The bus journey was bad - either really hot or really cold and not at all comfy with a very bendy road. Not sure I slept at all and we arrived in Lago Agrio about 6.30am and had breakfast before our transfer bus turned up at 9.30. I was travelling with two Dutch girls (Malou and Lotta) from Secret Garden and we were eager to find out who else was on our trip. The transfer bus narrowed this down as only two lodges were on this 2 hour trip to the start of the river but it was not until we got to the river that we divided into our two groups.

There were 11 of us off to Samona Lodge and we piled into the canoe with our guide for the next 4 days Veronica. Our Amazon experience started on this jouney with us seeing howler monkeys, sakis, squirrel monkeys, white handed titis and milk drinking monkeys along with birds and lots of plants. The journey went winding through the jungle in the sunshine until we reached our lodge in time for lunch.

After lunch we were shown to our rooms and I was sharing with Sarah from Australia in a two bed room in Delfin hut. We then relaxed until it was near sunset when were headed by boat to Laguna Grande to swim and watch the sun go down. Early night for all after we returned and had dinner after the long journey from Quito but not before were met Panchito the caiman who visits the flooded lodge regularly and the large tarantula on the outside of our hut.

After one of the best night's sleep I had had for months we were ready for our visit to the local Siona community. Once we left the lodge we came across a pod of young pink dolphins (which are grey!). We followed them for a while and watched them jump - very rare as they are not designed to jump as they are missing a dorsal fin. Trying to capture them on camera proved impossible as they would never surface for long and you could never predict where they would surface next.

We headed to Veronica's village and met her grandmother who showed us how to dig up the yucas, grate them, dry them and then use just this flour to make bread on a clay pan on the wood fire. Once this was cooked lunch was ready and we got back in the boat and headed down river a bit to another community from where we walked to an enormous Samona tree that was over 200 years old. By this time the rain was coming down and back on the boat we hunted for the shaman in the pouring rain finally finding him and getting a lesson in how to become a shaman, what they do and also how to use a blow pipe!

We travelled back to the lodge again in the rain meaning our night walk was cancelled and also, as it was still raining in the morning, our morning bird watching was postponed. By the time we had breakfast the rain has eased off and we headed out on our jungle hike spotting more dolphins. The hike was throuogh the damp jungle learning about the medicinal properties of the plants, finding frogs, monkeys and a large swamp!

The rest of the day we relaxed and swam by the lodge until it was time to head to the lagoon again for more swimming and sunsetting before our night cruise. On the way we spotted woolly monkeys - one of my personal favourites. On the night cruise we saw more frogs, boas and a baby caiman. Our last night in the jungle and other than fighting cockroaches every might I was going to miss sleeping so well. The next morning we got up early for a birdwatching cruise seeing jungle chickens, macaws, cormorants, kingfishers, vultures, hawks and toucans. This made my trip complete except for not seeing a sloth :(

Back at the lodge we packed and started our long journey back to Quito arriving in the city at 10pm ready for bed again and a decent shower!