Welcome to the Jungle

On a recent Spanish Fly shoot, we journeyed deep into the Amazon in search of some of the more unusual fisheries available there. A trip into the Brazilian Amazon typically starts off in Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas state. Manaus is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers and has a population of about 2 millions people. While Manaus was simply a jump point for our trip to the Travesau river, we were able to spend a little time checking out the local fish market. It was amazing to see the sheer number of fish brought into the market daily, goes to show how rich this fishery is.

The next leg of our journey involved an hour and a half float plane flight that would land on a stretch of the river deemed safe by the guys on the ground. Upon landing we were greeted by our hosts Dave Caywood and Wellington Melo in a pretty impressive 35+ foot dug out canoe. After a short cruise down river, we arrived at the camp. This would be our home for the next 10 days.

The Amazon basin is home to an impressive 3000 species of fish, almost a third of all the freshwater fish species that exists in the world. It seemed every other bite would produce a creature more bizarre than the last.  

     Every morning different teams would head to the different villages to work, the missions would range from construction of house and showers to bringing supplies, meds, splints and antibiotics to hospital, school supplies to schools, water purification filters in other areas.

     One of the projects was the tear down of a dilapidated home and the construction of a new one for a single woman with eight children. Marisel built her own home 8 years ago out of whatever materials she could find. When we arrived on the scene the makeshift house had walls falling in and the roof caving down. It was so termite infested and rotten that the only solution was to tear down and start over.

     Another area of Puerto Plata in desperate need was the village of Munoz. The primarily Haitian population of this village have been relying on a nearby stream for their water supply. The problem was that they use the same contaminated stream to bath in and drink from. The Reel Life Adventure crew set out to build a showering facility and also distribute water purification systems to several deserving families. Rather than simply hand them out, the families were required to earn them by completing different tasks that would benefit the community overall.

     Brad Jenkin's work is mostly in community transformation, involving the people themselves in having a hand in their own improvement. One example of this was for the families to earn the water filters they would have to clear a field that was overgrown and covered with garbage. Each family had to bring a minimum of three bags of garbage and do that every month to keep the filters. The now cleaned and cleared area was transformed into a soccer field where the young children and adults could learn about and play soccer. Thus the whole community had a part in their own betterment. In other words, the filters were not just a handout. This community transformation seemed to work well in all the villages we visited.

     In addition to the work done in the villages of Javillar and Munoz the crew spent some time visiting other impoverished areas of the country and distributing some much needed supplies . One of the areas Brad wanted us to visit was a place called Agua Negras. Agua Negras is a densely populated slum situated on the coast where many of the inland streams flow into the ocean.

     The name Aqua Negras or "black water" best describes the situation here. Not only do many contaminated streams full of sewage and runoff end up here, the river mouth also serves as a landfill. Many children could be seen playing and rummaging though trash, while others swam in the septic water. Pastor Geoffery who runs the small church explained to us that the lack of opportunity and education leads many of the towns children to prostitution and drugs. The conditions in Aqua Negras were the worst we encountered on this trip.

     While the projects completed by the group on this trip were a great success, the need of the Dominican people goes on. I encourage people who want to get involved to contact Michael Oneal at Reel Life Adventures. For me it was nothing short of an incredible trip and we received far more than we gave.