As you see from The Amazon photographs I went on a memorable four day trip on a boat called The Selva Viva, run by a French NGO called Latitud Sur which is run by volunteers who are supporting local communities. One of their most impressive projects is helping a village to refine and extract a high-value oil from local trees which is then sold to the cosmetics industry. The villagers are receiving financial and practical support but the hope is that within two y...

I did warn that as I relaxed more my blogs might become less frequent. I arrived in Cusco, home of The Incas, on June 7th to prepare for the Lares Trek. Cusco is a beautifully preserved ancient city with many claims to fame,not least the highest Irish owned bar in the world. As spiritual home to The Incas it is a worthy centre for what was an amazing civilisation, many of whose traditions live today despite its turbulent and difficult history. The Lares Trek is ...