This was the last full day I was going to experience in the jungle, departing at 5am the next morning in order for fellow tour members to reach Lago Agrio in time to catch their scheduled flight back to Quito. As we were yet to…Read More

This was the last full day I was going to experience in the jungle, departing at 5am the next morning in order for fellow tour members to reach Lago Agrio in time to catch their scheduled flight back to Quito. As we were yet to see any manatees, giant otters, anacondas or pink dolphins our guide decided to try another lagoon, Laguna Grande to see if we would have better luck.

The journey here from the lodge should have been slightly longer than the trips that were made to Laguna Cuyabeno, but little did we know what sort of adventure we were all in for. The main tributary to this lagoon was so shallow that it took us an extra hour to reach here after attempting to overcome the falling tree trunks and branches that blocked our progress every few metres. After all having our boots filled with muddy water, having our faces smacked in the face with tree branches and one German grandmother somehow getting impaled between a tree trunk and her canoe seat we eventually made it to the lagoon.

Laguna Grande was certainly worth all the effort to get ourselves and the canoe there. It's bigger than Laguna Cuyabeno and with the water levels currently much lower, it is also much more picturesque with long green grass surrounding the dry, cracked and exposed river bed. The low levels of water, covered with pink and green algae still seemed to be abundant with life, fishes jumping and splashing out of the water every few seconds. At one point the guide starting jumping and shouting about the spotting of a pink dolphin splashing in the distance. From what I saw of it though it just looked like a fish splashing like the rest of the splashes, and it wouldn't have surprised me if this was a little white lie from the guide to try and appease me, as I had made it known to him of my hopes for spotting this aquatic creature. After relaxing on the riverbank for a while, watching the birds fly by, and a few Caymans resting in the distance, it was time to face the same natural obstacles on the return back to Cuyabeno River and Tapir Lodge, which were made more difficult by attempting to get around them in one of the heaviest tropical downpours I have ever experienced.

I spent my final afternoon sitting in a canoe outside of my lodge attempting for the last time to catch a piranha, and while I reflected on my time spent here I realised that not seeing pink dolphins, the one animal I wanted to see more than anything else, wasn't really a failure when considering the other wildlife that we had seen during the previous four days. It was as though God was very happy with my unselfish views of my time here as shortly after on the third attempt of trying I finally bagged myself my very own piranha. Okay, so it wasn't quite in the same league as the piranhas that other group members had caught, some would even call mine a baby. But to me it made my trip here complete and as I tucked into the tiny fish, it's bones crunching in my mouth due to the lack of meat, I firmly believed this was the best fish I had ever tasted.

After dinner and relaxing in one of the many hammocks found around the lodge I came across an interesting piece of information that our guide had spoken about earlier in the day and something that I had not really taken into account when it had been said. Some of the lodges in the Ecuadorian chunk of the Amazon rainforest actively promote the fact that although they have built their lodges on the land of indigenous tribes there are contracts in place to hand back the land and therefore the running of the lodges to the indigenous tribes in several years time, giving the local people a slice of the profit and also showing their ability to perform responsible ecotourism in the process.

What the lodges and tour operators do not mention is the fact that most of the lodges, due to the constant decomposition and humidity that the jungle produces have a life span of no more than 20-30 years depending on the forest materials that have been used. Thatched roofs have an even shorter lifespan. Therefore around the specified dates that the lodges are handed back to the people whose land it occupies, the lodges are very closing to either needing to be rebuilt or at the very least, a big overhaul and renewal, which I am sure will have to be pocketed by the tribes themselves. I have no evidence of this and these are clearly my own thoughts, but it would be a strange coincidence if true. Close

I awoke upon my fourth day in the jungle to find that the water levels had risen by half a metre or so overnight. This might have been nice if we were venturing down a shallow river, but today our tour group was going in…Read More

I awoke upon my fourth day in the jungle to find that the water levels had risen by half a metre or so overnight. This might have been nice if we were venturing down a shallow river, but today our tour group was going in search of more Caymans, pink dolphins and the feared anaconda in the nearby Cuyabeno Lagoon, and a rise in water level meant such creatures had many more places to hide.

