Again I have written a diary every day and will put it on here in chunks as limited and very slow internet as you can imagine in the middle of the rainforest!

Iquitos, Amazon Day 1

Well from one adventure to another. We arrived in Lima, Peru late last night and left early this morning for the jungle town of Iquitos. It is only accessible by air and when descending you could see why as we flew over miles and miles of beautiful rainforest with the mighty muddy Amazon river snaking it's way through the centre. Our guide Basilio was waiting to meet us and we climbed into a beautiful old bus made of mahogany with no windows, not even a windscreen so we hoped the driver didn't get blinded by a stone thrown up from the road! We drove through the hustle and bustle of the rubber boom town to a dock where we boarded a motorised wooden boat and made the one hour journey upriver to our lodge. It was brilliant to be here, very hot and humid but great to pass by small villages on the riverfront with locals bathing, washing their clothes and everyone cheerfully waving at us as we passed. They seemed so pleased to see us we felt like the royal family and when we asked Basilio he said that it was because they are very proud that we come to visit where they arefrom and just as fascinated by us gringos as we are of them. After a yummy lunch of rice, beans and fried manioc we got back in the boat to head out for the afternoon. We travelled upstream for an hour again enjoying the sights and sounds of the river and stopping to see both the native pink and grey dolphins jumping around us. They have adapted to freshwater life since it was all sea and it was lovely to see them as we had been warned it wasn't always to be- we seem to have developed some luck for animal sighting! We turned off the Amazon into a tributary called the Napo and stopped the boat under some trees. Basilio announced that this is where we would fish for pirahnas. We though he was joking but sure enough some bamboo sticks with string and a hook on the end were produced together with a box of bits of beef! We put some bait on and as soon as you put your string in the water you could see and feel the pirahnas going for it. He caught 8 without even looking one after the other but I would describe our experience as more feeding than fishing- as soon as the hook with the beef went in it was gone off the end! I didn't mind though as they had massive teeth and I didn't really want to get that close! I've never been normal fishing and expect that was the first and last time I will go but it seemed a lot more exciting than what I've heard. After the bait was finished we went to see a family who had a pool housing giant water lillies. They were huge and we were lucky as they also had flowers. As well as the lillies they had a very cute pet sloth who wasn't chained or kept in a cage I'd anything but had been rescued as an orphan and was now part of the family. He was very sweet and could be stroked and admired as he slept on a pole! As we were standing there we could hear thunder in the distance so we returned to the boat to come back to the lodge. I am now sitting in a long palm thatched building listening to the sound of the parakeets and whooping frogs who are singing a lovely chorus. I can see a beautiful big blue and yellow parrot called Pepe who hangs around saying hola occasionally and it all feels lovely and idyllic. The worst things to complain about are the abundance of bugs and a 5.30am start tomorrow- lucky us!

Amazon Day 2

Last night 8 people from the next door village of Indiana came and danced for us. It was fantastic and they did ones about sowing rice, making their local spirit Mayuto from spat out chewed manioc and river water and the healing powers of the Anaconda using a real one that they danced round the audience with. Straight after it finished we shot to bed to get some sleep before getting up at 5.15 for our 5.45 departure in the boat downstream. It was beautiful to watch the sun rise over the Amazon and there was plenty of activity with people already out in their canoes. We arrived at our destination of the company's other
camp in time for breakfast at 7.30 and enjoyed a good meal with cocana
juice, a local fruit with antioxidant properties accompanied by a big friend rodent called a capybara whose name was Charlie. After that we set off into the rainforest for a 2km hike to a canopy walkway. On our way we stopped regularly to learn about the flora and fauna and also saw tamarind monkeys and a troop of yellow handed spider ones watching us as we watched them. It was very hot and humid but great to be there and we were excited to reach the first treehouse. The 0.5 mile long treetop walkway was built to enable scientists to study the canopy without using harnesses and had 15 platforms up to 118ft high. It was quite basic and probably wouldn't pass stringent British health and safety standards as essentially it was a net with an aluminium ladder in the
bottom with a board on top to walk along. It was amazing to walk alongside the top of the trees though and look down at the birds and forest floor and we felt very lucky to have the oppurtunity to do that. An hour later after descending from the last platform we made the walk back through the rainforest to the camp where we started, stopping for water at the scientific research station that they have. When we arrived a yummy lunch of rice, beans and plantain with chicken
for the meateaters (i've gone pescatarian for the time being) waiting for us which we were starving for. After two platefuls we walked to see the local holistic shaman followed by a hilarious bird called a trumpeter that acted like a dog. Well it looked hilarious and they told us it was kept there because it caught snakes- this was hard to imagine when you saw it as it was only a foot high but when we saw it go for the very calm sweet dog and jump on it's back growling we saw it's fiery side. The shaman talk was brilliant. He had a big medicinal garden and talked to us about the uses for all the different plants through our guide. It
was fascinating but the best bit came at the end when he asked the two of us to sit in front of him and wrapped headbands made from tree bark around us. He peformed a ceremony singing and flapping a tree branch all over us to remove negative energies and spirits. He then rubbed us with rosewood oil which symbolises good luck in his village. It was lovely and we felt very honoured to have received it. Afterwards he painted us with a temporary tattoo from a plant that only appeared 2 hours later! Charles got a scorpion and I got a toucan on our arms. After a fabulous visit we went back to the boat for an hour and a half journey home. We are now about to go out tarantula hunting in the dark before dinner which is a bit scary but the guide assures us is safe "we will hold them" he says...I'm not so sure about that but it will be a good experience!

Amazon Day 3 Part 1

Last night's tarantula hunting was very successful. We saw 4 massive ones in their holes they call home. Our guide Basilio had a twig he used to coax them out which was a little scary when they ran near us but it was great to see these massive hairy arachnids. We also saw lots of big nocturnal bugs by torchlight including huge grasshoppers, stick insects and millipedes. This morning we went out again in the boat downstream and did some dolphin spotting. There were lots of grey ones all around us and one made a huge leap out the water that I've never seen before and Basilio said was quite rare. We then carried on and stopped at a very small village of the yahua tribe called Tahaucu. At first it seemed a bit weird being there like it was a zoo but Basilio assured us that they had chosen to live more traditionally and when he had lived in a tribe as a kid they had been very proud when people came to see them. The company that owns the lodge also looks after them. Anyway it was beautiful to see them in the traditional grass skirt outfits and they did some lovely dances for us and got us up dancing with them at the end. After that they gave us a blowgun demonstration which they use to hunt with poison darts. They then invited us to have a go and I'm pleased to say I had beginners luck and hit the target first time! Charles took a few goes but got there too to great cheering- Although he wants me to write that he did go first! We also bought some bits they had made including lots of maracas as we picked them up and then found some better ones but felt too guilty to replace the first set! Afterwards we crossed the river
to visit their school in the more modern village on the other side. The school was closed, however, as the teacher hadn't turned up which apparently is quite usual and some kids haven't been able to go for months. After looking round the rain fell on us as it only can in the rainforest (although it is very refresing in the heat) and we headed back to the lodge to play with pepe the parrot who is hilarious and likes to get your drink for himself and have more yummy rice and beans for lunch. I will update you on the rest in a couple of days!