Today was our first of 2 visits to the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle. 

Here we travelled to Pimpilata a very small town and from there in open topped truck travelled into the jungle to our homestay on the Napo river, one of the Amazons 2 main tributary´s and stayed with a local Quichan family, the husband of the household was also a Sharmen. - Delfin.

Now when I say a Sharmen, please don´t think I´m talking about Mr C here and that our nice host spent his time chanting about how "eeza good!" A Sharmen is well for all intense and purposes, like a witch doctor, he/she is used by people in Ecuador in place of Doctors. They treat everything from mental, to physical illnesses, with a mix of potions, soul cleansing and plants and herbs taken frorm the Amazon jungle. Whatever or however they do it, it must work! as the survival rate for people who are treated like this is the same as those that are treated using just western medicine. 

There are lots of western medicines that are generated from trees and plants in the Amazon, Quinine that treats Malaria being the most well known and there are still more cures for aliments out there in the jungle that haven´t been brought back and used in western medicine. The reason for this is sadly money and that pharmacutical companies can make more money using the products they already have on the market and therefore wont invest in new remedies out there.

Anyway, here´s more of what I did in the jungle.....

Well where I stayed was very very rustic and exactly the same type of accomodation that the family stayed in, a wodden shack with no running water, just a cold water tap outside, certainly no where to plug in your hairdryer or charge your mobile phone! but that just added to the appeal, the noise at night from the jungle was amazing!

During the day Delfin and his sons took us on nature walks to learn more about the medicine plants in the area, look for animals and birds and learn more about the different types of plants he uses to treat his patients. We also learnt why despite Ecuador being on the Equator it can rain so much (further south near in Chile you have the Attacama desert) Aparently its all down to currents, the Humbolt being the main one, which allows for the hot weather, lots of rain and therefore the diversity of the rain forrest.

In the afternoon I had my first taste of canyoning and climbing waterfalls with Delfin and his family (check out the pics)