Even so, I certainly wasn't disappointed with the days viewing at Cuyabeno Lagoon. The difference between the animals viewed here, and the day before was unbelievable. The lagoon seemed to be home to all kinds of wildlife, especially birds, including toucans, parrots, macaws, kingfishers, jacanas, eagles and storks, taking the total number of bird species seen close to 50, which isn't surprising when you consider that Ecuador is home to around 1,600 species of bird, one-sixth of the world's total.

With swarms of butterflies at every turn we pulled into the middle of the lagoon and up to the shore for a 2 hour walk through the jungle. This time around we had much more luck in viewing wildlife, seeing five different types of monkeys in the space of 10 minutes. Our guide was ecstatic, saying this was a new record for him in all his 12 years of guiding. It was strange to see so many species of monkeys in such a confined space, as normally when different groups of monkeys invade other groups territories there is fighting and bloodshed.

Although we came across various animal tracks of the capybara and tapir, we weren't able to find any of these larger rodent mammals, but after all the monkeys, I certainly wasn't complaining. On the walk back through the jungle to our waiting canoe we were able to watch the very strange sight of normal house flies attacking a fully grown tree frog, slowly biting him to a slow painful death. Being one for letting nature be nature, I didn't want to intervene, but another group member, being an avid collector of frogs stepped in and saved the frogs life. He seemed rather pleased with himself. I'm sure he will be going to heaven now, that's for sure.

In between another bout of piranha fishing, which again proved fruitless, we ventured again in the early evening back to Cuyabeno Lagoon after hearing reports of an anaconda spotting. By the time we arrived though, the tour group that had originally spotted it revealed that after harassing it for close to an hour for a variety of photos they had let it slip quickly into a hollow tree trunk. After boastfully showing us their photos they carried on with their excursion and although our guide tried to coax the anaconda out of its hole, even trying to destroy the hollow tree it was hiding in, we returned back to the lodge empty handed and a little disappointed. Hating snakes though, my girlfriend seemed to be happier than ever.

To make amends though on the return trip back to the lodge, as dark was closing in all around us, our guide decided to try his luck with a bit of Cayman hunting, after our disappointing efforts of spotting Cayman on a previous night. This time around proved a million times more successful, almost resulting in the loss of my own precious life.

Although we had seen many red eyes of the Cayman shining back at us as we slowly progressed down the Cuyabeno River, one pair looked like they belonged to the devil himself, huge, round and filled with fire. Upon closer inspection we saw that this adults head was a good 1 metre in size.

Everyone seemed very happy with seeing one so close and many a photo was taken. If it had been me, I would have asked the canoe driver to carry on back to our lodge, where our evening meal was waiting for us, and liking my food I never want to be late for a meal. Our guide and driver had other ideas though and tried to get even closer to this scaly beast.

Unfortunately the canoe driver misjudged the power needed to reverse closer to the Cayman, accidentally taking us so close the canoe hit the Caymans head. Now, the Cayman, like I am sure anyone would feel, wasn't best pleased with being hit in the head by a 12 metre canoe and I’m sure it must have smarted. The wise words of our guide, frantically shouting to keep our hands inside the canoe, expecting the Cayman to seek revenge came in the nick of time as only seconds later it attacked.

It just so happened to attack exactly where I was sitting, its jaws crashing against the side of our canoe, followed by a swinging tail and a wave of water, drenching me from head to toe. I must say that to have a flimsy wooden canoe attacked by a 5 metre 200 pound prehistoric animal isn't the most pleasant of experiences and I’m sure if I hadn't heeded the warnings of our guide and had let just one finger slip over the side of the canoe, the Cayman would have had a tasty meal that evening. It's certainly the closest I ever want to come to such an animal again.

