Hello from the Amazing Amazon Region of Peru

Hola and greetings from a beautiful part of the world which needs to remain beautiful. We have spent two and a half days in the Amazon flying from Brazil to Peru and staying briefly in Lima before flying to Iquitos.

Taking a small boat ride and changing transport in several parts of the river, we have lunch at a Lodge in the jungle before travelling deeper into the jungle area and coming to our own private (the four of us in our tour) jungle lodge. A mixture of Nichols Rivulet, Petcheys Bay and the sounds of owls, crickets, 500 varieties of birds to complement the natural scenery.

It's all too much to try to convey here in this blog what we experienced - natural beauty and I must add a deep disappointment on our travels at the amount of discarded rubbish which local families and some unethical tourists seem to be guilty of.

We have early starts and are greeted in a large dome airy community hut of chairs and tables, wooden surroundings, thatched roof and a long table which demands our tummy's attention to stock up on scrambled egg, fresh bread, jams made from local fruits, cheese and thinly sliced ham complemented by fresh juice and coffee.

We are indeed honoured to be some of the lucky few who are able to visit these parts and make friends with knowledgeable tour guides who provide us with information to stimulate our minds on the local habitat including birds, trees, snakes and the daily life of villagers who reside downstream.

We partake in a jungle walk through both day and night. At night (the first jungle walk) we take torches, wear long trousers and long sleeves and gumboots (which are supplied by our tour company). These, we find come in very handy to push away the mud and ward off any little bites, including the two anaconda snakes our leader finds and points out to us.

Up two stately white trees we are asked to take a closer look - and we come across a spider the size of a giant's hand - yes a big black hairy triantular x 2 (if that's how it's spelt, I'm not sure).

Yep, both Rossco and I are really enjoying pretending to be brave but we have every faith in our 30 year old tour guide names Juan or John who has a lot of knowledge and skill of the area.