I can´t really remember where I last left off but it was somewhere on Tuesday I think. On Tuesday afternoon I went to Cultural Centre again, essentially to jsut run around with some kids for a couple of hours. I spent alot of time with a kid called Brayan, who is an absolute fanatic of power rangers. This undoubtedly led to me singing the power rangers theme tune several times over and teaching him the words, he absolutely loved it especially with his power ranger toys. He says he wants to be the green one, why I don´t quite now as I can´t even remember there being a green one. Anyway Brayan, his brother Fabio (an avid WWF fan, with WWF stickers all over his books), Narcise the teacher and I all walked home together. I dropped the boys of at their house and said by goodbyes before heading for the airport to have dinner. Forgot to say, there was a massive storm and we had to wait for ages before we could leave the building which led to me readin a book about South American history. It turns out that 80% of the South American countries were formed by two guy: Simon Bolivar and San Martin. As to whether that is true or not I do not know!

As I was walking back I bumped into Miss Macas again. She invited me round for something to eat with her friend who´s name I can´t remember although her surname is Star. I finally learnt Miss Macas´ name: Eslendi Bridgy Jaramilla Escobar...a pretty odd name, thats why I never remember them! She introduced me to a photographer friend of hers called Luis who said he would be more than happy to take into the deep rainforest any time as he knows the area well, so that was a good contact to make! I eventually made it home and back to dance which was even harder today, we had to dance with bottles, filled wit stones, on our heads. Something to do with keeping the head urpright but it is virtually impossible. Having said that our teacher was essentially doing acrobatics and managed to keep it on her head, I swear she was using glue! That evening Mariusa and her husband gave me a lift back and I listenend to Ricky Gervais, Steven Merchant and Carl Pilkington on Tony´s ipod for about 2 hours, it is really funny. Finally I went to bad ready for the big adventure the next day-my first medical brigade.

Well Wednesday was the day of all days so far, everything seemed to happen. I woke up to find that Anna was in my bathroom so I had to wait for ages. In the mean time I thought it would be a good idea to take my anti-malarial tablet, without water. Turns out that that was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. The tablet got lodged in my Oesphagus and began to work its magic, but obviously in the wrong place. The pain was incredible and I downed 2 litres of sprite trying to dislodge it, but to no avail. I then made myself sick but all that did was make me bring up the sprite, make me feel sick, yet not rid me of the pain. The pain stayed with me for 4 hours and I couldn´t eat breakfast, which also turned out to be a bad idea. Eventually I made it to the place where we would meet the doctor only to find him tryinf to reverse a pick up truck through a tiny little gate and scraping all the paint off! He was a desperately bad driver but we loaded on the drugs and provisions all the same. Today we were going to fly in a small plane to a small tribal villaged called Tayuntza which is 7 days walk from Macas or 25 minutes by plane. We were going out there to give medical attention to the villagers and basically make sure they are all ok. We went to the airport at about 8:30 but didn´t take off until 11 so there was alot of hanging around. At first I saw a tiny little plane and though it was ours, it got me really concerned as it was smaller then my bed but thankfully it turned out that we would be flying in another one, even though that wasn´t much bigger. We squeezed into the little plane and loaded our luggage, it could only take 900lbs. Eventually we got going and it was incredible flying over the rainforest in this tiny little thing, I will be sure to upload the photos soon. This rainforest was the most remote I had seen so far and every now and then we would fly over a tiny little triabl village. We arrived at our location 20 or so minutes later and landed on the grass strip, which was just an area of cleared rainforest. As I got out of the aeroplane, the heat hit me hard, it was really hot there and you could hear the insects all around. As I turned around I saw lots of little children running down the runway all laughing. It was just like something out of a film when you see children running after the car. They all came and bundled around me almost knocking me over, it turned out that they would do this very frequently, especially when I got my camera out, which they were fascinated by. They all helped us take our stuff to a little hut which is where I would be sleeping. Soon after they took us to the ´´classroom´´ which is where all our work would be carried out. The doctor set up a little table which is where he would carry out his consultations, he would then give the patients a prescription and they would come to my table where Anna and I had all the drugs set out. My role was to dispense the drugs, make sure they took theie anti-parasite pills and give any injections. Almost every patient required an injection, a Vita B injection or Diclofenac. The villagers found the injections hilarious and couldn´t stop giggling. The reason for this being that the injections were intramuscular and the best muscle is the bum. On the other hand the young children found them quite the opposite of hilarious and would often kick and scream. The hardest injection was penicillin which is so thick that you would often have to change needles in between extraction and injection. Before we started our work we went to a big hut where the leader sof the villaged introduced themselves and welcomed us. noone had been there since last June and that was just the same doctor in the last medical brigade! We dished out some clothes for the villagers and I spoke to one of the leaders who was extremely interested in the differences between their village and mine back home. As you all know, the differences are so vast it is almost impossible to describe to them. They don´t understand how the trees could be different and how the landscape and climate is also different, nevermind the people and buildings. They seemed horrified when I told them that alot of our trees lost their leaves at winter! One thing that did strike me was how motivated and proud these people were. They really wanted to develop their village, not in a modern sense, but in terms of healthcare and education. They have had big dilemmas recently as they have been approached by petrol companies for the oil on their land. They don´t want to destroy their habitat but they need the money for better healthcare etc. There was a large problem concerning chevron-texaco several years back with oil extraction and contamination of the surrounding area and they don´t want a repeat. They are currently trying to find other resources that they can use to their advantage. I spoke to them at length about biofuel and eco-tourism, both of which they seem interested in so I am now an official contact for advice! Not that I can really give any but I will do some research and see what I can come up with.

