Encontro das Águas

[asakiyume]

The meeting of the waters is where the Rio Negro joins the Amazon--or, as Brazilians name the upper portion of it, the Rio Solimões--at Manaus, Brazil. This happens over a thousand miles east of where I was in Leticia, Colombia. In other words, the broad, broad waters I experienced were the Rio Solimões/upper Amazon before the Rio Negro adds its waters in.

This vasty vastness is what you get where they join. For perspective, look at the size of that boat in the first few seconds (the whole video is less than a minute long). Because of the difference in what the waters are carrying, they flow side by side without mingling for a good while.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

That is really cool. Thank you for sharing!

[asakiyume]

Thank you for enjoying it with me!

[wayfaringwordhack]

How marvelous to see the meeting of the waters from this angle and vantage...and inspiring (could picture a world-building detail like this). I have seen it before but in old documentaries with much-poorer image quality.

[asakiyume]

Same--I think what I saw was a still photo from water level. The waves of intermingling are great.

[digitalsidhe]

I encountered this once in a Google Maps satellite view — I forget why I was scrolling around there, but I saw it and was entranced. It's kind of fun to start about here, at this zoom level (or maybe even a little larger), and just start following it east. It keeps going for a looooonnngg time!

But this video gives a whole new view of it! It's so amazing! I love the swirls of turbulence at the border. Thank you so much for sharing.

[asakiyume]

Oooh, and thank **you** for the link to Google Maps! That was fun!

[sartorias]

That's pretty amazing!

[asakiyume]

I love seeing the curls of one and the other where they join.

... and I like the bigness.

SO BIG.

[sartorias]

YESSSS.

[sovay]

Because of the difference in what the waters are carrying, they flow side by side without mingling for a good while.

That's so wonderful. It looks like a join of land, except for the white water.

[asakiyume]

My dad did think the brown water was land when I showed him! But no. Alllllll water.

[amaebi]

That's so evocative for me.

I have, extraordinarily for me, been in four countries in the last month and a half. In France, on Mallorca (Spain), and now in the United States I have felt as if there's another me carrying on ordinary life in Yorkshire: I just didn't know anything about it. When I was back in Yorkshire, I felt as if there were mes still carrying on in France and Spain. There are still there. There's a me in Yorkshire. I expect that when I return to Yorkshire there will be a me carrying on here for some time.

But each of those shadow-mes will, I'm pretty sure, fade off. The Colorado me that persisted when I first went to Yorkshire faded off after a couple of months....

[asakiyume]

Maybe people in the places you've left see those shadow yous, growing fainter and fainter until at last they're gone.

[med_cat]

Wow

[asakiyume]

It's quite a sight!

[med_cat]

Indeed