Peru - Flying Fish

At the end of our river trip in Manu, a lowland rainforest region in Peru, we were dropped off by boat at Boca Manu airstrip. Remote and basic, the grass landing strip boasted a wooden shack departure lounge containing an intriguing communications centre consisting of a car battery attached by crocodile clips to a radio set.

To keep battery usage to a minimum, each conversation  was completed by disconnecting the clips. Our radio operator checked flight details with Cuzco control and advised there were two passengers, plus one catfish (Surubim) freshly caught for his wife. The plane bounced in to pick us up and, as we boarded, the huge fish was wrapped in newspaper and stowed in the compartment beneath us.

Takeoff was exciting. The small plane galloped down the runway and left it late to rise above a light plane which coca smugglers had overloaded with their drugs, crashed, and abandoned earlier in the year at the end of the runway beside the rainforest.

As we soared from lowlands to climb above the Andes, the pilot and co-pilot donned their oxygen masks. We looked around for our own masks and realised there were none for the passengers. Gulping for air, like beached fish, we finally made it down to breathe just a little more oxygen in Cuzco.