This week I have been mostly...

... struggling with sickness.

This has not been fun in the slightest. Before coming to the jungle I had been warned that it would be a common occurence but there still wasn't much I could do to prevent it. Despite the numerous pills I popped and gallons of water I drank nothing would stop my fever, headache and stomach cramps. I got quite delusional at one point, and if there is one thing in the jungle that you don't need more of I can assure you it is sweat.

One misguided fool back in the UK just told me she thinks it all sounds "quite romantic/film-like". I would like to show her my toilet bowl.

Aside from this near-death experience the week had a few highlights. I added to my growing list of fishing triumphs with four fish caught of the back of a boat with only a stick, piece of string and worms I'd pulled out of the ground, performed admirably in a sack race, had egg splatted in my face from thirty yards in the infamous 'egg catching contest', and planted cedar saplings for an indigenous tribe. So it's not all bad.

Amazonian Adventures

I really need to learn to read the small print of things. It's all very well signing up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Peruvian rainforest to save baby animals but to be honest I wouldn't have done it if I'd known one thing.

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, two hours by boat from the nearest town (Puerto Maldonado) and staying in a lodge where water comes from a nearby creek and they only turn the electricity generator on for a few hours each day - there is NO internet access. Can you believe it? As such I can only get online once a week to update everyone with my news.

If, however, I can get over my impending technological solitude (sorry that sounds quite pretentious) I think I might grow to love this place.

I'm going to be living at Taricaya Lodge for the next two months. It's situated on the banks of the Madre de Dios River in Eastern Peru, a few hours from both the Bolivian and Brazilian borders. Along with about fifteen other volunteers (and a sprinkling of staff) my time here will be spent looking after numerous species of animals (most of them were previously pets) in order to prepare them for release back into the wild.

I've only been here a couple of days but already I've been introduced to a couple of huge tapirs (we want them to get frisky), numerous parrots, a couple of toucans, an otter called Sid who thinks he is a dog, a released owl who doesn't get the idea, and some small wild cats. There is also a jaguar who is too fat and comfortable to ever be released, but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her yet. As opposed to the tapirs she is feeling rather raunchy and so wakes me up every morning with her mating call. I'm going to keep my eyes out for some males in the area...

I also have a roomate called Matt. He is a tarantula who eats all the insects in my room in return for lodging and my constant sense of paranoia.

So maybe I'll just leave my fantasy football transfers this week.