We’re getting prepared to leave for Peru in less than three weeks. Lots of things need to get done before we depart: buying and testing equipment, shipping our canoes, giving school assemblies, visiting doctor’s offices, applying for permits, and sending emails and making phone calls to our family and friends.

The Wilderness Classroom has been to Peru before. However, we’ve never planned an expedition this big. By the time the Trans-Amazon Expedition is completed, we will have canoed over 3,000 miles to learn about how people, plants, and animals live in the Amazon rainforest. Along the way we will study global climate change, also called global warming, and witnessing how it impacts the rainforest’s waterways, plants, animals, and people.

Before we leave, we need research Peru and the Amazon so we can be prepared for the secrets the rainforest holds. We’re using books, the Internet, and making phone calls to scientists, educators, and people along our route. The best preparation for an expedition begins at home.

Once we arrive in Peru’s capital city, Lima, our first goal will be to purchase bicycles for the first part of our expedition. We plan to ride bikes from Lima to Yurimaguas, a city where two major rivers come together to form the upper Amazon River. Our bicycle journey will take us up and over the Andes Mountain, the longest mountain range in the world. By the time we pedal our bikes to Yurimaguas, we will have passed through as many ecosystems as if we were to walk from the North Pole to the Equator.

Once we’re in Yurimaguas we will begin to paddle our canoes toward the Atlantic Ocean along the greatest river on earth, the Amazon. It’s hard to talk about the Amazon River as just one river, though. Over 10,000 other rivers feed into the Amazon. Rivers that feed into other rivers are called tributaries. 17 of these tributaries are over 1,000 miles long, and they carry a lot of water. In fact, the Amazon watershed is responsible for maintaining and transporting 20% of the world’s fresh water that drains into an ocean. It covers an area of more than 7,000,000 square miles in five South American countries: Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Venezuela, and Brazil.

We have a lot to learn, both before we leave and once we arrive in Peru. Think about what you would like us to study during the Trans-Amazon Expedition. With your teacher’s help, you will be in charge of making decisions for the expedition. So, you’ll have to do your research too. We’re counting on you to keep us safe, informed, and on track to reach our goal of canoeing the greatest river on earth.

Keep Exploring!
Dave

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