After the meeting we went for lunch which consisted off cooked banaca and curacha (a prehistoric bony fish which is cooked in large banana leaves). Soon after we got to work, the insects around me were incredible. There were huge cockroaches, bees and stunning butterflies all around. The majority of patients have dermatosis which is caused by the bite of the vampire bat, which is very common on the area. The government are currenlty in denial that the problem existsand will therefore not help so the doctor I am working with, Patricio Cando, is forming an official report , and I am a witness. Every brigade I go on I have to collect evidence, i.e. photos of the damaged children and of the bats themselves!

After work we went to the local river and swam in it for a while, the water was crystal clear and as warm as a bath. The currents however were extemely strong and difficult to counteract, I almost got swept away! We walked back through the sinking mud in wellies, swimming trunks and a 118 wifebeater which is actually Billy´s. We carried on work until 8:30 and then dinner: guess what, cooked banana, curacha and this time yuca as well (a tuber vegetable). Throughout the two days one thing I did become acquainted with was Chicha. Chicha is a potent alcoholic drink which tastes, smells and looks like vomit. Unfortunately the villagers love it so I had to drink alot. They make it by chewing up Yuca, spitting it out and letting it ferment...nice! That night was the biggest storm I have ever seen in my life. The lightning was incredible, it was as though someone was switiching a light on and off but you can´t see the bulb. My sleeping arrangements involved a wooden floor and a umm wooden floor. I had no pillow or cover or matress so it turned out to be a rather uncomfortable night. Thankfully I had Billy´s sleeping bag liner, not bag but liner. For some reason I seem to have quite alot of his stuff here. The next day having killed many large arachnids and listening to the doctors incessant radio we had breakfast in one of the huts. We made it ourselves and it was milk, juice, bread and bean soup (popular in a town called Cuenca apparently). We got to work straight awat and finished by lunch time. Many photos were taken of the children and I must have done over 50 injections. We went and had lunch, I will leave you to work out what we had. Having said that, we also had eggs, which is a rare delicacy. Just as were about to leave a man came in with a big spike in his thigh, operation time. the doctor without gloves started to work away with a rusty scalpel. He let me finish up by doing the suturing which I did really badly but at least it was his thigh. We got ready for theplane and eventually made our way back, after waiting for ages in the rain. In the plane I saw lightning from afar and it was a really odd sight. I also saw how tiny Macas is, it really is small. We got back, ate at the airport, watched ´´White men can´t jump´´ and made our way back to the house. I decided to go to salsa that evening but as I left all hell broke lose and Macas had the biggest storm it has seen for 5 years. All the electricity went out including traffic lights and street lamps. I got a taxi to salsa only to find everyone huddled outside trying to get a taxi home. I made the fateful decision of running home, a very long way, I was surprised I did it, however I was soaked though completely on my bottom half. My Rab latok saved me and kept me bone dry on the top half-good jacket! I got home to find that the girls had cooked me pasta and Tony had bought a lightbulb for my room, they are a good bunch. Tony and I set to work on the lightbulb, not as simple as one would think. Sparks went flying, Tony almost electricuted himself and burning glass went flying all over my bed. I do however now have a light in my room!

Friday was same as always, hopsital in the morning, very dull, apart from a lady who had ripped up her leg as a car had careered into her motorbike. I helped the extraction of glass from her leg and went into theatre with her to watch the surgeons sow up her muscle. What was interesting is that every time they cauterised a vessel, if it was on a muscle, the muscle would contract due to the heat, it was a really odd sight,as though it had its own mind! I guess ironically it does. Went to the school that afternoon, danced with a few little girls, didn´t really do any teaching and headed back home. Later that night Anna turned up with two complete strangers. They were both really odd and there was something about them I just didn´t like. One was an american girl fro Iowa and one a 17 year old boy from Ecuador. We all went ou to a rubbish club called Alcatraz where I soon found out that the guy was gay and tried it on, that really ruined my night, and that the girl was also gay. After practising my salsa with the Chilean girls we quickly got in a taxiand went home, cooked some pasta,listened to the Titanic theme tune and went to bed. All in all an odd day. Today I got up really late and my plans are to kill a few rats with Tony, we have plenty of traps and there are plenty of rats in the kitchen. This must be really long by now so I will stop!