If this encounter wasn't enough to cope with, a few minutes later we came across another Cayman, which our canoe driver tried to capture with his bare hands. In comparison to the monster we had met previous, this was just a baby and I don’t think could have harmed anyone even if it had wanted to. The canoe driver failed in his attempt and continued on the drive back to our lodge. If my legs weren't already shaking from fear, they certainly did do when a couple of freshwater sardines decided a joint suicide attempt, jumping out of the water into our speeding canoe, one landing directly into my lap before flapping around and falling to the floor. This made me squeal like a little girl, scaring everyone else in the boat in the process. There were a few bouts of (nervous) laughter from people when realising what had made me scream!

After discussing the eventful evening with our guide I asked him if this rated amongst his scariest moments. Although admitting that his heart was in his mouth and he doubted that even he, a guide of 12 years experience would ever want to get so close again, this wasn't the worse moment of his guiding career. His worse moment happened several years ago when in the jungle with a group of 16 British teachers. After arriving into the jungle and walking to their first place of stay for the night he realised that one of the members was missing. He hadn't originally noticed this as half of the group were being led by another guide.

With no sign of her trailing at the back of the group, everyone went back into the jungle to search for her throughout the night but the shouts 'Theresa' didn't yield any results. The next day the army was called in and it wasn't for another 2 days until the girl was found needing psychiatric treatment and having over 400 insect bites all over her body. During this period she also hadn't eaten or drank.

At this point you might think that the guides and tour operator were to blame for acts of negligence after leaving a poor helpless British teacher in the jungle to fend for herself. This is what the newspapers wrote and the guide was made a scapegoat. The truth soon became apparent though as the police became involved in what was turning into a very expensive lawsuit.

The poor helpless British teacher wasn't so poor and helpless after all. The reason that she had left the other group members was due to spotting a falling tree trunk sprouting 16 mushrooms full of magic. It is believed that after eating this delightful little fungus's she became disorientated and no one could come to the conclusion at how long during the 3 days and 2 nights of being missing she was intoxicated by this substance. From the evidence the police found, she had eaten at least 8 of them during this time and still had signs of the drug in her system after going through tests when she was found. This was obviously a relief to the guide, as when this evidence was presented, the teacher dropped her lawsuit and left the country on the next flight. As well as keeping his respect, he was also given $2,000 by the tour company, probably compensation due to the stress that he had gone through after taking all of this blame.Close

After a satisfying sleep and probably my first lie in since coming to Ecuador seven months earlier, today's main activity was a jungle walk, where I was hoping we would get to see a huge variety of jungle wildlife close at hand.Things got off to a…Read More

After a satisfying sleep and probably my first lie in since coming to Ecuador seven months earlier, today's main activity was a jungle walk, where I was hoping we would get to see a huge variety of jungle wildlife close at hand.

Things got off to a good start as we ventured to the back of our lodge and straight into the depths of the forest. Within minutes there was a troupe of squirrel monkeys swinging above our heads. With such a start everyone was highly positive that even through the lush dark jungle more wildlife was just a fingertip away. The only thing so close to us was disappointment as for the next four hours of trekking, wildlife seen was virtually zero.

Apart from ants, two frogs and a couple of killer wasp nests viewed high above us in the jungle canopy there was absolutely nothing to be seen. To rub salt into my wounds even more I managed to get stuck fast in one of the many swamp areas to be found inside the jungle, having a nice variety of water and mud slide into my Wellington boots in the process. To make matters worse I then had to face the indignity of having my girlfriend come and pull me out, much the amusement of the German millionaires and their nephew who made up the rest of the tour group.

Although there might have been a tiny bit of disappointment lingering around us all, for me it wasn't a wasted trip at all, in fact I learnt an awful lot I hadn't previously known. The biggest thing that impressed me was the denseness of the jungle canopy and how little light reached the ground level. The torrential rain that greeted us as we left the lodge seemed to miraculously disappear as we ventured into the jungle. So much so that we didn't need to wear our rain ponchos any longer and could walk around in just T-shirts without getting wet. All of the rain was caught by the trees and leaves before it had time to reach the ground.

