I felt incredibly relaxed in the beautiful, tranquil, comfortable surroundings of the Muyuna Lodge in the Amazon Rainforest - I had not a care in the world as I dozed in my hammock on the balcony overhanging the water, watching fish splashing and listening to the birds chirping during the day and the frogs croaking at night. The lodge served great food and had the perfect balance between activities and free time to relax.

Several times a day I would go for excursions in a boat with my guide, Hulbar, and I saw some fascinating wildlife. Hulbar was superb at spotting animals and always full of interesting explanations, he grew up in a jungle village and had studied biology so was extremely knowledgable and made the journeys fun.

I felt privileged to have shared the home of the people, animals and plants of the Amazon for a few days - I felt very close to nature there - drinking from a vine in the forest, putting my hands in a termite nest, seeing a mother sloth with a baby and the bizarre Hoatzin bird, catching a piranha fish, holding a caiman, having an anaconda around my neck, the list goes on... We also visited some local people and villages, who were so welcoming and friendly - it was a fantastic experience.

Day 1

The lodge is situated in the middle of the flooded forest, more than three hours by speed boat from the city of Iquitos in northern Peru. I had flown from Lima to Iquitos during the night and then had to wait around for a few hours before the boat to the lodge - I killed some time by having breakfast at Ari's Burger in Iquitos's main square. I had an acai drink which reminded me of good times in Brazil!

The boat made a gasoline stop at one point along the river and there we saw people transporting bananas to the city for sale. They had a live turtle stuffed in between some crates on their boat - I really hoped they weren't planning to eat it... It was a bumpy boat ride and it was hot hot hot so by the time I arrived at the lodge I was pretty tired but I was already excited about what was to come over the next few days, having passed lots of big graceful white egrets and some black vultures skulking menacingly in the trees on the way there.

The first outing was a walk through the muddy jungle, dodging vines overhead and watching out for snakes underfoot. There were some interesting fruit, flowers and mushrooms growing there. There was one particular vine that the guide cut and liquid came pouring out which we could drink - apparently many of the vines in the forest provide juice like this but some are poisonous and it is very hard to tell the difference between them so it's not advisable to try it on your own!

On the trail we came across a fer-de-lance snake, which is deadly poisonous! The guides whacked it with a stick to stun it so we could have a closer look - it had a huge fang that could easily pierce a pair of boots. After we had had a look and taken some photos they picked up the snake with a stick and flung it into the bushes while we ran ahead out of its way!

We also saw a beautiful big butterfly and a caterpillar, big bullet ants, small red fire ants and trains of leaf cutter ants - walking in a line carrying their little pieces of leaf. Hulbar invited us to put our hands on a termite nest on the tree - it was a bit weird at first - I let the termites crawl over my hands and then rubbed my hands together and on my face - apparently it acts as a natural insecticide.

There were soooooo many mosquitos there and I got covered in insect bites - every time I stood still to take a photograph they would go for my hands (one of my hands swelled up quite a lot!). Thankfully that was the only jungle walk I did, all the other excursions were in a boat where the insects didn't bother me so much.

Later that night we took a boat trip in the dark, listening to the chorus of thousands of frogs. There was a totally clear sky - it was perfect for viewing the stars. We saw a Peruvian pink-toed tarantula on a tree and many different little frogs among the plants at the edges of the river. We also saw a sloth right up close - it is a very unusual-looking creature with a cute face and small head but long arms and legs and very long claws.

At one point we stopped the boat and one of the guides caught a small speckled caiman right out of the water with his hands - I held it for a couple of minutes - it was very scary!

Day 2

I woke up to the sound of various birds singing and looked out over my balcony overhanging the flooded forest - I felt so relaxed!

In the morning I went on a boat trip but it rained a lot. I saw the tuqui tuqui bird (after laying an egg, the female leaves the male to hatch and raise the chicks!), some squirrel monkeys in the trees (from far away) and an iguana in a tree.

