Where the Amazon river Wakes

It was our last morning on the cargo ship after four long days on the Amazon river…

traveling from Leticia to Iquitos. Fourteen of us, all backpackers, all strangers on the beginning but. Now friends. Had been sleeping in hammocks, sharing food, heat, silence, laughs, and a lot of time to ourselves.

The sun had just started to rise. The sky turned orange, lighting up the river like fire. Everything felt still.

Then this canoe passed by, quiet, steady, cutting across the reflection. The engine barely made a sound. The man wasn’t in a hurry. He was starring straight into the sunrise, like he was lost in a thought he didn’t want to leave.

It was simple, but it stopped me. The contrast between the movement and the calm, the size of the river, the silence, the light it all just came together.

This photo captures that feeling: of arriving, of pausing, of seeing something beautiful without needing to explain it.