Even in such primary rainforest, evidence of human activity and deforestation was still very close at hand. After an hours walking through the jungle we came across something that resembled an ancient highway, a pathway that had been cleared through the forest running for as long as the eye can see. The chopped down trees had been laid down horizontal across the pathway that seemed to act as some sort of giant conveyor belt.

This was confirmed when asking our guide, who explained that within the forest there are a number of prized trees that could earn indigenous folk a small fortune. Such trees, like the Ivory Tree can fetch as much as $3,000 for just one trunk. Therefore it seems that people are willing to go to all the effort of chopping down tree after tree to form a clear pathway to get these trees out of the forest and sell them to the relevant buyers. Sadly with such efforts going on, and with the potential oil sources in Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno I’m not surprised some experts predict that in as little as 30 years Ecuador’s share of the Amazon forest will have been completely destroyed. While on the walk back to the lodge, a number of canoes were spotted moored to the shore line, which the guide also sadly stated were those of hunters who had come here to hunt illegally for wildlife, which could then either be eaten or sold at local markets.

The day was finished off with some traditional paddling of the canoe for a mile or two, where we would relax with a spot of piranha fishing. I was highly embarrassed with my performance, as after only two minutes of paddling with a traditional oar, my arms felt they were on fire and would fall off at any moment due to the lack of energy pumping through my body. Of course when I turned around to see how my girlfriend was fairing she was happily paddling away without a care in the world. I think I will be needing to concentrate some effort of mine on improving my upper body strength.

Catching absolutely nothing made the day complete, watching fish the size of a small child's finger come and steal my bait every time it entered the water. Other members of the tour group were much more successful, catching huge scary looking piranhas I could only dream of catching. This was the first time I had ever tried fishing let alone piranha fishing and I have to say that the sport seems strangely addictive, even though I was bored out of my skin for the majority of the time. I suppose it's the chance of catching something huge that keeps people interested.

One of the best things about staying on the edge of Cuyabeno River in Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno is the absolutely beautiful sunsets, if the tropical downpours hold off for long enough. You can't beat dipping your legs into the soothing river and watching the sun send the brown dirty water into a magnitude of colourful warm shades, with the view only completed by common vampire bats flying so close to the river that you often heard the odd splash as though they had accidentally fallen in. Luckily such vampire bats very rarely feed on the blood of humans as it is thought they can only bite between the webbed skin of the fingers and toes. With such knowledge I was reassured enough to sit back and watch them manoeuvre through the air with such grace and speed.Close

If following any of the security advice from the British government web pages (www.fco.gov.uk), then I would never have undertaken a trip to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno, an area of 'pristine' natural beauty situated in the north east of Ecuador, deep in Sucumbios Province. A province…Read More

If following any of the security advice from the British government web pages (www.fco.gov.uk), then I would never have undertaken a trip to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno, an area of 'pristine' natural beauty situated in the north east of Ecuador, deep in Sucumbios Province. A province widely known to be under the influence of migrating Colombian guerrillas who have escaped the fumigation practices of their coca crops.

From my experience the information offered by the British government is normally very much on the cautionary side. Indeed they now even warn against the riding of the Nariz del Diablo Riobamba train after two Japanese tourists standing on the roof were hit by cables and fell to their deaths. In such incidences I think common sense is best used, and besides, if I was going to get kidnapped by Colombian guerrillas, locals suggest they would probably use my services to teach English for a year or two, something I have gained quite a bit of experience in over the past few months of living in Ecuador.

