to my GPS, the confluence is located about 15 meters into the jungle off the pasture. I could have slashed my way to the exact point, but the view from there would have been greatly obscured by vegetation. Instead, I decided that I was close enough. The photos are taken at the very edge of the jungle, the confluence point a short distance away.

After my photos, I walked back to the boat. My entire round trip lasted less than 20 minutes. Easy.