ensuite room with a balcony overlooking the town and surrounding hills, and set out to explore the town. The first thing that had hit us at the airport as we got off the plane was that it was hot here!! Real humid, tropical kind of heat, the likes of which we’d not experienced for a long time, and it made a lovely change to be walking around in T-shirts rather than numerous fleeces and coats and still being cold!! The town was quite small and had a really nice relaxed vibe. We found somewhere to eat and enjoyed some Mexican food and then headed back home for an early night to prepare for the next day’s adventures.

We arrived at Inca Land Tours at 9 and met our guide, Angelo. Once our final preparations were made we were led down to the quay where our little boat was waiting to whisk us off upriver. There was just me and Hel, Angelo, our cook and the driver in a small wooden canoe type

boat with a little outboard. The journey up river was quite simply stunning. We travelled for about 3 hours through beautiful untouched jungle, and saw an alligator and a snake on the way. Angelo didn’t speak English so we had to make do with our pigeon Spanish, but we did ok and managed to understand enough of what he said to enjoy the experience!

We finally arrived at our camp and it was a wonderful place! It really reminded us of the place we’d stayed in Malaysia, only this time we had the place to ourselves. There was a hut / tent thing with 10 beds in, and just mosquito nets for windows – this was going to be a truly back to nature experience!! We set off for a walk through the surrounding jungle, starting off on a little path which led from the camp, with Angelo pointing out all the different plants and trees and the way they were used by the indigenous people. There were lots of piles