The cargo ship doesn’t leave on a schedule. It leaves when it’s full.

Men worked 24/7 loading by hand — three watermelons balanced on a shoulder, sacks of rice up a plank, tens of thousands of oranges. Then came the pigs. Then 40 cows. Then two semi trucks drove aboard (Yurimaguas is the end of the road).

We finally departed at 3AM. And then stopped again at 6AM.

The latest Sternberg Heads South covers riding a cargo ship through the Amazon, and what happens when the primary cargo isn’t you.