So the amazon jungle.

10th of July - early start, with the alarm going off at 5 o´clock and with the scheduled pick up at 5.30. After 2 weeks you´d think we´d have learnt that it doesn´t always work out that way. After waiting for over an hour the minibus finally beeped its horn outside our hostel. And we set off, with 8 other backpackers, guide, cook and the driver.

We stopped enroute to the jungle, at a preinca cemetery which had all be ransacked by the Spanish as they had been burried with their possisions. Also lots of toilet breaks and in small villages to learn a little about how the people live there.

Once in the cloud jungle, or high jungle, we stopped for lunch and a quick walk to spot the common wolly monkey and the national peruvian bird. This was fantastic to see in the wild and a real treat to spot. That night we stayed in a lodge in the cloud jungle, which was much fancier than I had expected.

11th July - another early start as we headed down from the high jungle into the heart of the amazon. On the way we stopped at an orphanage for the jungle animals, where we saw animals that we would never have had the opportunity to see otherwise. The 2 toed sloth, a baby ocelot and also an incredibly tame capybara. There was also many birds, a tortoise and a different bred of monkey.

Further on, we left the bus and headed down river both by swimming and boat to our lodge where we were to spend 2 nights. A proper walk in the jungle occured here, with the 11 tourists and the guide headed into the deep jungle. We truthfully didn´t see much, however I did get to eat termites, which were surprisingly minty, and apparently good for your stomach.

Also this day we took a night walk, although some people decided to skip this, Mez being one of them. Then we saw many a spider and lots of different bugs, gutted since there were no snakes.

12th July - Up well before breakfast and went to see the macaws and parrots on a claylick. We were very unfortunate here. Normally the birds sit on the wall eating and you can see them very clearly, however there was a falcon, which is a natural enemy of the birds therefore they didn´t sit on the wall. They flew around for a while and we were able to witness that, but not really the same. A walk after breakfast in a different part of the jungle, however it was one that I didn´t manage to complete, an hour or so in, I began to feel a little sick and sat for a while until the group returned to pick me up.

I also missed the afternoon trip to the lake since I wasn´t feeling up to it. Although this seemed to be the best part of the whole tour. They got to see a wild capybara with its baby. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

During lunch though, when no one had their camera, wild monkeys, the endangered scarlet macaws and other animals were right outside our mess hall. Couldn´t have been closer if we had tried, just sods law that we couldn´t capture the moment on camera.

13th July - final day and we spent the entire day travelling back to Cusco, stopping only for toilet breaks, lunch and a quick view of more common wolly monkey.

This tour was expensive, but I would recommend it to anyone. Best trip I´ve done so far in South America, even though I caught something of someone, spent my last night in the jungle not sleeping due to a fever. And still suffering now from an incredibly sore throat. But sure that is all part of the experience.