My trip started with a rather luxurious night bus journey from Quito to Lago Agrio through the bus company Occidentales (Calle 18 de Septiembre and Calle Manuel Larrea, near the La Mariscal district), seen as many to be the best bus company in Ecuador. I certainly had no complaints sleeping through much of the twisting, bumpy journey, only awaking once to see us pulled up next to a Loja Internacional bus, whose passengers were sitting on the roadside looking slightly shocked, one young boy even had blood covering his face. I'm not sure exactly what happened, and with no damage to be seen to the bus, it remains a mystery. Maybe it was one of those armed hold-ups or hijackings that many people warn against?

By the time I was waking up, we were already pulling into the outskirts of Lago Agrio, and the humidity around was torturous, especially when no Ecuadorians like to ride a bus with open windows. There must be some law against this. Doing so sparks violent reactions from other passengers. Pulling into the bus station at 5.30am, I realised we had arrived an hour early, meaning a nice five hour wait until Nomad Trek (www.nomadtrek.com) the tour company I booked this excursion through would be coming to pick me up. Luckily D'Mario Hotel, the pick-up point for the start of my tour were nice enough to let me sleep on their kitchen floor for a few hours for the ludicrously cheap price of $2, which also included a rather filling and very welcome breakfast as well. After reading that gun shots through the night are regularly heard here I was more than relieved to find somewhere safe and quiet. Unfortunately I paid the $2 to the security guard, who left shortly after I had ordered my breakfast and sensing that non of the staff knew I had already paid I was relieved to see my tour company pull up outside, and with all staff members carrying freshly bought bags of grain to the storage at the back of the hotel, I made my getaway.

Expecting to leave for the jungle there and then, I was a little disappointed to hear that the scheduled TAME flight into Lago Agrio was two hours late, meaning I was left with two maniac paedophile Beavis and Butthead look-alike bus drivers, who for more or less the duration of this time drove through the pot-holed streets of this uninspiring town beeping their horn violently at any young girls they came across, some I’m sure were still young enough to be in diapers. The only rest bite I got from this was watching the police confiscate a bus full of passengers from the very frustrated and angry owners. I was very happy to be leaving here and starting the 3 hour bus journey to the entrance to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno.

There were two things I noticed more than anything else on the drive from Lago Agrio to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno and neither of them were positive. Firstly, was the huge military presence in the area. With the high levels of drug and weapon trafficking taking place, I completely understand why. Being asked to leave the bus by a squadron of heavily armed Ecuadorian soldiers during a torrential downpour, guns touted in all directions was something I hadn't yet come across in this country.

The other negative aspect of the ride, and something I also hadn't come across in Ecuador, were the copious amounts of oil companies and enormous utility pipes lining the side of the road. Both seemed to last for the duration of the three hour journey and as the trucks rumbled past carrying heavy duty oil machinery it was hard not to feel disgusted and appalled at how such a beautiful natural environment could have been turned into such a horrible dirty and highly unappealing sight. In fact it would be very hard to believe that you were currently in the middle of the tropical Oriente, as small patches of trees were all that now stood from the once proud jungle. It seems sad that such an activity is taking place at such increasing frequency. Some believe that in another 10 years all the oil will have been sucked dry from the ground.

With such distasteful sights on offer, I was starting to wonder what lay ahead, but on arriving at the entrance to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno the oil companies and the naked burning flames glowing in the dull afternoon cloudy sky disappear into the distance and you suddenly become surrounded by nothing but jungle. Now I was getting a little excited and with the prospect of another three hour journey ahead of us by motorized canoe I was about to get my first full taste of jungle life. As if by magic, as we pulled away from the entrance, the heavens opened once again and for the duration of the trip we had nothing but pouring rain to contend with. This was actually a blessing in disguise as this time of the year sees the river levels drop to almost non-existent levels. If I had come just a week earlier the rivers were only 30cm high, which made driving a canoe almost impossible. Luckily now they were slightly higher, but it was still slow going over the numerous trees that had been swallowed by the evil clutches of the river, some giant enough to block the river completely. There were enough strong men (not including myself!) with us to help manoeuvre the canoe over and under such obstacles.

