In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle .....

!Hola Niños .... !

Well we are just back from a 4 day jaunt deep in Amazoia ..... 40 minutes on a plane ... 3 hours on a bus ... 3 hours on a motorboat ..... and finally we arrived in our ´cocaracha´ infested shack .... the first night we went for a little wander in the jungle in the dark following a swim in a rainforest lagoon ..... refreshing I must say but I was very much on the lookout for crocodiles and piranha .... Below is a picture of the resident baby wooly monkey called Pancha who just likes to stay in the camp and steal food from the table when you arent looking ....

Day two in the jungle .. we went for a big long walk where our multitalented guide taught us to climb trees and make fire ....after a 4 hour walk through the jungle it was completely unbelieveable that we had only covered 4 km .... thats the jungle for you ... then back to the camp and followed by a quick dip in the lagoon ..... look at this for a jungle sunset

Day three and we where off to visit an indigenous community and see how they make their traditional yucca bread ..... on the way thereI got to indulge in some Beetle grubs which are laid inside coconuts and when hatched eat their way out .... Sorry tried to upload the video but it was just too huge ..... here a before picture anyways ....

It really did taste of coconut .... and that proves that really I will without a doubt eat anything and everything .... which reminds me .... got to eat lemon flavoured ants the day before ..... full of anty goodness ... Jesus only knows what my dietician would say .

Next our guide requested a volunteer for some of what he called natural accupuncture .... ever the idiot I thought yes I´ll have some of that .... it amount to being whipped with thorny nettles and really did itch .... and I must say had zero theraputic benefit .... but the welts went down after an hour or so .... looks a lot worse than it felt ...

Then it was off to the idigenous village where the nice Huaorani ladies made us some bread which to my poor palette tasted kind of like a coconutty wrap but was nice ..... go well with bacon ....we stayed a while and chilled while our guide ran riot with the local children .... they seemed to view him almost like santa claus and as he was thorughly enjoying himself who where we to interrupt. Then back to camp for dinner ...

After dinner it was off to the lagoon for a last look at the sunset and then off to see some caimen .... for the uneducated these are related to alligators or crocs but are generally a lot smaller and less aggressive. On the second attempt we managed to find one which was more than happy to pose for photos in return for cookies and bread .... it was very very dark but I managed to get a few photós.

Then it was back to camp for some sleep for a quick kip before disembarking on the 8 hour journey back to civilisation at 3 am. Much as I liked the jungle it was nice to return to civilisation eventually ..... looking forward to what this week brings .... Nichola would like to take me white water rafting and to be honest I am 99.7% convinced I should do it .... we only live once eh?

Well its off to ´la casa de Rita´for a lovely dinner and probably a kip ...... we are doing well and nobody is maimed or dead .... I faced my fear of long bus trips and Nichola faced the dreaded cockroach and came away a winner .... all is good ...

HASTA MANAÑA ....