An early start today, leaving Quito at 6am to catch the bus. Shirley and i went out on the town last night so i was a little tired this morning! We went to a bar called the Scotland Yard in search of the rare 'english speaking' species, but we couldnt find a soul. So we decided to do a wee bit of break dancing, well Shirley did and I watched in awe, and then walked around the main square to check out how the Ecuadorian people party. It was sad leaving Quito, I've grown really fond of this place, and I have felt completely safe to walk around on my own, even at night.

A 6 hour bus ride ensued, with heaps of different people hopping on and off the bus, including one poor niña who vommed everywhere - the driver of the bus drove like he was on fire, and the road was very curvy. The scenery was awesome, so many small towns of huts, it's hard to believe people actually live there. We finally arrived in the town of Tena where our guide was waiting to pick us up. We all sat in the back of his ute outside in the air, all swatting madly at the mosquitos. I don't have any anti malaria medication and we're now in the heart of the amazon rainforest so I was smothering myself in repellant and will continue to do so for the next few days.

We then met another man, Serjio, a native Amazonian man who will take care of us for the next few days while we inhabit the AMAZON! I had to pinch myself several times today because i couldnt believe i was actually here! He took us on a three and a half hour bush walk through the jungle showing us loads of interesting things that his tribe uses, such as natural medications, spears, poisons etc. After an hour or so of walking, we found ourselves facing a 4 metre sheer cliff with a canyon going right down the middle. With no harnesses or safety equipment of any kind, we climbed the cliff by wedging ourselves in the narrow canyon and inching our way up slowly. Im beginning to realise the laxity in saftey in most if the places in Ecuador (and i assume the rest of south america), Im not exaggerating when i say these canyons were mental, and if i had've fallen i surely would have broken something and literally be stuck in the most isolated rainforest in the world! Luckily my gangly limbs came in handy and I managed to get up. I had horrible thoughts of the movie 127 hours as one wrong move would see me falling into such a narrow space I doubt I would be able to get free. Nevertheless we made it through several steep canyons, one of which in pitch black (the only torch we had conveniently ran out just before we entered it) and so narrow you had to suck your gut in and squeeze thorough! While this was happening there were hundreds of screeching bats flapping their rabid wings right next to you and s***ting guano everywhere. Three people on my tour are over 60, one of them, Henry, turned 64 today and powered through these canyons like a trooper. We emerged from the rainforest soaked, filthy, sweaty, knackered and completely psyched!

Next up, we went to check into our cabins - Sacha Runa, right in the heart of the amazon on an island 3km wide - and very isolated. To get to the cabins, we had to cross a large fast flowing river....by motorised flying fox! This thing was a small gondola type cage that fits about 3 people, on a pulley, powered by a petrol motor (complete with cambelt and exhaust pipe) and controlled by a guy with a throttle similar to a motorbike. The cabins are simple but very nice in a rustic kind of way. There are so many kinds of bugs here it's amazing, and as I'm lying here writing this I can hear dozens of different sounds that need to be explored tomorrow. Time for an early night, because tomorrow we are going tubing down the Napo river! Yeeeeow piranha!