The jungle welcome was made complete with a pretty impressive selection of animals and wildlife viewed. A selection of squirrel monkeys crossing the river on fallen trees, poisonous snakes draping from tree branches, basking in the cooling wet weather, a few small Cayman crocodiles and numerous bird species made for a very encouraging start to this trip. Even more encouraging was the high quality of Tapir Lodge (www.tapirlodge.com, booked through the tour agency Nomad Trek), where I had the pleasure of staying for the next six nights, although I had somehow managed to forget from my time spent working on a coffee farm on the edge of a cloud forest in Costa Rica, the amount of creepy crawlies, especially the lightning fast cockroaches that like to call your home their home. It wasn't long though before I was able to switch off from the various insects scuttling around my room under the cover of darkness and fall into a deep sleep helped by the soothing jungle sounds around me. After setting out on my travels here almost a day earlier I was in need of some peace, rest and a good night’s sleep.Close

I'm not a big fan of early starts to the day, so having to wake at 4am on my last day in the jungle wasn't something I was really looking forward to. In fact it was quite an easy accomplishment and in a way I…Read More

I'm not a big fan of early starts to the day, so having to wake at 4am on my last day in the jungle wasn't something I was really looking forward to. In fact it was quite an easy accomplishment and in a way I was actually quite excited about returning back to civilisation mainly for the very sad and pathetic reason of checking my emails. It's strange when you are so far away from home, how much you rely on the Internet and email. So much so that I had been having a recurring dream for the past few nights about sitting in front of a computer checking the copious amounts of emails I had received. It's a sad state of affairs when your life becomes this!

Our guide seemed in buoyant mood as we skipped through the black waters of the Cuyabeno River, the red eyes of the cayman crocodiles all around us. I had a feeling that the previous night the guide was a little disappointed with the tips some of the tour members had given. My girlfriend and I both tipped $10 each for the 6 day jungle tour. The German couple that were with us only tipped $10 between both of them, which seems a little stingy considering they are millionaires, travel the world on their own private luxury yacht and spent over $60 on alcoholic beverages during the time spent at the lodge.

Normally when I have a full days travelling ahead of me I try to cut down on the amount of liquids I take on board, as having a bladder the size of a walnut doesn't bode too well on long distance road trips. Even so, I was still highly surprised that one cup of coffee with my breakfast could have resulted in us having to stop five times, specifically for me to use the toilet during the journey back to Lago Agrio. The tour members who had a flight to catch were becoming quite restless at my antics as it was touch and go whether they would make it back to Lago Agrio in time for their flight. In my eyes letting them miss their flight was certainly a small price to pay for not wetting myself.

In the end we arrived into Lago Agrio with plenty of time to spare, mainly due to the non existent military checkpoints that had greeted us on the way to Reserve Faunistica Cuyabeno. Like in other countries I have visited that have similar checkpoints, I put their no show completely down to the weather. It always seems that during times of heavy rain checkpoints disappear. If I was smuggling drugs I know exactly when I would try and get past them!

On my return back to Lago Agrio, I realised compared to other jungle towns such as Puyo and Macas, what an uninspiring dull place it is. On the way to the 'terminal terrestre' bus station after passing a street cordoned off by around 50 policemen in full riot gear, people seemed to disappear from the streets and the town resembled more of a ghost town from a Wild West movie. Even the bus station was vacant of people as the sparsely populated Transportes Baños bus pulled out on the nice 8 hour journey back to Quito.

The pages on Lago Agrio I had read in my Rough Guides Ecuador guidebook mentioned that the road from Quito to Lago Agrio is one of the most scenic and breathtaking in all of Ecuador. They certainly weren't lying and I am very glad I had the chance of getting up at a ridiculous hour of the morning to have the chance to do it. Not only do you pass over numerous death defying rickety old bridges, watching the raging white froth of the rivers force from the window below and also see enough cascading waterfalls from the surrounding hillsides to last you a lifetime, but you get to take in the majority of the landscapes that Ecuador has to offer all in just one journey. Starting off from the jungle, you rise up into the cloud forests, rising even higher into the paramo, shrouded in mist and cloud. After passing the highest point of 4100 metres, which is sometimes covered in snow you see the sprawling urban mass of Quito and the Cumbaya Valley in the distance.

