Hello again from Iwokrama! And advanced apologies for the bumper journal entry, this is one of the rare places I will have the internet, and we have quite a bit of free time here and so most people end up online so I might as well keep you posted:) Since my last entry we've been very busy here. Yesterday (Sunday) we went into the village to pick up some wood that one of the guys, Rudy, had cut from the trunks of trees cut down for the new airstrip in Fairtown. Unfortunately the morning was a bit rubbish because my chest pain had reached it's worst and I was finding it hard to move things. The latest theory is that my Doxy Malaria pills are giving me a tightening of the chest and so making things difficult for me when I eat etc. Anyway, after lunch back here at the field station, i started to feel a little bit better and after watching Manchester United win....and tottenham draw (poorly) i was up and about. It was a bit embarrassing talking to the guys here about how good my team could be and then watching them perform so blandly. It was fun though because one of the guys here is obsessed with Rooney and so he was almost as energetic as the spanish commentator who shouted GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLL Henrik Larsson, (pause) GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL Manchester United when they scored, and kept breaking spanish to mention the "welsh wizard" ryan giggs, it was just like the Chris Waddle sketch on the fast show, awesome!

Anyway, after the match Bernie was asleep and Canadian John was at the Rangers Station and I was feeling better to i got a brush from Eustace in the supply room, and some detergent, and then started to scrub the central atrium in the main building. I will try and show you a photo of it but basically it's an octagonal room in the centre of the two-storey thatched field station. It is coated in mildew and moss because the rain water comes in in the central hole in the roof. So I set about clearing this stuff, feeling a bit guilty at not helping so much in the morning, and feeling my Domestic Rep (Rupert you'll feel the same I'm sure) side emerge again. After an hour of dripping with sweat i'd cleared a bit but it looked little changed. By which time John and Bernie came in and started to help, soon Tilly (the tourism officer) joined in and before long we'd cleared it all, hosed it, and left a green patchy concrete floor with eight raised podiums in it. With capital fm playing on the internet we'd worked all afternoon. We sat outside with beers basking in the late sun and feeling really quite proud of ourselves! A great feeling of achievement.

Last night I watched the Illusionist (pirate) with a couple of the guys (we'd seen Blood Diamond the night before) and then went to bed. This morning Lewis the guide, or Ant, and Taki the boatman, or Dec, took me, John and Bernie up to Turtle mountain, a 2300m trek up a steep hill (We measured and taped off every 100 metres). At the top we had the most amazing view, a huge expanse of the jungle stretched before us, and the esquibo river wound amongst it. We could see where the sun was bringing light and where the rain was soaking the canopy, it was just breathtaking. As John pointed out, in Brazil we'd have seen patches of farmland, but in Guyana nothing like that has arrived yet. We saw yellow-tipped Vultures swooping, and an eagle flew over us. We took a whole load of (mostly rubbish) photos and then walked back down, swinging on the vines like Tarzan as we went. At the bottom (where we'd seen a spider-monkey earlier) we ate some fresh papaya before taking the boat over the rapids on the way home.

This afternoon we set about painting the atrium now that it's been cleaned, and before it gets dirty again. We're using anti-fungal roof paint to paint it all green and then we're putting colourful plants in pots on the different podiums. After that I played a bit of barefoot football.

I'm not sure what we're up to tonight, but mostly i'm trying to stay away from Ant and Dec! They are definately our favourites, but Bernie and I kept winding up Ant (Lewis) about how he acts with one of the kitchen girls, Denise, and so everytime they were together she'd look shy and he'd be giggling as we winked, nudged and gave him the thumbs up. Well it turns out the cheaky b***** had told her that she'd caught my eye. So now she comes up and hugs me. Odd stuff! As for Dec (Taki) we're unsure if he has one wife, or three, and forty children or none, one thing's for sure, he has about fifty cousins who he keeps introducing me too awkwardly, and he likes Bernie.....a lot.

Right, that's enough from me, I shall try and keep updating, but the week is getting busier and after this week we're heading further into the jungle so no t'internet access there. For our 6 days off we're either going to try and go to the Rockview Lodge earlier and work or go to another village or something. Places to stay are upwards of 200dollars US a night for a twin room, which is why we're trying to keep Karanambu and Kaiteur for the last two weeks. Also that means that Joanna can go to those as she doesn't join us for another few weeks. I'll keep you posted! Off for supper, hopefully Fried Cassava again tonight!