After swimming into Gurupa and being cheered by a large mob of fans, Martin was stopped by city officials as the team prepared to move on after lunch. They warned him that a large boat was ambushed a few weeks ago in a long narrow channel between two islands, resulting in the deaths of two of the passengers.
The attack occurred approximately twenty km downstream from Gurupa, in the vicinity where the team was planning on sleeping for the night. The area between here and Belem is infamous for pirate attacks, and the Cassiquiari is an obvious target, so the team decided to hire four more armed guards who will join the expedition tomorrow, giving us a total of seven hired guns on the boat. As a further safety precaution, Martin and the team returned upriver to Gurupa after swimming another 63 km on the day. The current has slowed noticeably as we get closer to the ocean.
The satellites on the roof that control live web streaming have been damaged again by another storm, but we’re still working on getting it going again soon.