Upon arriving into Quito I was met with a couple of surprises. Firstly my one time favourite hostel in all of Ecuador, New Bask Hostel who we had made a reservation through had decided to cancel our reservation, not once but twice leaving us without a room. If we had arrived in the early hours of the morning like we had expected to, then this would have put us in a tricky spot having to find alternative accommodation in the middle of the night. Luckily we were able to find a much smarter room for my girlfriend and I around the corner at La Galleria, and seeing the extra value you get for just a couple of dollars extra per person per night gets you, I don't think I will be venturing back to New Bask Hostel in a hurry.

I was also flummoxed at seeing many people standing on street corners selling flowers and virtually every women walking around holding flowers also. After hearing a radio broadcast I soon realised what they were all about - International Women's Day. This international event certainly isn't celebrated on this scale back home in England. The radio broadcast was slightly disturbing, stating that 70% of the female population of Ecuador are physically, sexually or psychologically abused. That’s seven in every ten women. With such high rates I can see why it is such a big event here, although on my return back to the Ecuadorian Sierra, where I still have another 5 months to work and live, I doubt very much such publicity will have any effects on such abuses, which is seen by many women as a typical situation of every day life.Close

The first full day of my jungle adventure was not spent searching for pink dolphins and anacondas, but instead visiting a local indigenous Siona community and a nearby Shaman, coined as one of the most famous in all of Ecuador. Having wanted to have an…Read More

The first full day of my jungle adventure was not spent searching for pink dolphins and anacondas, but instead visiting a local indigenous Siona community and a nearby Shaman, coined as one of the most famous in all of Ecuador.

Having wanted to have an extended stay with an indigenous jungle community, this day out of all was the one that filled me with the greatest excitement. The main reason for this was somehow managing to come up with the dream of running alongside fellow naked tribesmen, shooting poisoned arrows from our blowpipes in the hope of feeding us for the evening. Walking back into the village as the sun sets, a huge capybara slung over my shoulder, the village elders come out to see what an accomplished hunter I am. In fact so happy are they at my efforts the elders offer me the best house in the village and a choice of the prettiest girls. Of course being happily in love, I would have to politely turn down these offers.

Okay, so such a dream had very little chance of coming true suppose, but it did surprise me upon reaching the village at how westernized everyone was. For a start there was no nakedness, in fact some of the younger adults were dressed like they were on Oxford Street in London. Houses even had TV's and DVD's, with electricity coming from generators.

Even so, the communities here still live a fairly sheltered and simple life, surviving from their plantations of banana, papaya, maize and yucca (a kind of cassava) plants. Small animals are also reared, while several types of fish, including piranha are abundant in the surrounding rivers. The coca tree is also grown as one of just a handful of money making options, with the tree's beans sold at local markets and fetching a price much higher than other cash crops such as maize. The one thing that amazed me more than anything else though were the small wooden shacks set up along the riverbanks as telephone kiosks, where the owner would hand out their mobile to paying customers.

I was later to find out that such naked tribes, mainly the Huaorani Indians, only number 800 out of the entire Ecuadorian population and you need government approval to even contact the tribe in the first place, and still being nomads they aren't the easiest to track down either.

Tourism offers another lucrative money making option, but in this area of the jungle only one house has opened up to this option. The rest of the village seems to shun such activities and the camera touting tourists that this industry brings. At times such an atmosphere made me feel slightly awkward, but the rest of my fellow tourists seemed oblivious to such feelings. I wondered why the $3 fee to enter the village was only going to one family, but after hearing that the money was going to be used to pay for their children to continue their education in the distant town of Lago Agrio, I felt slightly better.

