More news from the jungle....

Hey there,

Sorry its been a while...so much to fill you in on! soooo since last time I wrote school term has finished. We gave the kids an exam and I felt so awful but they get examined in every other subject so we had to do the same and they did alright! They spell things as they sound though so one is juan and three is zri! But they did alright and it was really encouraging to see how much of what we taught them they remembered.

Our project runs a summer school at each of the three schools where we organise loads of activities from 8.30am until 12.30pm to give the children something to do as otherwise they literally do nothing for their 2 months of holiday. Last week we made papier mache pigs, maracas out of plastic bottles, played endless running around games, tug of war, limbo etc. As a result I have completely lost my voice! Too much shouting in Spanish! The other volunteers are so nice but none of them speak much spanish so it is up to me to explain things - good for my spanish, not so good for my voice! It is pretty difficult to plan activities for the children of all ages factoring in the crazy weather as it could be beautifully sunny one minute and pouring with rain the next. I always find myself explaining "in England it rains loads, well not as much as here, and it gets quite hot, but not as hot as here!" We did an England day last weeks which was so much fun and pretty sureal seeing the children walking home through the jungle holding Union Jacks!

Last week I went with one of the local families to help pick fruit from their land in the jungle (kind of like an alotment, each family has some land where they can grow crops). It was such a gret day despite the torential rain! We climbed down into the jungle and picked two huge bags of corn which we lugged through the mud to their little house to feed the chickens. I couldn´t believe how much effort it was just to feed their chickens, it really gets you thinking about how lucky we are. We then went deeper into the jungle with their horse to pick papayas, bananas and cocoa which the poor horse had to carry all the way back up the hill. I went home for lunch then returned to their house to make Colado out of the corn which is a sweet drink with cinamon - really nice! As we were making it three tiny squirell monkeys were sitting on the roof so we fes them which was amazing! They are so sweet!

The other day one of my friends was in the shower and she suddenly screamed and ran out. We went to see what she was making so much fuss about and there was a HUGE tarantula on the ceiling! So scary and so funny because there were 5 of us girls screaming and running around the house whilst poor Nick (the guy who set up the project) tries to calm us down and get rid of the tarantula! Luckily he managed to but all the new volunteers are paranoid now!

This weekend I have stayed in (right now in Puyo, the town about an hour and a half away) and helped Nick with some things around the house. I finished painting the big dorm room and helped make some more cupboards. Yesterday morning I went on a walk into the jungle with the dogs and it was such a clear day that there was the most incredible view of these two volcanos over the rainforest which you hardly ever see because they are usually covered by clouds. I walked down with one of the families who were off to their land to pick fruit. I arrived at the amazing river where I swam and read for a bit - such paradise!

So all is going well, I only have another week here which is so sad and I will miss the children so much. I am absolutely loving here and will definitely be back one day...Off to Colombia next, to Bogota then up to the coast to do some diving. Every place I go to I don´t want to leave, I think that says alot for this incredible continent!

I really can´t wait to tell you all so much more about everything and show you photos! Hope you´re not getting too bored of these updates! In 2 months time I will be home! Time flies!

I miss you all and hope everyone is well and happy. If any of you bump into my Mum or Dad please give them a big hug from me.

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