It was a 5am start for us, as one group went for a hike in the dusk to spot the birds waking up, and the other took a boat ride up the river. We returned to the lodge, and only then was it time for a breakfast of banana, papaya and lime and then a second course of bacon and eggs. Next up on the itinerary was a 2 kilometre trek around the forest, during which everyone tried some surprisingly tasty and lemon sherbet flavoured ants. After that we had lunch of quinoa as a starter and fish for the main, with a pudding of chocolate-covered bananas. Our afternoon leisure activity to recover from all the hiking was a refreshing swim and splash in the river, where some of the weaker swimmers realised slightly too late that the current was stronger than expected – as they were rescued from a whistle stop, floating tour of the Amazon by the locals swimming with us: Everyone had fun on the mud slide and Ms Boyes watched with a health-and-safety fuelled terror as the locals backflipped into the river from a precarious looking tree. We went on a boat ride and stopped at an oxbow lake to look for anaconda, (thankfully unsuccessful) as well as some fishing (sadly unsuccessful) where the biggest catch goes to Mr Goold with a large pile of leaves. Then it was back to the lodge to have a dinner of carrot soup, chicken and rice and peach for pudding. Post-dinner was a night trek spotting some very unusual (and terrifying to some) insects. When not exploring our extraordinary surroundings, down time is spent playing extremely competitive card games with the locals and swinging in hammocks which are in fierce demand. Exhausted but enthusiastic, it’s off to bed again, ready to do it all again tomorrow.