We stopped at a local house to seek shelter from the rain for a while and they happily welcomed us in. All the houses in the area are built on stilts to deal with the rising and falling level of the river. However, many of them were now flooded as the river was higher than it had been any time in the previous ten years. Even the chickens were stranded on small mounds of land that remained above the water - they couldn't go anywhere. The house we visited was just high enough to escape flooding but rain was forecast to continue for another ten days so the people were very worried.

There was a large family there, three generations. They had a bright green pet parrot, which apparently could talk but it didn't do it while I was there. They were cooking catfish on the fire and had pens with a pig and chickens in the kitchen.

Hulbar found an anaconda at the back of the house and brought it inside (apparently it had killed a couple of their chickens recently). He held it for us to look - the children in the family were just as fascinated as we were. While Hulbar was explaining information about the anacondas, it pooed all over the floor and the lady of the house had to come and clean it up! He held it around my neck for a minute, which I didn't like because I could hear it hissing!

In the afternoon of Day 2 I went for another boat trip (it was only me now because the other guests had left) and this time the weather was very nice I saw a sloth meandering through the trees carrying a baby - apparently they only mate once every four-five years and the female can store the sperm in her body and give birth several times over that period!

I also saw two little amazon bamboo rats, sleeping in a hole in a tree, and eight or nine long-nosed bats sleeping on a tree trunk, some with babies - they flew away when we came close.

We went to a lake to see the famous pink dolphins of the Amazon - it was a bit disappointing, I didn't really see anything - every now and then I would hear a splash but by the time I looked they were gone, oh well...

Day 3

In the morning I went bird watching and saw several of the the bizarre looking Hoatzin birds, with crazy feathers on their heads and turquoise rings around their huge eyes. It is a very big bird and looks clumsy when it flys. I also saw several different types of Kingfisher, a grey owl and some small parakeets hanging out beside a wasps nest - some parakeets lay their eggs inside wasps' nests.

In the afternoon I took a long boat trip with a lovely Canadian couple, Chris and Margaret, and both our guides. We saw a red-headed iguana swimming across the river. The guides had packed a lunch in the hope of finding a family that would let us come and cook it in their home so we could share it with them. They had taken fish from the lodge but swapped it for caiman steaks at a nearby house - it is not really permitted to kill caiman for food but they said it had become trapped in a fishing net and died (I was a sceptical...).

We approached the village of Por Venir and the guides asked some men who were fishing whether we could have lunch in their house. They happily led us to the house and it turned out that our host was the town policeman. It was a more developed village than the one near the lodge - this one had a concrete path running though it and it had little shops, churches, a school and even a football pitch (though that was under water at the time).

While the man's wife prepared the caiman with plantains, rice and salad, I walked around the village, meeting many different people - everybody was very friendly. There was one man who was very excited to show me his pig and insisted that I take a picture of it! Some other guys came up and asked that I take their picture. I saw a couple of little monkeys tied up tightly to a table, they were screaming and jumping around, I felt sorry for them. There was a man who walked into the river to collect some fish from the communal nets. Many people had stacks of fish drying outside their houses.

After an hour I went back to the house and we all ate lunch together with the lady who cooked for us - the caiman was actually nice, it was cooked with a lot of salt, it looked and tasted like white fish but with a meatier texture. The family answered all our questions about life in the village.

On the way back we saw some of the Victoria Regia giant water lillies. All in all it was a great day.

Day 4

On my last morning I went on another bird-watching trip before breakfast - we saw more kingfishers and vultures as well as a cute little White-eared Jacamar bird, which was brown with white tufts on either side of its head. We were able to watch it eating mosquitos, catching them right out of the air.

After breakfast I went piranha fishing in the rain which was great fun. We used meat as bait and 90% of the time they got away with the bait, the clever little things! I managed to catch one and had several more near misses. Altogether in the boat we caught lots, there were so many of them in the water. They were red-bellied piranhas and it was amazing to see their sharp little teeth (just like in the cartoons!).

After lunch I had to bid a fond farewell to Muyuna and make the looong journey back to the city...