Pongo de Manseriche

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The Pongo de Manseriche is a gorge in northwest Peru. The Marañón River runs through this gorge before it reaches the Amazon Basin.

Manseriche means "the one who frightens". Huaccanqui and Asnahuaccanqui are the names of the two most dangerous straits inside the pongo (canyon) itself. These names mean "You'll cry" and "You'll cry until you rot yourself". In this place, the Marañón river narrows up to 45 m (150 ft) wide, and even less.

The Pongo de Manseriche has a length of 12 km (7 mi). A little before its rapids begin, the Marañón river joins with the Santiago River and it measures 250 m (800 ft) wide approximately. Then it narrows rapidly after its rabid waters fit together between two colossal rocky walls that reach up to 40 m (130 ft) high.

The Pongo de Manseriche is 3 miles (4.8 km) long, located at 4° 27' 30" south latitude and 77° 34' 51" west longitude, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it and the old missionary station of Borja.

At the beginning of the Pongo de Manseriche, and when the width is a little bit more of 25 m, an enormous crag of 30 m high rises and the waters of the Marañón river precipitate against it with formidable force. At the end of the fall, a very dangerous maelstrom is formed, which is considered to be worse than that the Niagara Falls.

[edit] History

In 1619, the captain Diego Barca de Vega crossed this pongo and founded the city of Borja.

On November 24, 1864, the lieutenant of the Peruvian Navy Melitón Carvajal, furrowed the Pongo de Manseriche in a small steamboat, that is to say he crossed it upstream.

According to Captain Carbajal, who descended the Pongo in the little steamer Napo, in 1868, it is a vast rent in the Andes about 2000 ft (600 m) deep, narrowing in places to a width of only 100 ft (30 m), the precipices "seeming to close in at the top." Through this dark canyon the Marañón leaps along, at times, at the rate of 12 miles an hour (20 km/h).

The Pongo de Manseriche was first discovered by the Adelantado Joan de Salinas. He fitted out an expedition at Loja in Ecuador, descended the Rio Santiago to the Marañón, passed through the Pongo in 1557 and invaded the country of the Maynas Indians. Later, the missionaries of Cuenca and Quito established many missions in the Pais de los Maynas, and made extensive use of the Pongo de Manseriche as an avenue of communication with their several convents on the Andean plateau. According to their accounts, the huge rent in the Andes, the Pongo, is about five or six miles (10 km) long, and in places not more than 80 feet (25 m) wide, and is a frightful series of torrents and whirlpools interspersed with rocks. There is an ancient tradition of the indigenous people of the vicinity that one of their gods descended the Marañón and another ascended the Amazon to communicate with him. They opened the pass called the Pongo de Manseriche.

[edit] Adventures

During the year, when the swelling stage passes, the pongo is habitually crossed by the skilful aguarunas and pioneers of the Amazonas region. The engineers and members of the Peruvian Army who work on the highway pass it in speedboats made of aluminium.

The crossing of the Pongo de Manseriche is one of the most spectacular experiences that a tourist could savour in search of unforgettable adventures.