One of the things I was really keen to do in Ecuador was visit the jungle. Again this is something that I thought might be more difficult to organise on my own. I decided to visit Banos to organise the trip as it's on the way towards the Oriente (eastern Ecuador, the area containing the Amazon not where China and Japan is) and has many travel agencies. I decided to try the more reputable travel agencies (according to lonely planet) and ended up booking a trip in Cuyabeno (in the north of Ecuador, near Lago Agrio) so I could visit primary rainforest and increase the chances of seeing animals. I had only to requests that I joined a group and had an English speaking guide. I got neither, I joined one other man and our guide spoke only Spanish - ah well time to suck it up and get on with the jungle trip.

I first of all got the most uncomfortable nightbus I've ever been on overnight from Banos to Lago Agrio, I arrived at about 5am with sore knees and made my way to the hotel to be picked up. We travelled to Cuyabeno bridge first where we transferred to to a small boat to complete out trip into the Amazon. On the boat trip we saw some monkeys playing around, but it was just awesome to be in the jungle, the trees and plants along the Cuyabeno river were immense, the colours, size and density of flora was stunning, I guess exactly what you'd expect from a rain forest! We arrived to our cabin, which is just off Laguna Grande on the Rio Cuyabeno! En route we were treated to a nice tropical shower (we got drenched) but it was actually dry season and so the lake was on the decline. On the first day we had a short walk to/from out boat at the cabin in muddy ground because of the declining water levels. On the first evening we went looking for an anaconda but were unsuccessful. We then watched the sunset, almost exactly on the equator which was stunning, followed by a dip in the lake!

On the second day we were going to visit a shamen, first we went on a second anaconda hunt and were successful this time! It was amazing to see a large (approx. 6m) anaconda curled up on a log, we got really close (I'd say approx. 5m) which was exciting but a tad scary! It was just awesome. We then headed down river for a few hours to reach the shamen, it was interesting to see, and I even had my bad spirits dusted away by the shamen! We then returned back to the lodge, again it was just really cool to be sitting in a boat travelling through the amazon. By day 2 the walk to the lodge was a tad more difficult and definitely required willies. In the afternoon I chilled in a hammock, listening to the sounds of the jungle and finally finished reading crime and punishment (which I picked up in Zambia). In the evening we went on a night time nature walk in the jungle, this was another amazing experience, I just loved being in the jungle and we saw some spiders and a scorpion and a frog!

Day 3 began with a walk through the jungle, again I really enjoyed this, we saw some birds and lots of ants (I got to try some lemon ants - they tasted vaguely lemony) and I learned about some of the local medicinal plants! For me though, a lot of the enjoyment came from just being in the Amazon, amongst all those amazing trees and plants, it was just awesome! After another relaxing afternoon we went piranha fishing. This went a little against my beliefs, mainly because we were using red meat as bait, and wasting red meat to catch a fish just seems wrong! Also unfortunately because of the sinking lake levels most of the large piranha and moved down river leaving only the small ones, who are quite happy to nibble on the bait but don't take a big bite and don't get caught. I did catch a dogfish but Luis (the guide) threw it back. After the piranha fishing we watched the sunset again and then went caiman (like a croc) spotting.Using a torch it's relatively easy to see their eyes, but they often then submerge themselves before you get close. We did manage to see a massive black caiman at close range and a tiny white caiman! It was pretty cool. By the 3rd day the walk to the lodge was significant and muddy, at one point I managed to step into a patch deeper than the welly - lovely- soggy, muddy feet!

Then we had come to the final day in the jungle, I got up for an early morning boat trip to watch the sunrise and see some birds. We saw plenty of herrons and the like, lots of parrots (from a bit of a distance); who like to make a lot of racket and even saw some bats! Then we returned to Cuyabeno bridge (seeing a large group of monkeys playing in the trees en route) and got a bus back to Lago Agrio. I really enjoyed the trip to the Amazon, it was fantastic to be in such a unique and different environment compared to everywhere else I visited! Although there wasn't a wealth of animals, those I did see were fantastic. The entire experience was marred slightly by the company's failure to deliver what was promised but it was an amazing experience nonetheless!!