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Tahuayo, one of the thousands of tributaries of the Amazon River.

If we include the tributaries, the Amazon River covers a larger part of Peru than Brazil. From Lima we flew to Iquitos, an island surrounded by fresh water, and from there we went upriver through a tributary until we reached Tahuayo National Reservation. The lodges where we’re staying are four cabins built on posts over the river. The cabins are connected by suspension bridges and there is no electricity or warm water. The only conveniences of the place are the Hammock Room and the lunches prepared by the indigenous woman, Bichina. To be able to sleep well we’ll have to wait until we return to civilization, because the nocturnal concerts of the animals, birds and insects is a show that wasn’t included in the price.

This is a singular place, where we’ve shared dinners with a family such as those you see on TV, the Murphy’s from Florida, bird photographers, and with Dr. Jackson and his medicine students that come here once a year to help the communities that live along the river. The dinners are presided over by Dolly, or Dolores, the name she had when she met her husband Paul thirty years ago. Together they decided to build this marvelous place in the middle of nowhere, although we’re not alone. Monkeys, parrots, woodpeckers, kingfishers, sloths, prehistoric birds, pink river dolphins, sparrowhawks, tarantulas and anaconda skins (luckily for us, empty) are our new neighbors.

The local Indians do not lack hunting and fishing opportunities, but most of them make their living from coal. Minutiae next to what the oil business will mean. Alan Garcia’s government has already awarded multiple concessions to look for black gold in these areas. A single walk through the forest is enough to realize that this is the place where the last reserves of rock oil in the world are. Millions of hectares of thick, humid vegetation, one layer rotting atop the other, creating the humus that in time will become black gold. But all this will become a children’s game the day the war for the water starts. The Amazon River generates 22% of all fresh water on the planet. Even though the Americans own the 15% that flows in the Mississippi, we’d bet our Relec that won’t be enough they’ll here to take the water away in bottles.

That’s why it’s a pretty sure thing that the Amazon will be chosen as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Today, it’s a treasure, and tomorrow it will be even more. The truth is, it already was. In the 19th century, great fortunes were made thanks to the rubber trees that only grew in the Amazon forest and were indispensable for the manufacturing of tires. The rubber workers, mostly slaves, jumped from tree to tree cutting V-shaped nicks on the barks. Resin then flowed slowly and fell inside a jar that was later picked up. A million dollar business that only lasted fifty years, the time necessary for a British citizen to get around the border controls put up to protect the monopoly. To achieve it, he filled a dissected crocodile with thousands of seeds. Later he germinated them in India and, in addition, put less distance between the trees, thus increasing productivity.

We wish the rest of the Amazon treasures were so easy to repeat in other places. Things like oil, water or even oxygen. A day will come when we will also fight for it, and somebody smart will sell it in cans. The brand AmazO2n will be a market leader. And how! In the meantime, like a free-sample marketing ploy, we stuff our lungs with it. They can’t take that away from us!