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by Sam Dyson

Hello all, Sam here, for those of you who don’t know I am a friend of Ed’s from the Uppinghan days of West Bank. I was only there for two years until I was fifteen and then left, and although often infuriating, Facebook did allow us to meet up for a few beers a few years back when Ed told me about his plans to walk the Amazon. I thought the project sounded amazing and after a few too many this Christmas I emailed Ed and told him I would walk with him for a few months. Just so you all know I have absolutely zero jungle experience but am quite well travelled.

Four months later and 60kg of kit gathered, I arrived in Tabatinga to meet Ed. It was great to see him after lots or random emails and various delays, and although we had been in contact I think we were both slightly apprehensive about how it might all work between us. On arrival however we got on like we always have done and spent the rest of the day chatting like old times over a few beers.

We set off walking a few days later and arrived seven miles away in the nearest settlement which consisted of little tin huts and were abruptly stopped by the local police. The stark contrast was unbelievable between Tabatinga and this nearby settlement where we were viewed with the some distrust and thought to be potential organ traffickers. I was relieved to hear from Ed that he had met the chief of the town previously and although the police seemed to be brandishing their batons with glee there ended up being nothing to worry about at all.

We met with the chief shortly after and he invited us into the town and organised a family who were willing to feed us and allow us to hang out hammocks. During the general introductions to all the people of the village the chief was interested to hear that I was a martial arts instructor and asked if I would be willing to teach the previously mentioned local police a thing or two. As the time drew near Ed and I were pleased to see no one had arrived for the lesson that had been announced through the town and thought we might be in for a restful evening. How wrong we were! Ten minutes later, thirty police officers were marching up the road and after an excessive amount of foot stamping, stood to attention to receive their lesson.

Within minutes there were around two hundred spectators from the town in addition to the 30 participants. Ed kindly volunteered to translate from English to Spanish for me, which was then translated from Spanish to basic Portuguese by Cho. Within a few minutes the lesson was in full swing and the locals seemed to love seeing Ed being repeatedly thrown to the ground during the demonstrations before practicing on each other. The chief of police was particularly keen, and very competent, and we ended by swapping an Indian Police Service t-shirt for a Fight School t-shirt of mine, its now an international brand!

Training the Indian Police Service - Walking the Amazon from Walking the Amazon Videos on Vimeo.

Sam, on day one of walking had to drop his pack and summon the energy to train the Indian Police Service in basic self defense.

Tomorrow we start a crossing that takes us through the jungle for eight days before we see the Solimoes (the name for the Amazon here) again. We’ve just (10pm) secured 2 Ticuna guides.

Sam