During the two hours in the village the majority of the time was spent learning how to make yucca tortillas. Now this might not sound like the most interesting way to spend your time while in the jungle, but it was a quality experience. From seeing the root vegetables plucked from the ground, we were shown and even allowed to help in the step by step processes, such as the peeling, the grinding, the drying and the cooking of the yucca before finally getting to taste the cooked tortillas. To be honest they were very bland but a little pineapple jam that our guide had brought along helped immensely.

As to be expected, being a male and trying my hand at cooking, I was more of a hindrance than a help. Instead of grinding the yucca through the homemade corrugated sharp metal grater, I accidentally grated my finger instead, quickly colouring the virgin white mashed vegetable a nice shad of red. Luckily I noticed quickly enough to mix the spilt blood evenly through the yucca so it wasn't so obvious. I quickly changed hands, hiding my cut hand in my pocket. Luckily no-one was none of the wiser to what had happened, all busy clicking away at their digital high-tech cameras.

While watching the remarkably easy step by step teaching of cooking a yucca tortilla the village chief came over to visit, I think to try and cash in on the lucrative tourism market. He was dressed in his Sunday best, which in this case was a dirty old white night gown and a tattered old American flag bandana. To finish off his chief uniform he had painted his face with red circles, so that he more resembled a clown than anything else. I would have happily taken a photo of him, but after politely asking and being told one photo would set me back a dollar, I decided against it.

I was very happy to have turned this offer down. A few conversations later I heard our guide asked the village chief if there was anything he wanted for his 85th birthday. With a wry little smile protruding from his face, the chief replied "bring me some cute 14 year old girls". I'm sad to say that this doesn’t seem to be just a rare case of lusting after young girls. The driver of our canoe, already taking on the responsibilities of a fully grown man, even at the tender age of 16 years is marrying his 14 year old girlfriend next month. Many girls in this area already have children at this age. Views of sex as well are certainly different her to many Western countries. Our guide informed us that it is custom for women not to show any signs of enjoyment during sex, and certainly no screams or squeals of pleasure should ever leave their tongue. This re-emphasises the male’s position as the dominant head of the household.

After the indigenous community visit, it was time to visit probably the most important member of indigenous communities throughout the Oriente, even with such Westernized traditions infiltrating into the traditional culture. It was time to meet the Shaman, this Shaman unlike others though is probably the most famous and well known in all of Ecuador, regularly venturing to other Shaman loving countries and even meeting past Ecuadorian presidents.

After giving us an educational talk about the importance of his job in the Ecuadorian indigenous communities and telling of his medicinal knowledge of close to 700 plants he chose myself to demonstrate how he carried out his evil spirit cleansing rituals. I'm sure most of his talk was true and full of good information but I am a little sceptical of some of the information he was stating, especially that his grandfather died three years ago aged 180 years. I think time in this part of the world goes by in a completely different manner.

Clad in all his Shaman attire, once finished carrying out the demonstration of his daily job, he kicked back his feet, lit a cigarette and got to work fixing his mechanical diesel powered propeller. It seems this is a sign of the times and again of Western influence here. The Shamans house although traditionally built comes complete with an outhouse bathroom, flushable toilet and ceramic wash basin.

After saying our goodbyes to the Shaman and his family, having a quick play with their pet marmoset, and trying our best to get his propeller back into working order, we finished off the day swimming along the Cuyabeno River amongst the many Cayman crocodiles, piranhas, and leeches that also like to call the river their home. Luckily none of which made themselves known, only a lonesome turtle wanting a little company.

Just as I was thinking what an enjoyable day had been had I accidentally put my foot on a spiked piece of tree trunk that was hiding underneath the river bed. Painful as it was, luckily no hospital treatment was needed but I did have to spend the 1 hour canoe ride back to our lodge trying to carve out the 10 spikes that had implanted themselves into my heel with my pocket knife, much to some disapproving and unimpressed looks from the rest of my tour group. I got them all out in time for dinner and was fully fit to face another day of jungle shenanigans.Close