Editing Marañón River (section)

== Description ==

The initial section of the Marañón contains a plethora of [[pongo (geography)|''pongos'']], which are gorges in the jungle areas often with difficult rapids.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
The [[Pongo de Manseriche]] is the final'' pongo'' on the Marañón located just before the river enters the flat Amazon basin. It is {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} long and located between the confluence with the [[Rio Santiago (Peru)|Rio Santiago]] and the village of Borja. According to Captain Carbajal, who attempted ascent through the Pongo de Manseriche in the little steamer ''Napo'', in 1868, it is a vast rent in the Andes about 600&nbsp;m (2000&nbsp;ft) deep, narrowing in places to a width of only 30&nbsp;m (100&nbsp;ft), the precipices "seeming to close in at the top." Through this canyon, the Marañón leaps along, at times, at the rate of 20&nbsp;km/h (12&nbsp;mi/h).<ref name=EB1911/> The ''pongo'' is known for wrecking many ships and many drownings.

Downstream of the Pongo de Manseriche, the river often has islands, and usually nothing is visible from its low banks, but an immense [[forest]]-covered plain<ref name=EB1911/> known as the ''selva baja'' (low jungle) or [[Peru]]vian Amazonia. It is home to [[indigenous peoples]] such as the [[Urarina]] of the [[Chambira Basin]] [http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=DEANXS07], the [[Candoshi]], and the [[Cocama-Cocamilla]] peoples.

A 552-km (343-mi) section of the Marañón River between Puente Copuma (Puchka confluence) and Corral Quemado is a class IV raftable river that is similar in many ways to the [[Grand Canyon]] of the United States, and has been labeled the "Grand Canyon of the Amazon".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-04-13 |title=The Grand Canyon of the Amazon Under Attack |url=https://www.oars.com/blog/paddling-with-a-purpose-on-perus-rio-maranon/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=OARS |language=en-US}}</ref> Most of this section of the river is in a canyon that is up to 3000 m deep on both sides – over twice the depth of the [[Colorado River|Colorado]]'s Grand Canyon. It is in dry, desert-like terrain, much of which receives only 250–350&nbsp;mm/rain per year (10–14 in/yr) with parts such as from Balsas to Jaén known as the hottest ''infierno'' area of Peru. The Marañón Grand Canyon section flows by the village of Calemar, where Peruvian writer [[Ciro Alegría]] based one of his most important novels, ''La serpiente de oro'' (1935).