As a boy growing up in Peru, Andrés Ruzo recalls his grandfather’s stories about the horrors Spanish conquistadores encountered in the Amazon, including a “boiling river.” Years later, Ruzo, a National Geographic Explorer, journeys into the Amazon to try to find the waterway.

For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard.

Want more?

Read Andrés’s book: The Boiling River: Adventure and Discovery in the Amazon.

Also explore: 

Curious what you can do to help the river’s ecosystem? Go to www.boilingriver.org. 

For subscribers: 

Read a Q&A with Andrés to learn more about the communities that live around Shanay-Timpishka and the theories scientists explored to understand why the river boils.

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