"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
6 Dec 2022
Not many have heard of Shanay Timpiksha, a river flowing with boiling hot waters hidden in the dense forests of the Amazon in Peru. According to records, this river's steaming blue waters, which are surrounded by 60-foot walls of lush green forest and stones, can reach temperatures of up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Locals claim this river is sacred, and the hot waters offer therapeutic properties.
According to locals, young explorer Andrés Ruzo listened to his Peruvian grandfather tell the legend of Shanay-timpishka, also known as La Bomba and Boiling River, an ancient name that roughly translates to "boiling with the heat of the sun."
The legend stayed with Ruzo and so when he became a geophysicist he decided to explore whether the river existed. He started by drawing a thermal map of Peru and later uncovered one of the biggest geothermal phenomena on any continent: an extremely enormous hot area.
In 2011, Ruzo set out on an expedition to Central Peru. He located the river and found that it is guarded by the shaman of the small town Mayantuyacu. With the Shaman’s permission, Ruzo could study the waters of this unique river.
Ruzo thought this feature was strange because there isn't any volcanic or magmatic activity close by. After doing some research and testing various theories, he concluded that the river's high temperatures were being caused by a fault-led hydrothermal feature. That’s the reason why the average temperature of the river is 187 degrees Fahrenheit, which is really hot!