Him yes once we were stuck for 3 days we had to wait on the ship until the water rose high enough like. Any of. The peruvian government has plans to change that situation the intro via project involves dredging the amazons tributaries to create a Multi National network of deep water highways that can be navigated by big ships or year round. It will improve the transportation of goods but local people will also benefit. But many of the people who live here are skeptical. All too often in the past theyve seen promises of development only bring them hardship fist subs who does the river belong to our journey is full of encounters with magical River Spirits but primarily with people who lie. I find the river means everything. Is a porter hes glad to have the work but its a back breaking job. Where being a sack of rice on your back weighs 50 kilos so thats 100. 00 kilos for 2 sacks every day we unload a truck full which adds up to several tons of. Law they cant his colleagues spend about 3 hours loading and unloading then they have to take a break it takes quite a while to load up a boat this size. Were in the port city of your remark wes this is where the road ends everything that needs transporting to a key toss or even further to brazil has to be packed on to back its. The eduardo 3 as an aging cargo ship that also transports passengers. This is the only large boat that will be setting off from your remark was over the next few days. While the workers load the last sacks and boxes of cargo on board the harbor master talks optimistically about the future. If you. Will see progress here soon. Peruvian then pursue me and all other boats passing through here will be able to travel in all seasons and with. The harbor master dreams of one day seeing a fully fledged Container Terminal here thats what the peruvian government is planning although so far there is only a promotional video. That you drove here is a sprawling Infrastructure Project involving the dredging of 3 major tributaries of the amazon the aim is to create shipping channels that are at least 56 meters wide and deep enough for larger ships. That a Chinese Company is set to begin work soon initial investments amount to just under 100000000. 00 the additional costs for expanding and maintaining harbor facilities along nearly 3000 kilometers of river are nearly impossible to estimate. And expensive system of shipping waterways that will open up new opportunities right now when the water level is low ships can only operate during the day not at night this project will significantly improve transportation likes. But thats all in the future for the time being traders and passengers room. Independent on boats like the atwater is 3. It will take 3 days and 3 nights to make it to a key toss assuming nothing goes wrong. The. Same pattern says the ships captain hes been saying the amazon for 25 years for him its not just a job but a calling. For help but i mean a lot of navigating your way along these rivers is a real art. In it. I inherited the talent from my father the only im his only son to have carried on the tradition and i hope the generation after me will continue it to me again and i still believe that the president of the. Day it means a lot to me. You are good but i really think that more choice. These days captain banners doesnt spend much time at the helm he now has other people to do that job for him. Like Walter Salazar whos also been on the job for decades sailing on such shallow waters takes a great deal of experience. Was it but you have to be familiar with the river and keep a lookout for shifting sand bags theyre really dangerous. And if you run into one anything can happen that the ship can capsize. But it was. Small about at an advantage in the shallow waters them mainly used for shorter distances theyre essentially river passes the tickets are expensive and theres a limit on how much nugget you can take on board the ferry. Make frequent stops along the shore seemingly in the middle of nowhere to pick up or drop off passengers. To. Israel galliano lives in the peruvian capital lima with his children and his wife at the piano the familys going to visit israels parents who live in the town of lacuna us deep in the amazon israel hasnt been home in 15 years. Im going to introduce my family to my parents. I want my wife and children to see where i grew up. I want to show them our customs. And what life is like in the amazon. But that way of looking at it its lovely here so much nature and no air pollution. Its so loud in the city. Here you feel much more free i love that. Catriona does admit she feels a bit uneasy shes nervous about her 1st meeting with her parents in law but also about the water. Play this is the 1st time ive been on a bell so i am a bit afraid but im sure that well write safely. Theyll be spending a few weeks in la going to us compared to the city its a different worlds that welcomed with fresh fruit israel and the tree on his young son seems to be taking it all in his stride its been a long journey once the bags and loaded the family heads off. Meanwhile at the small harbor in laguna us locals await the arrival of the headwaters 3. A snack stand serves up quantised rice with meat and fish wrapped in banana leaves its a popular snack at all times of day. In front of her though if you prepare it today its still good and tasty for another one or 2 days you eat it cold. Once everyones eaten its time for a game of football by the river the players are amateurs but the commentator has the trappings of a pro. In the moment i am but i want. All of them are there other than the others over all of them. Back on board the eduardo 3 passengers swap stories of the amazon. Francisca it algo is on her way to see her family any key toss shes looking forward to the new river highway on past journeys the boat was often left stranded the woman in the hammock next to her is on a special mission and hope she wont fall behind sched jewel. Itself they were here on behalf of the Education Ministry to bring mattresses and beds to remote amazon villages and intimate but. Once