Roldan Canaquiri shuffles over dried reeds that crackle under his bare feet, and climbs slowly down the riverbank, testing the soft earth with his toes before each step. The big winter rains have come and the river is rising: every day part of the bank collapses into the swirling foam below. But Roldan is not afraid. The Kukama Indigenous elder has lived on the Marañón River in Peru’s northern Amazon for nearly all of his 89 years. Although he’s lost most of his sight and hearing, Roldan never misses his afternoon pilgrimage to bathe in the cooling waters.
He steps into a small canoe. His wife Juana reaches out to steady him. She is never far from his side. In his youth Roldan swam in the Marañón but now he sits on the boat’s wooden bench, lathers up with soap and uses a small plastic basin to rinse with river water.
