Hola Guapos y Guapas!

Hope all is well in sunny Britain!! I have just had the best weekend ever... Hannah and I organised a jungle weekend and it was fantastic. On Saturday, we went canyoning in La Selva, which means "Virgin Jungle" ie, untouched. We walked for about two hours deep into the jungle, it was so beautiful with the sounds of Toucans singing in the trees, and the rainforest is just unbelievable. Although there were a few bugs which were pretty sick and we did of course scream like girls. The guide appeared to be quite used to that sort of reaction from gringos though!! The guide didn't speak any English, and we were a group of 6 people, 2 Dutch, 1 American, 1 Swedish and me and Hannah - so guess who was designated translator!! I should have asked for a discount for that!!! Anyway the going was not easy on the hike, and then we came to the canyoning part. Basically these are narrow gaps between walls of rock, and I can tell you now it is damn scary - there were no safety ropes or anything and I kept looking down into the drop into the pool of water and rocks beneath me as I was climbing sideways with my body almost horizontal with my hands on the wall in front of me and my feet on the wall behind thinking of all the horrendous injuries I'd get if I slipped.... the worst one was when we had to climb not through the canyon but UP. It was about 30 feet or so up, and we had to climb up this gap with our backs and hands against the wall behind and our feet on the wall in front - it was terrifying and I had a moment where I really thought i was going to fall and break all my arms and legs... but I did it and the sense of achievement and adrenalin was brilliant!! I want to go again!!!

After that pretty tiring morning we went tubing in the afternoon - you basically sit in these massive rubber rings and float down the river for a few hours. It was very relaxing and the rivers are also ridiculously beautiful. We spent the night in a jungle lodge, which was quite high up and had the most fantastic views over the tree tops of the rainforest. We chilled out with a beer swinging in the hammocks as we watched the sun set, then after dinner had a few mojitos and danced some salsa with the guys who work there and they also taught me a new card game which is SO complicated but I think I've got it now... it's called 40 and they take it very seriously (which of course made me not take it seriously at all) and it's really popular in Ecuador, they have championships for it and everything!!

On Sunday, feeling a little the worse for wear due to mojitos and also lack of sleep due to massive fear of any creature that might be crawling on you during the night (they showed us a TARANTULA that lives in the lodge and she just laid NINETY eggs!!!!!!!!!!! It was gross) we went rafting, and I just loved it!!!! It was only Hannah and I in the boat with one of the guides, then another guide in the safety kayak (he stays in front checking the route is ok) and they were hilarious! I was a bit scared at first but when we got going so did the adrenalin and I didn't want it to end!! I even fell out in the middle of some rapids but came to no harm - Hannah unfortunately got thrown onto my side of the boat and hit her face and cut her knee quite badly on the oar. She was ok though. The guides were a lot of fun, they pushed us in, painted our faces with some sort of clay soil type stuff which is meant to be good for your skin, I got dunked 3 times by Gino when he was supposed to be pulling me into the boat and I nearly choked... got a helmet full of water put down my back... all good fun!!! The lunch was great too, boritos on a river beach, and the sweetest pineapple I have ever eaten in my life. We got on so well with the guides, Pablo and Gino, that we went out for pizza in the evening with Pablo and his friends. Pablo's quite nice....!! (ie he's gorgeous and I've never been more happy that I speak Spanish!!)

So that was my weekend... oh on Friday night we went out for a few drinks, but as we were up at 7am on Saturday to go canyoning we couldn't go too crazy, but I really wanted to stay all night - I've never been asked to dance so many times by so many guys!! I loved it!!

Work at the park is going well, I'm getting more involved in taking care of the animals now, and re-doing the paths that have been damaged by wear and tear of the rainforest. Still having plenty of monkey time, managed to get some pictures of Lola the spider monkey on my leg today!!!

Hope all well at home, thanks once again to those who have emailed me, keep em coming!!

Lots of Love,

Caroline xxx