Amazon Express
Photography by Erich Schlegel
F
rom August to December, 2012, Texas marathon paddler West Hansen completed the first complete descent of the Amazon River starting from the headwaters of the Rio Mantaro in the Peruvian Andes. Previous Amazon source-to-sea expeditions have begun on the Rio Apurimac, on a route that according to river explorer James “Rocky” Contos is shorter than the Rio Mantaro. Despite traveling some 50 miles farther than his predecessors, Hansen’s descent was the fastest Amazon sourceto-sea. However it was anything but easy.