Life without running water

Half an hour before sunset today and I hadn't seen a stream since 10am. I sat down on my Macpac and contemplated sleep without washing, cooking or drinking. I had enough grease on my forehead to fry chips in and enough dirt down the back of my neck to grow sprouts. I was hungry and very thirsty - the prospect was grim.

The sky darkened and thunder announced the oncoming rain. I grinned as if 100% pure morale had been injected into my veins.

The flysheets was up in seconds and my cameras and food emptied out of their dry bags to make impromptu reservoirs. I haven't had to collect rainwater for ages, but I've practiced my routine and the rubber bags were soon overflowing like garden fountains. What a joy!

A good Question

The last few days have been no fun.

Imagine a place that has twisted gnarled roots, thick, razor wire-like thorns, and mud that sucks you down into it. Then imagine not having any idea when it will finish. In an hour? Four hours? Four days?

Low, tangled rainforest, no higher than 6 metres with ugly, black branches blocking my path. Every soggy step gave way and I sank up to my thighs in the swamp. Every branch I clung to was covered in either spines or ants.

I won’t lie – that last part - I hated it.

The best question I've had this week is from Paul in Miss Boddington's class. He asks: "Which animal are you most frightened of, and have you seen any of them?"

The natives here think I should be really frightened of the Jaguar. They always warn me to stay clear of the Jaguar, but I don't think the Jaguars will attack me as I crash through the jungle. I reckon they are more scared than I am. The animal I am more worried about is the 'pit viper' snake. They are the most deadly snakes in South America. If I see one I stop, go back and pick out a new route. I carry 48 hours of anti-venom incase I get bitten. Hopefully that is enough time to get to hospital. At the moment I see about three a week. The difficulty is that they are really well camouflaged and by the time I spot them they have pulled their heads back ready to strike out at me. I have to keep my eyes peeled.

Thanks for the questions. Keep them coming.

Schools, Schools, everywhere

The work that Abbey Juniors sent to my office at the University was great apparently - there were some really fantastic pieces of research e-mailed to me as well. Even more exciting is the fact that I've had e-mails from a couple of other schools too. Thanks to Miss Boddington and her class at Park school and also to Mr. Bullock at Highfields school.

Now that I have a few schools on board it would be great if you could send me some really interesting questions - things that you can't easily find the answer to by looking on Google. I'll try to answer the most interesting question each week.

My reaction to the spider bite seems to have died down now, though there is still a small amount of swelling. Fortunately, it looks like I wasn't bitten by a record breaking - worlds most venomous spider - The Brazilian Wandering Spider, but by something less harmful: I reckon it was a small Tarantula. Other good news is that I'm out of the flood waters now - my boots have just about dried out, but my feet still look a bit shriveled and wrinkled.

Ouch!

Water, water everywhere

Cho and I have just started the most exciting part of the expedition. Cho is my Peruvian friend who has walked with me many times before. He is laughing all the time and is a fantastic person to walk with because he is not scared of anything! We are currently in Brazil walking towards a jungle town which is 350 kilometres away. Everything that lies between here and there is thick green Amazon rainforest.

For the past three days, Cho and I have walked through the Amazon’s flood water. This is the time when the water level is very high after all the rain has come down from the mountains adds to the rain that has fallen in the jungle. In recent years the Amazon has had record level floods and many people think this is because of climate change. We have been walking up to our chests in dark, smelly water. When we take our boots off our feet are wrinkled and white - we have to powder them in our hammocks to dry them out. Last night we had to put our hammocks up over the water because we could not find any dry land – we had to make do without a fire and ate cold tinned tuna. Life won't be the same when Cho heads back tomorrow and I am left on my own to complete the project.

Young Explorers in Sandwell!!

I had an e-mail from Hettie and all of the children in year 6 at Abbey Junior school in Sandwell. They are going to send me some research that they have done. That really is fantastic news - especially as they are from near home. Is there anyone else out there that thinks they can do a better job than Hettie and the gang at Abbey?

Send me a letter telling me what you can do.

The edge of the Rainforest

Uploading that video clip took forever - I'll not be doing too many more of those!

I've not had any responses to the video request yet, which is a shame: come on kids, there must be some young explorers out there that fancy learning about the rainforest and helping me out at the same time. Just let me know what sort of skills you have and what you can do to help me. Send a letter to me at Brasenose College or e-mail me on my hotmail account: greenman.brasenose@hotmail.com

I took the coach from Belem to Santarem yesterday. This is where the Tapajos meets the Amazon. Tapajos indians used to live in this area before all the settlement and tourism. This is why I am going on this expedition - to find one of the tribes that has not been disturbed and moved from it's own land by commerce and industry. It is critical to identify where these tribes are so that they can be protected from deforestation and industrial development. I really hope we can find them, but not disturb them.