Live from the Amazon: part 1

Greetings from Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon River. It has been roughly 24 hours since we left the comforts of home. Flying in, it becomes immediately apparant that the forest is in control of this region of the globe.

Unlike our approach into Sao Paulo, with its sprawling suburbs, multi-lane highways and business-class airport, Belem appears to still be in struggle against the ever-encoroaching growth of the forest. It´s sparse skyscrapers clinging percariously just a few miles from the a vast expanse of green.

This afternoon, we will charter a flight into Altamira, near the confluence of the Xingu and Amazon Rivers, where we will finally have a clean bed and our last oportunity to spoil ourselves on the last vestiges of what most of us would recognize as "modern" life. From there, it is four hours up the Xingu to our destination at Tataquara Lodge.

None of us know quite what to expect. Some are looking for a spiritual re-connection to the earth, others for time spent alone and with one another. all know that this will be a lifetime opportunity, not to be forgotten.

• My best guess as to where this place is on the map
• Here's an account of a visit to the same site by Ken Wiwa Jr., son of the Nigerian activist offed by Shell Oil around the time I was graduating from high school.
• And here's some info about the coop of tribes that owns the lodge

I´m going to try to post pictures from Altamira later tonight or tomorrow morning, so stay tuned!