A Day Trip to the Amazon Golf Course

The Amazon Golf Course flower garden on Oct. 3, 2009

Saturday morning Marmelita and I flagged down a motocar to take us to the Amazon Golf Course. We agree to pay the S/10 sole 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.

Riding 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 photo below with 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.

Transporting large blocks of melting ice.

The 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 across the road from a couple of my favorite restaurants, La Tullpa, and Sabalitos Asado. 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.

The 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 feeding the piranhas at the Amazon Golf Course

Mike Collis was already there. He always brings 3 kilos of cooked rice, 4 kilos of fish and chicken scraps, and S/2 soles of bread to feed the piranhas in the water hazards. They roil 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.

Mike and Elizibeth feeding the piranhas

Margarita 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 them selves on.

The turtle water hazard at the Amazon Golf Course

The turtles were donated to the Amazon Golf Course by Dr. Noelia Raffo Moron.

Rodrigo releasing the turtles into their new home

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.

Walter dip netting fish from the water hazards to identify which and how many species of fish inhabit the water at the Amazon Golf Course

I 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.

The Amazon Golf Course, and the 9th green after the grass has grown back through the sand and rolling application to make it more firm

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.

Adding sand, and rolling it flat to make the 9th green at the Amazon Golf Course more firm

The treatment is working, they were more firm.

The 6th green at the Amazon Golf Course getting the sand firming treatment

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.

A water hazard at the Amazon Golf Course cleaned and landscaped with blooming bushes

Part of the crew have been working on cleaning and shaping the water hazards.

Another water hazard landscaped with blooming bushes

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.

This water hazard was reshaped, cleaned, and is ready for more blooming bushes

I 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.

The flower garden on the west side of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

The highlight for us were 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.

The flower garden on the east side of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

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 Saturday numbered 8.

This mother suri grub was living in a rotton aguaje log

The wildlife is the mother suri grub from a rotten aguaje tree that Rodrigo was working with to make tables and seats for the driving range shade structure.

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.

For those in the know, and now that would be you, 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 soles, or around $5. 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 soles. Guido ate half a charcoaled chicken and a ball of tacaho for S/12, or around $4. All together, it was a feast.

Looking up at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse from the road

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. Your support is much appreciated.

Mike, Bill, Harry, and the club house that needs painting

We arrived back at our office at the corner of the beginning of Nauta St. and the Malecon Boulevard, overlooking the river, # 185, around 3:30pm, with our bellies full, tired but happy. It had been another good productive day at the Amazon Golf Course.

Double water hazard with new planting of blooming bushes at the Amazon Golf Course

If you are in Iquitos, join us next Saturday so you can see with your own eyes what Mike Collis calls the miracle of the Amazon Golf Course.

A Day Trip to the Amazon Golf Course

Bill Grimes, Manager of the Amazon Golf Course

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Beware of the Piranhas at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru

Mike Collis releasing 105 hungry piranhas to guard the 5th water trap.

The fish had been travelling in a big bucket for over an hour and by the time they were released into their new home over 20 had to be resuscitated by gently holding them upright in the water until they revived and swam off. Fortunately, of the 105 piranhas delivered, only 1 died.
 
2 Irish golfers, Barry Hyland and Sean Feely, were playing a round of golf at the time. They witnessed the release and took the photos. Barry and Sean recommend not retrieving golf balls from the water traps.

Beware of the Piranhas at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru

Mike Collis, Iquitos Times

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