Two months ago, he said, a person could walk through this forest and not get his feet wet. But now, it is home for the tambaqui, a fish that fattens on fruit that drops into the water. But Martins' hand-made harpoon never leaves its perch on the gunwale. Come back during the dry season, he says, when the fish are massed together in shrunken channels and lakes, making easy targets not only for fishermen, but for caimans and great flocks of birds. Everything gets tougher when the water rises.
People hurry to harvest their cassava before the river inundates their garden plots.
They refurbish floating corrals and begin the tedious job of cutting grass and foliage to feed their cattle. They make floating gardens. Some take a riverboat downstream to find seasonal work in the closest city, Tef . The water continues its rise. People living in floating houses check the ropes that tether their dwellings to trees.