the ship is docked the porters bring the supplies to knighted by the government on to shore even if no one really seems to have been waiting for them relations between local people and the Central Government has strained many local people are part of the Indigenous Community or have Indigenous Roots they have suffered a long history of persecution and injustice and are still discriminated against. Naomi is a member of the ku comma people shes one of the last to still speak the language. You know that kind of caught my eye at the t. V. Market the market free now. If they put that means how are you and where are you from many of the players need to has a visitor today to sell the pinch a is an activist whos committed to preserving to calm a culture she fears that the governments new Infrastructure Projects will do lasting damage. To the new technology and the machines theyll bring and will have a devastating impact that. It will destroy a lot of things. On. The river means life for our son for the animals and the water is everything here. Is that with you with the input of the 30 miles of its as important as having air to breathe. For the coup Common People the rivers and lakes of the amazon are central to their culture in the ku kama religion there is another world underwater where their ancestors gather people animal spirits all live together under water for the karma any harm that comes to the rivers and lakes destroys everything. Because children runs a Painting School picture she and her students paint depict the underwater world as a coup karma a world full of myths spirits and colorful creatures. In the end this is about a legend of the parabola. The home to all living beings and the depths of the river. Without it there would be no river and no fish. The profile is a house. But its a house that looks like a snake. Like a boa. For the ku comet these creatures of the river are best left undisturbed a massive project would invade their spiritual realm. But the protests against the new water highway also happen very practical dimension just look at the course of the rivers says chris hill to pinch it and youll see the dredging and channeling are a bad idea. Since the river here is constantly changing the old people say that as well a small stream will grow larger and split up again its best not to interfere with the impulse to be beautiful. Many leading scientists also have reservations about the project environmental engineer jorge has spent years researching the amazon. He says the network of waterways here has shifted constantly for millions of years. We got plenty of. People in favor of the very last year and. Want to transport more savings that more they. Want out of work they now become more there that we never. Got to see a champion. So well know now he evaluates samples on satellite images and takes measurements of the waterways but its a time consuming process and he says the government doesnt want to wait for the results of his research but the governments own studies are inadequate our commercial interests are simply too powerful basically what i think is that the black. Panther i think they want. To be showing that maybe they. Believe that. You know i think you know. Dredging the river at the wrong place could have disastrous consequences he says upset in the ecological balance and in danger in biodiversity. Jorge says the either of you could have benefits in theory by focusing on expanding the use of existing waterways rather than building new roads it could help prevent deforestation but badly implemented the eater of your project could be a nightmare. All this isnt relevant to the operators of the eduardo 3 right now they just want to transport their cargo as quickly as possible get it unloaded and continue on their way this time the porters were surprisingly quick on she was handing out the mattresses suzanna you missed the ships departure but a boat brings her back on board. First the most important section of the ship is the kitchen where martin and i use a hero are in charge the 20 euro ticket includes 3 meals a day. Passengers have to bring their own plates and bowls. Today a stew is on the menu. Well enough. For us the job means getting to know the entire Amazon Region and all the different villages and above all making a lot of new friends if that is moot the crews of the cargo ships take pride in their knowledge of the rivers and also of the people who live there. A arrival of the eduardo 3 is always a major event its not just goods that arrive the ship also brings the latest news gossip and rumors has very limited cellular coverage here so these conversations are also a lifeline for the community. They. Put up with our orbit were always on the move we now know practically everyone living by the shore. Weve known them forever and we get on really well with everyone. Kept insane paris has mixed feelings about the plans for the river highway. He understands the reservations of the people who are critical of the project but welcomes the idea of progress for him personally the project means he might one day be able to captain bigger and more modern ships up and down the river. It was very popular and id like that if. I want to move on and further my career that there was a bit of im not happy making do with what i can already do that it has. More power to develop it. Is the 2nd night on our journey. To. Crowded below deck the mattresses brought along by susana yai as donations come in handy. But while the passengers get some rest down below the crew up on the bridge have to be on high alert. Pretty that its not easy its extremely dark with a lot of rain and fog. Id planned to be fast in this but now were behind. But i guess well be arriving out at 10 in the knowing. As dawn breaks in the passengers wake up the jungle is now visible again by the shore. And a couple of hours later now into also comes into view this is where the mountain yawn and comfort and from the river from this point is officially called the amazon. The main road in outer is where the radio to come our offices are located the local