By Hugo Costa
Working in Amazônia is fantastic! The greatness of forest and rivers, the endless diversity of life and peoples enchant anyone. However, the challenges of leading research projects in the region begin right at the organization. After a 18 month-gap, with a lot of planning and caution, Instituto Juruá returned to its regular field activities in September, 2021.
The municipality of Carauari-AM, our focal area of intervention is nearly a straight line distance of 800 km from Manaus (AM), or a 2-hour flight, or, yet, seven days the Solimões River and then the Juruá River by boat. This distance to the capital city makes the logistics very difficult and expensive, because a large part of the equipment and materials must be bought and sent by ferries..
For 2 weeks, we got all the required supplies for field activities in the second half of 2021. It has been very hard and relevant work because mistakes are not allowed, just one item from a supply list which is forgotten may undermine the work of many people. Someone that is still not used to this Amazon logistics may be frightened and enchanted at the same time. One of the greatest challenges is to get all the supplies on time to board them to their final destination.
The variety of supplies is huge, from an ordinary measuring tape to an outboard engine for an aluminum boat. After getting the supplies, the consumer and the suppliers agree on the delivery of the supplies to the indicated port, then the ferry clerk receives them, and indicates the freight to be paid (no chance of free delivery!). For the withdrawal of the supplies, we provide the tax invoices and the checklist that was done in the supply shipment in the port. In 8 days, we will receive our supplies and the field team will start another research season and support the social organizations in Mid-Juruá!
