Still no photos I’m afraid, jungle internet not being too kind to our team. Do read on however to get a taster of the team’s work so far.

With not a single team member being spared a restless sleep, Wednesday we departed for Reynaldo’s house, an award winning conservationist, where we were given a brief tour of his residence. His house consisted of no fewer than 7 miniature lakes and the team was particularly in awe of his conversion of fecal matter into cooking gas. At the agro forestry plot the team excelled in co-operative efficiency spending approximately 3- 4 hours planting no less than a 100 hard wood trees.

The following day on route to the agro forest we encountered what we believed to be a coral snake hidden in the undergrowth. To some of the team’s dismay it was quickly dispatched of as it was seen as a threat to the local population particularly inquisitive children. Back at the agro forest all team members were unfortunately savaged by ant bites, yet this did not dampen spirits and the team ploughed on managing to plant a further 100 hard wood trees.

On the Friday morning we unfortunately had to say our farewells to one of our comrades as they departed from the expedition. After the sad farewell we headed back into town where we got stuck into our second project (the bio garden), striping dozens of canes of their roughage, eventually to be used as the roof for the bio garden. We took a break at lunch, in which we gave the birthday boy Mr McSparron his birthday cake before continuing our work later in the afternoon at the bio
garden. That night was spent at the Institute where Jimmy was treated to a birthday party organized by the locals of Salvacion.

For the weekend’s activities the team indulged themselves in some well earnt, much needed rest. The evening however was occupied with a barbeque on the river side with the group mutually agreeing that the effort was well worth the subsequent crisp barbeque taste of the chicken meat. Most of the team also decided to branch out and experience a traditional Peruvian culinary delicacy of oversized maggots- the response of the team not so positive on this occasion.

Sunday was an especially culturally enriching experience for the team witnessing various marches and parades by the locals in remembrance of Peruvian Independence Day.

On Monday we quickly resorted back to our hard work mentality in the bio garden erecting the support beams for our bamboo roofing. In the evening we entertained ourselves by undertaking some much needed Spanish lessons with a Peruvian local called Ana.

Tuesday began with yet another early start in order to progress with the biogarden. The boys continued working on the roof whilst the girls went with Reynaldo to get the plastic roof sheeting. For lunch the team took a refreshing dip in a nearby plunge pool before continuing with the rest of the biogarden roof until it was dark. In the evening the team were taken to Machuwasi where we were lucky enough to see a whole
host of animal species including a large group of Squirrel Monkeys, caiman and multiple species of frog.