broadcaster is also a popular Meeting Place and Informal Community center for Indigenous People. The ether of year project is a major topic of conversation as is their own identity. When we make our personal stories public these arent just personal stories. Theyre also part of the history shared by our community all the people in our lives it has a huge communicative power and gives us strength. Says that strength and courage 2 things that people here need. Me. My father died 2 years ago at the age of 99. He was one of the last slaves to toil away here during the robbery. We were unaware of this when we were kids. But when we started listening to the radio and hearing bad stories from other people we asked our parents about their stories and then we heard about things that were really traumatic. From gold to wooden crude oil the history of the exploitation of people in nature along the amazon goes back a long way in peru and the region as a whole then otto believes that the memories of those suffering are still affecting people today now outer has a high suicide rate is specially among young people. The pain felt by victims in the past is passed on from one generation to the next thats what we believe here the same applies to the inability to talk about bad experiences that might be why so many people today take their own lives. The next morning leonardo and a few colleagues head out on to the river to reach the tributaries where the jungle comes right up to the waters edge. They conduct research and talk to other activists about their latest findings. Among them is filmmaker pedro pinto hes traveling through the Amazon Region to talk to local people and also using his camera to document environmental pollution. By the extraction in the area is a major polluter many of the pipelines leak pedro will use his video footage to show that Pipeline Maintenance and cleanup operations are not working nearly as well as the government claims. Here in the middle of my country in peru where confronted with the reality theres nothing other than pollution. Theres no Drinking Water and that makes me afraid. You can die for drink the water here. Pedro accuses the government of putting profit before people in the region he doesnt believe things will be any different with the amazon Infrastructure Projects. So they tell us how things will improve the government says the big ships coming up here from other countries will buy our products but thats not how things will be nobody is going to stop here to buy our fish. Its all this information. The government rejects these accusations saying that the eater of year will also benefit local communities. But the Indigenous People will benefit enormously it will help them get around quicker when going to the dr for example. The new infrastructure will make a lot of things easier but we do have to remember that well have a lot of work explaining a project to people. Leonarda and his team believe that government representatives have not been taking them seriously. They want to see respect for Mother Nature and for their culture and religious beliefs. If you disturb the river you destroy everything. The balance between the world under water and the villages by the river bank is under threat. We live up here our ancestors down below like a family of 5 the. Fact that. He and his fellow activists realize their protest is unlikely to win over the people in charge but they are determined to continue their resistance. That the most of this rap song says the river is our queen its a declaration of love to their treasured river and of their hope that it will be preserved. Meanwhile the eduardo 3 is on the final daytime stage of its trip. It started raining again that doesnt bother francisca all the other passengers who are staying dry. As long as it rains the river will not subside water levels will remain high enough to keep the ship afloat rather than foundering on a sandbank. After 3 days and 3 nights the eduardo 3 reaches a key toss and gets a grand welcome. There. Its time for the porters to unload all the cargo. Kept in paris and his crew have once again mastered the tricky currents even managing to make up time for the brief hold up. Its been a fast his trip for quite a while. Weve arrived safely the ship is securely mord and nothing bad happened. And thats the most important thing for me. Just a few kilometers from the harbor but a world away is the prominent of a key toss. The more expensive restaurants are popular with the tourists most all of them come here by apple so they have little feel for the vast expanse of the amazon river and its tributaries. Its lunchtime at the fitzcarraldo a restaurant run by can also manuel curler a peruvian with german roots. Where larry king the nobody. Thought the name comes from the band i have so groovy fitzcarraldo. It was shot here in the ketosis in 1980. Its a film about an eccentric european businessman obsessed with bringing opera to the amazon played by maverick german actor klaus kinski. Today ketosis home to people who have built an entire city in the middle of the jungle. Into nearly half a 1000000 people with no roads connecting it to the outside world. Says residents are proud of the bustling Market Square on the short of the largest river on the planet. If the governments controversial plans go ahead e. G. Talks will continue to grow and become the main trading hub between brazil and peru the intro via project is set to create a new commercial corridor of linking the atlantic with the pacific for china and other Global Players thats an appealing prospect the fight for the future of the amazon continues for now all that captain perez knows for certain is that he will set off again in a few days time with a ship loaded with congo passengers and stores without it is never were just regular people going about our work. As soon as our next job comes and we set sail and then well be back on the river by following the market will be obviously. Played for. Kick off. Yellow ranks number one and defending world champions of team usa. What makes the u. S. Womens National Soccer