The legends, popular stories that tell real or fabulous events adorned with fantastic or wonderful elements of folklore, have become one of the main attractions of many places, such as the famous Loch Ness or Belchite, one of the most visited ghost towns in Spain. However, in most cases they remain just that, simple legends, although many times we wish that these folk tales that were transmitted orally became a reality, as has recently happened with one of the most famous legends of Peru.
A few days ago the story of Andrés Ruizo, who did everything possible to discover if the legend that his grandfather had told him when he was a child about the existence of a boiling river in the Amazon was true. Surprisingly, the stories this Peruvian geologist had been told about this river were totally true. He discovered it himself with his own eyes. We will tell you more about this interesting discovery below!
The legend
As Andrés Ruizo himself tells in an article published in Gimodo, when he was little his grandfather told him a famous legend about the conquest of Peru by the Spanish who, apparently, went from town to town asking where there were more civilizations to conquer. According to legend, the Inca They encouraged them to enter the Amazon, where they could find all the gold they wanted. However, it was a revenge of the natives, who were aware of the dangers that could be found within this thick jungle. As Ruizo explains in the article, legend has it that the few Spaniards who managed to return told stories about shamans, warriors with poisoned arrows, immensely tall trees, spiders that ate birds and snakes that could swallow whole men. Furthermore, the legend spoke of a boiling river. Considering that many of these things were true, why wouldn't there be a boiling river?
Reality
Apparently, when the young man was working on his doctorate, he remembered the legend and began to inquire about it, asking his colleagues from the university, the Government, the oil, gas and mining companies ... However, nobody I had no idea about the existence of a boiling river in the Amazon. And, although this type of river currents exist, they are related to volcanoes, since it is necessary for there to be a powerful heat source to cause a river boil. However, neither in Peru nor in the Amazon there are volcanoes.
The discovery
One day, Andrés' aunt assured him that he had once been in the boiling river and that he had even bathed in it, something that can only be done after a very heavy rain. Thus, the young man was encouraged to enter the jungle guided by his aunt who, apparently, is a friend of the shaman's wife who protects the river. His surprise came when he suddenly saw smoke rising from the trees. He had found the place spoken of in legends. Of course, in order to study it, he needed the shaman's blessing, which made him a condition: pour the samples he took back into the river. In this way he discovered that, although the water did not reach 100º C, it did get quite close. Although in the rest of Peru nobody knew of the existence of this place, the locals had always taken advantage of the water vapor for different uses: cleaning, cooking, taking medicine ... They still have to investigate more about this place, but it seems that the reason that the river has these high temperatures is due to a large hydrothermal system.
Photographs: Sofía Ruizo and Devlin Gandy
The Amazon’s Boiling River Kills Anything That Enters (April 2024)
- Amazon, nature, rivers
- 1,230
