Well, we are now in the middle of the jungle in the Amazon River Basin, and it takes about 4 hours to drive back to the town by car. It is like a miniature version of the Paris to Dakar rally because you are constantly bouncing out of your seat. And then you have to cross the river on a little ferry, if you can call it that. Actually it is a container with an outboard motor and a loading ramp with chain tackle. Usually you have to wait for quarter of an hour and then it takes about 10 minutes of bobbing about on the water to cross to the other side.

It is great fun at work, call it camping at best; until recently there was nothing but now we have 3 wooden huts for 2 toilets and a shower (for around 40 men) fed from a tank on legs which is filled with water pumped up from the river. The kitchen is an area under a cover stretched between two 40-foot containers and a gas cylinder, and we just improvise. Two men work in the kitchen and Pan helps them now and again; at the moment they are free until Monday so Pan is cooking for those of use that are left.

They are constructing permanent accommodation further up. It does not look bad: housing for personnel, a big kitchen, 2 offices with apartments and ….., later on, a small house for us, living room, bedroom, separate shower and toilet, a shed, and a veranda over the entire width of the house. The first orchids are already hanging on our temporary house – we rescued it from a tree that was felled for our work. And there will be more.

There is a lot of wildlife too. We have already seen vultures, which eat the animals that are run over on the roads, a porcupine as big as a dog and various salamanders of more than 60 cm in length. Today we saw a hawk and a snake of about a metre in length. The piranhas swim agreeably next to the young alligators in the river in front of our door. In the morning the fat ones amongst us go down to bathe in the river first, and then the rest, including me. Sorry, you might find that a little exaggerated but you really have to look out if you bathe in the river. And you definitely cannot swim in it, that is asking for problems. And sorry to rub your noses in it, but we don’t have cold feet any more; in the mornings it is just above 20 degrees and around midday it is 30 degrees. It’s great, believe you me!!!

O yes, we have to work too: we drive around, supervise, give instructions, write reports and consult with participants. In my case, everything relates to working with explosives; the only thing I have to find out is how to get that granite small – but I will! Do not worry, we manage. Or, to be more precise, we love it here.