Finally, a couple of thoughts that may be of general interest ...

The signl biggest surprise to me on this journey - was the declining quality of fresh water in S. America. The problem does not affect the country of Chile too much, because access to he forests and mountains of Chile is very restricted. But the problem is acute and growing - in Peru and the Amazon Basin.

I expected to discover that the eastern Andes mountains would be a pristine habitat. Dream on. No doubt that is still true for parts of the mountains where no human settlements exist. But for many streams and rivers in Peru where villages exist - the water pollution is horrible. When water melts from snow, above the 14,000 feet level, it is pure and drinkable. But very quickly these streams descend and pass through mountain villages. I have never seen any people on Earth who pollute their rivers - as much as Peruvians. The streams are used as dumping grounds for human effluent, trash and all kinds of junk. It is truly a horrible sight to see. By the time the water descends to the 10,000 foot altitude level, after passing through a dozen villages and settlements, it is a polluted river. I wouldn't dream of drinking that water. And frankly, these streams still have a long way to go ... before they enter the Amazon. I cannot imagine what the people at the 'bottom end' of the water cycle are actually drinking.

In cities like Puerto McDondaldo (Peru) and Rio Branco (Acre, Brazil) the rivers have been turned into a horrible dirty-brown mess. In Peru, there are actually tourist lodges thriving off the "untouched Amazon paradise" myth. You must be joking. That myth may have been true 40 years ago. But the rivers in Peru are now tainted by human sewage, garbage, and high mercury levels of the gold mines in the E. Andes. There is no 'Amazon paradise'. Likewise, the water at Rio Branco in Brazil was disgusting, and we took to calling the town "Rio Horrivel' (Horrible River). All of the wildlife that depends on this water is being threatened with serious pollution problems.

In the state of Rondonia in Brazil, we drove into the capital city of Purto Velho. The smell in the city was so ba - we could not believe it. The whole city smelled like human sewage. How could people actually be living in a place like this? And how could this city ... be the capital of anything? Don't the politicians who run this place have the slightest amount of shame? Eventually I figured out ... we arrived in Purto Velho at the start of November. This is just before the big rainy season in the Amazon. So all of the dirt, the junk, the human sewage - builds up to very high levels. And people just ignore it, because they get used to the smell. People in the Amazon just use the rains as a giant septic tank ... everything will get washed down the river - when the real rains come. So they do nothing, they never improve the city's disposal systems, and the problem gets progressively worse. For us, the smell was so bad ... we could hardly go out to eat at a restaurant. Who wants to think about food?

Recent studies by the World Wildlife Fund have shown dramatic declines in animal and bird populations in S. America, especially creatures affected by fresh water. Our own personal observations support this. The declining standards of water quality, and the complete disregard for any type of modern water treatment, are taking a terrible toll on the Amazon region.

Please know that the Amazon region is a huge place. No doubt the central and northern regions are in better shape. But anywhere that there are villages and cities - this problem is growing at an alarming rate. It is truly sad.