Pongos in Amazonas
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Going from the place (already mentioned) where two highways fork at ten kilometers away from the 24 de Julio bridge or Corral Quemado bridge, the Transcontinental Olmos-Marañon Road interns itself into the forest and runs parallel to the Marañón river.
This stretch is the one that might be called the "route of pongos" (canyons). The waters of the Marañón river pass through this place and perforate the Cordillera Oriental in its way towards the East to join with Ucayali river and to form the Amazon river.
It would be enough to observe this wonderful picture of nature, formed by a series of natural porches with masses of foliage, palm trees and gigantic ferns to emphasize the geographical and tourist importance of the department of Amazonas.
Beginning from Bellavista, the big pongos of Marañón are the following:
- Pongo de Rentema, to the north of the outlet of Chamaya river.
- Pongo de Mayo.
- Pongo de Mayasita, to the south of Nazareth.
- Pongo de Cumbinama, to the north of Nazareth.
- Pongo de Huaracayo
- Pongo de Manseriche, in the limit between the department of Amazonas with Loreto.
The Pongo de Rentema, in the province of Bagua, is the first one of all these successive natural porches. In these natural porches, the Marañón works on the mountain range to jump to the Amazon plain and opens the route of the pongos. Three rivers join themselves in an impressive spectacle, to go through the first mountain pass towards the cordillera de Rentema:
- The Chinchipe comes from the north, the Utcubamba from the south and, in a same point, they join together thicken the Marañón.
- When the Marañón river receives the waters of the Santiago river that comes from the north, and becomes a river of enormous turbulent flow, waved in rapids and whirlpools, as if it is preparing for its last big assault to the Cordillera Oriental, to cross it in the famous Pongo de Manseriche.