THE MYSTERIOUS BOILING RIVER OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST

   

When centuries ago the native communities of the Amazon told stories of a boiling river it seemed to be just a legend, but it was real... only a few years ago they found out that it was true, there is a river in the Peruvian jungle that boils at a temperature of 86° C. Called by the natives as SHANAY TIMPISHKA which translated means RIVER BOILED BY THE SUN, it is located in the deep jungles of the province of Puerto Inca in the Huánuco region and has a length of 5.4 kilometers and in some sections of the river it is said that the water reaches a boil of 94°C.

   

Although geographically this magical river is located in the Huánuco region, the easiest way to get there is through the PUCALLPA region, starting from Lima the distance to Pucallpa is 725 kilometers (16 hours by bus) and by plane it only takes 1.2 hours to reach Pucallpa, a city located in the southern jungle of Peru. After arriving in this nice city we must take a car or bus to the district of HONORIA (25 soles per person) the journey takes approximately 2 hours, after arriving in Honoria the next step will be to take a boat (30 soles per person) that will take us for 40 minutes along the Pachitea River to our destination, but it does not end here, then we must begin a walk of almost 1 hour in the middle of the jungle until we reach the famous HIRVIENTE RIVER, without a doubt a unique and unimaginable experience.

   

The boiling river is almost 7 kilometers long and has a maximum width of 25 meters. The water temperature is so high that there is no aquatic life of any kind and in recent years it has become a tourist attraction. Visitors, long before reaching the river, see enormous columns of steam rising from the dense Amazon jungle, making this experience something magical.

This river is also called MAYANTUYACU by the locals, for hundreds of years it has been a place of powerful spiritual power where shamans came in search of wisdom, without a doubt this is a unique river in the world and whose hot waters are due to geothermal sources underground its existence has generated great interest in the world scientific community due to its high temperatures and its possible relationship with climate change but the truth is that for native communities this is a sacred river and for that reason they have kept it hidden for centuries to protect it.