Oil spill in Peruvian Amazon wrecks food, drinking water for indigenous villages

Was shocked yesterday to read about the oil spill in the Amazon, not just becuase it happened, or because of the devastation, but that it did so without a whisper from the media.

Indeed, I hadn’t heard about it until I picked up a tweet when searching twitter for Amazon news.

It’s rediculous that this has gone unreported but hardly surprising. The media’s obsession with meaningless trivia ensures that important news rarely gets reported, sometimes with devastating effect. What I nwant to know is, when are we going to stop burying our heads in the sand and start giving a shit about things that matter?

As soon as I heard about the news, I spoke with a friend who lives in the Amazon, Alejandro Vargas. He was brought up on the banks of the Amazon, and makes his living there now as a nature guide.

He says that oil “was spread in the river,” but that the government are saying that ” is (under) control now…but I´ve got my doubts.” The impact on the local communities is real, “because some villages around, they don´t have fish in the river now, and they can´t drink the water, you know that us as a local people drink the water from the river.”Alex did go on to say that the oil company is reportedly helping the villages and people. That isn’t undoing the devatastion done so far, however.

It’s not the first time that our greed for oil has wreacked havoc on local people who are too poor to even dream of owning a car. There was one in Feb 2009, January 2002,

Normally, I don’t use this platform for ranting, but I can’t not shout about this issue. The Amazon is such an important place which made such a deep, impression on me. From Iquitos in Peru on the banks of Rio Maranon, to the great river and rainforest basin itself, to the villages along Rio Tapira, a tributary, the place and people moved me enough to rethink my own life, particularly how and what I consume, and what I do with the waste.

As adventurer,  Bruce Parry, says “With everything we do – we’re affecting, often negatively, other places in the world and often, a lot of people in the world are being affected by everything we touch, eat, drink. The Amazon is just the biggest example you can find to say, ‘Listen! When you buy hardwood, you are doing this. When you buy oil, you are doing this. When you buy gold, you are doing this’, and it’s good for us to see that.”

Travelling in the Amazon made me totally re-evaluate what I buy and how I live. When you thrive in the jungle without ‘luxuries’ like electricity, hot water, and air conditioning – and your worldy possessions for four months weigh no more than 27kg – you review your addiction to stuff.

The irony that I earn money from promoting stuff to people isn’t lost on me, but at least I love the brands I work with, and believe that they make many nice things. Of course, many people buy things to cure the feeling of emptiness inside, of course often it doesn’t. So surely each of us can rein it in a bit and do something more useful (for ourselves and each other) instead.

So, by way of a call to action, why not do something more useful?Here are some suggestions:

• Watch Tribe and Amazon by Bruce Parry – be inspired by how Bruce is moved and transformed by the places and people he visits
• Read the Last Viridian Note by Bruce Sterling and use it as a guide on what to buy (warning, it’s a bit of a thick, long read)
• Visit the Amazon and stay at an eco-lodge – I guarantee it will change your life for the better

Rant over!

Travel diary: Honduras

Honduras gets off to a bad start, but grows on us pretty rapidly. We start off with the worst border entry, but exit on a high after discovering idyllic beaches, hip hop lizards, and a bagpipe loving toucan rescuer.
Here’s a short summary of our trip to what turned out to be a helluva country.
Arrivals

We have the worst immigration experience ever, which starts with a guy in uniform snatching our passports from us and ends with our maverick taxi driver, Junior, swooping into immigration, throwing a few dollars ‘tax’ at suspect officials and grabbing our passports back for us. We have arrived by boat into a tourist-unfriendly area swarming with crooks, so Junior whisks us out of there toute suite.

Taxi death race

Crammed into the tiny taxi with a French couple – a late ferry meant we all missed a crucial bus connection – Junior gave us a the kind of near-death four hour taxi ride experience that roller coaster addicts would kill for. To drive in Honduras you need balls of a bull and the stomach of a horse. Floor it at all times, fly through red lights, drive into oncoming traffic until someone chickens out – and don’t forget to overtake in reverse. Making us feel like we were in the ultimate car chase movie, Junior somehow got us to our destination La Ceiba, safely. And he was a total dude to boot.

Yet another beachy paradise
We’re in La Ceiba, itself a sketchy enough town, to catch the ferry to the beautiful Bay islands – Roatan island to be exact. Yep, it’s another beachy, Caribbean paradise, and I ain’t complaining. The island is stunning – all soft, bone white beaches and warm, turquoise waters. It’s also the world’s cheapest place to scuba dive, yet one of the best – so we dive so much we practically evolve gills.

Hip hop lizards

We also shred around the breathtaking countryside, mainly off road, on motorbikes. A wacky place we end up is an iguana farm where the lizards have developed a taste for hip hop antics. Started by a guy who ate the huge lizards (we didn‘t partake, before you ask), he eventually had so many curious human visitors he turned the farm into a tourist attraction. The lizards seem to be massively into hip hop – they nod their heads at us like they’re trying out for a Jay Z video.  We try a few lines of ‘New York State of Mind’ and they seem to dig it, all nodding furiously. It’s hilarious – particularly because it could just be a sign that they want to mate with us.

Back on the mainland, we take a bus that costs less than a round at the pub but is more luxurious than a first class seat on any European flight. It’s an amazing way to travel to our next destination further south, Copan Ruinas. This is a fantastic little town, with the friendliest people we have met so far. Everyone is just so proud of their town and so happy to host tourists there. We came here for one night but ended up staying three.

‘Jesus’, is our guide

Here, Jesus himself is our guide – Jesus the tuk tuk driver that is. He drives us to some great places like thermal springs, but one we really enjoy, believe it or not, is a bird sanctuary. It’s basically the jungle but with some safe housing for rescued macaws, parrots, toucans and other feathered friends. The best part is hanging out with nature guide, Alex, who turns out to be a massive fan of bagpipes.

As soon as I tell him I’m Scottish, he’s waxing lyrical about his passion for pipes. I suppose if you have learned to love the ear-splitting screech of the forest’s noisiest birds, then bagpipes might well sound heavenly. One quick phone call later and some CDs from a contact at Scotdisc are on the way to him. As a thank you, Alex covers me in parrots which peck my head till it bleeds and gnaws holes in my shirt. Apparently this is how they show affection.

Next stop, Nicaragua.