Stories From the Amazon - Amazon Architecture

As we headed downstream we came upon the community of Victoria. We needed to stop and arrange passage and ability to explore the region of this community. We were told by a local lady that was out in a dugout where the community "president" or "leader" lived. We headed to meet with him. Pictured is his location from the river;

We docked and headed up the cliff to meet with him. His young son greeted us with a bow and arrow, though a couple days later he was our buddy. The compound consisted of 2 open air building. One was basically the kitchen (it had a fire) - but was a complete marvel of architecture. There were no nails - just joints and joists that were put together by fitting them together.

You can see the incredible symmetry of the architecture from this interior shot of the hut. It is pretty amazing. It is also incredibly sturdy. The construction of these huts is a community project and takes about 6 months. The roof - though it looks flimsy - is quite watertight and will last up to 20 years (yes 20 years!) - so these are really architectural wonders that would be incredibly difficult to duplicate in the "civilized" world.

Speaking from experience, having a nice dry, covered space to meet, eat, or just to hang out is a pretty nice thing in the rain forest.

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