Welcome to The Jungle. Aka Jurassic Park.

Flew from the highlands in Cuzco to the Amazon jungle (Peurto Muldonato). It was insanely humid and there were mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. Rained (poured) lots due to it being the rainy season. Travelled down the river in a motorized canoe to a surprisingly beautiful lodge deep in the jungle. Saw some birds, monkeys and an anteater. Fished for piranhas. On the first night, the most disgusting HUGE bug flew around our room all night... see pic attached from the `Amazon Insect book`. It was hideous and looked like a mutated fly from Jurassic Park or something. When it flew, it`s wings sounded like a bat flapping around... thats how big this sucker was.... size of my palm at least! I contemplated doing battle with it by torching it with bug spray through a candle flame, but didn´t want to get out of my mosquito net!

Kim-ism!: Was the first to follow our guide off the path into the bush as we cut our way through the swamp. Grabbed onto a tree to climb over a big log. Immediately felt my hand catch on fire and looked down to see it CRAWLING with Tambopata Ants... who bite by injecting ACID into their prey! Started screaming at our giude to get them off me (incident happened about 30 secs after the picture on the right was taken!). Ended up with six bites on my left hand (yes, the one that is already injured). The my-flesh-is-melting-off-my-bones feeling lasted for a full 5 minutes, then changed into a dull numb ache. Left hand is now swollen with ant welts. Only me.

On the last day a big snake showed up and freaked everyone out in the tiny jungle airport! Snakes (almost) on a plane!