I'm a Norte Americano. This project has made me realize that I have thought of South America as an outline in a geography book. I knew about the Andes, the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Rio del Plata and even the Parana. I even had a 10 day visit to Ecuador where I was able to spend four days on an upper tributary of the Amazon, the Aguarico River. I suddenly got a realization of the enormity of the Amazon basin. Our airplane landed at a field, Lago Agrio, that was at 900 feet above sea level. I discovered that the mouth of the Amazon was 3000 miles away!.
With this low slope to the ocean, the rivers are very slow and wide. The slope also encourages "meanders", the wandering around finding the easiest way. It also suggests that commercial river traffic is possible in both directions!
So far there are two satellite pages. The first gives a brief explanation of the project with maps. The second page contains photographs from an expedition that went down the river system from north to south. I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse of an incredible project!
