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Features / Archive

27 October, 2009 16:46:28 | in sports

A Day Trip to the Amazon Golf Course

By Bill Grimes
Manager of the Amazon Golf Course

Amazon Golf CourseSaturday morning Marmelita and I flagged down a motocar to take us to the Amazon Golf Course. We agree to pay the S/. 10 fare, loaded up three large bottles of water, and an equally large container with 6 turtles in water and we were ready to go.

There was a big rain storm Friday night, with high winds, and the streets were still wet, but the day was overcast and pleasant. It was good to be out and I was looking forward to several hours at the golf course.

Every Saturday we provide free golf lessons from 10:00 to 12:00 for non-golfers, and we nearly always go to watch the golf lessons, check out the course, make sure everything is ship shape, pay the crew that works so hard to make your golf course playable, and to enjoy the day.

Amazon Golf CourseRiding the motocar through Iquitos and San Juan on the road to the airport, I remembered when I first came here over a decade ago. I wondered, “Where are all the trees? I thought this was the jungle.” Back then the road from the airport through San Juan was one ugly barren street, home to ware houses, mechanic stalls, the Caterpillar dealership, a Holiday Inn converted to a university, road side stalls and rusty metal roofs. Since then thousands of hibiscus, pomarosas, palms, hibiscus, and flowers, have been planted and more are being planted today. The road through San Juan from the airport will never be renamed Beautiful Boulevard but the trees and blossoms make a beautiful improvement, and an important investment in the future that will pay increasing dividends as the trees and bushes grow.

Along the way we nearly always see something interesting, like the two guys hauling 3 large blocks of ice melting on the back of a motocar in the tropical heat. I hope they didn’t have far to go.

Amazon Golf CourseThe road turns left past the airport on the way to Nauta, and becomes the carretera which needs a tree planting beautification campaign of it’s own at least as far as the Quistococha Zoo.The IIAP research station is well landscaped and a few other places, but most of the properties’ road sides could stand some improvement, and there is plenty of room to landscape.

Just past the 5 kilometer marker the motocarrista pulled into the PetroPeru station to buy gas right. I was feeling lucky because the last two times we went to the Amazon Golf Course the motocars both broke down for long repairs. The first breakdown was permanent and we had to unpack our water and gear and flag down another motocar to finish the trip. This day the gas price was S/5.80 per gallon. With the sole only worth 2.86 that made the price of 84 octane gas $2.03 per gallon.
 
Amazon Golf CourseThe motocar pulled back on the carretera and barely had time to pick up speed as we passed three narrow sand streets, and then we turned to the right on the wide Zungarococha sand road with a small lumber yard on the closest corner. We bounced along the rough road for three or four minutes and turned to the right between the flower gardens and the rows of hibiscus bushes, through the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course and up the lane to the clubhouse. The trip took around 45 minutes.

Mike Collis was already there. He always brings 3 kilos of cooked rice, 4 kilos of fish and chicken scraps, and S/. 2 of bread to feed the piranhas in the water hazards. They boil up and create quite a commotion to get their share. A fasaco jumped several feet out of the water and dove on top of the feeding frenzy.

Amazon Golf CourseMargarita and Rodrigo went with Marmelita to release the 6 turtles in a special water hazard they had remodeled for the new residents. Now there is a sand ramp so the turtles can get up the bank easier and a log to sun themselves on. The turtles were donated to the Amazon Golf Course by Dr. Noelia Raffo Moron.

Our friend Walter brought his dip net and caught 5 species of fish from the water hazards to take back to Iquitos to have them positively identified by an expert. He did not net any piranhas.

Amazon Golf CourseI went into the club house and looked at the thermometer. It was 82 degrees at 11:00, and the sun was just breaking through the clouds. It had rained so much the night before we didn’t think there would be any students for the golf lessons but several turned up including the Comandante of the Army and a Major.

We inspected a couple of greens the crew have been working on to make more firm by spreading sand and rolling and packing it down. The treatment is working, they were more firm.

All of the greens have been improved by the firming treatment, and we will repeat the process several times, allowing the grass to grow through the sand each time before the next treatment, until they are as firm as we want them. Also, there will be 10 to 20 blooming bushes strategically placed around each water hazard to mark them so when you tee off, you will know where the water hazards are.

Amazon Golf CourseI strolled around looking at the trees and bushes we have planted near the club house and along the lane going down to the road. Most of them had grown and were healthy and beautiful. I admired the complete row of Ficus trees growing covered with tender new leaves just inside the fence, and the complete row of Pomarosa trees behind the Ficus. It had not been easy getting those two rows of trees to start. Several saplings had to be replanted, but now we have a full stand, and they are growing fast, showing new leaves.

The bougainvillea vine at the entrance has branched out and must be 5 times the size it was when we planted it. Small hibiscus bushes were already full of new growth and blooms. Palm tree starts had doubled in size.


Amazon Golf CourseThe highlight for us was the flower gardens on either side of the entrance. We built them the middle of August and less than two months later they are already filled in, blooming and beautiful.

At 12:30 we paid the crew. We have a great core crew of three, Margarita, Rodrigo, and Cesar, who doubles as our caddie and golf professor for the Saturday classes. The rest of the crew has a high turn over rate because we do not pay enough and the work is hard. We lost one of our most willing workers and best personalities. He was offered substantially more money and had little choice but to take that job, although he loved working with us. Our total crew on Saturday numbered 8.

After we discussed and planned the the next weeks work with Margarita and Rodrigo, we left for a late lunch. We had the motocar turn to the right, away from the carretera and we bounced along for 3 or 4 minutes until we went between two small cement bridge abutments allowing water from a large lake on the left side of the road to pass under the road to the other side and into a small stream. Then we turned to the left up an unmarked lane running parallel to the lake for a couple of minutes and parked next to the Arapaima Gigas restaurant.

Amazon Golf CourseFor those in the know, the Arapaima Gigas Restaurant crew kill and butcher a paiche every Saturday. The cooks make fresh paiche ceviche, and charcoal grill fillets of paiche. I enjoyed the grilled paiche, accompanied by a cocona, sweet pepper, charapita, onion, and lime salsa, with a charcoaled platano, and a salad, for S/. 15. It was too delicious to describe. Marmelita chose a Gamitana which was almost too large to eat all of, but she managed to add two platanos and cleaned her plate for S/. 15. Guido ate half a charcoaled chicken and a ball of tacaho for S/. 12. All together, it was a feast.

On the way back we drove slowly past the Amazon Golf Course and admired our handy work from the road. It’s coming along. There is still a lot to do before it becomes a self sustaining business. We need more signs, the clubhouse needs painting, the bushes and trees need several months to a year of growth to make more visual impact, and lots of other details. We are working on it.

For more information on the Amazon Golf Course, click here. To read the original article in the blog “Amazon Golf Course,” click here.


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2 Comments

# mutz says :
29 October, 2009 [ 08:54 ]
i think i will have to agree with Winston Chruchill here, 'Golf is a terrible way to ruin a good walk.' especially in the jungle.  
how was the course built? slash and burn? any environmental concern? atleast lthey could have left some more trees than just 3 palm trees, i mean its the jungle.
# mutz says :
29 October, 2009 [ 09:00 ]
thinking about it. though i do not like the game, maybe others in the are can learn to and it could be a way to promote some environmental awareness in the area, but planting more trees and appreciating the surrouding and bring som tourism to the area. best of luck .

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