Thanks to the strikes we had to leave extra early for the jungle tour to avoid the blockades. We later learnt what they were striking about. Of course it was money! So apparently they only get paid £200 per month. This is something that they are not happy about. They have demanded £500 per month and are refusing to teach until this happens. Some schools haven't been open for four weeks! The government are only willing to offer £300 per month. Who knows what will happen?
So after our early leave - 3.30am instead of 5.30am, we were able to beat the blockade. However, after hitting a speed bump a bit too fast in an effort to overtake another vehicle we got a flat tyre! Nightmare. Fortunately we had a spare and it was changed within ten minutes at a petrol station. Much to our shivering dismay at wondering whether or not another trip would be cancelled due to the strikes! We arrived at our breakfast stop, here we met a couple of English people. Over breakfast we had general chit-chat. For some reason there are many tour running with only two people in the group. One guide for two people. Seems a bit silly but whatever. After this we were taken around a local museum. It told of the local people, Some of their customs and their history. We were shown footage of a 4 day festival that begins on the 15th of July. Here the entire town is filled to the brim with spectators and party-goers. There are many different types of fancy dress that they wear, all depicting different things from history. The most interesting one was of the lawyers with big noses. According to our guide the lawyers came to persecute the locals with laws. How bizarre!
We were taken to the cloud forest at the top of the jungle where we proceeded to try and find different species of bird. We managed to spot two different kinds, both had very bright colours - red and blue. However we saw a lot more butterflies than anything else. We gradually drove down the bumpy road into thicker and thicker jungle. Yet still we struggled to see much more than butterflies. We have been told that the further you go into the jungle the more animals you can see so I'm counting on this.
We stopped in a remote town in the middle of the jungle. I couldn't believe how 5000 people could live in such a remote place! Yet still they managed to have quite a lot of facilities. As we wandered into a church they were preparing for the upcoming festivities. What has amazed me is how frequent a football pitch is. This time we were treated to a game between the market workers. Things escalated quickly and suddenly there was a penalty shoot-out. Drama unfolded as the final penalty was crashed into the crossbar - made of make-shift materials.
Our accommodation isn't too bad actually. We were treated to hot water even! There is electricity here but no Wi-Fi. I guess you can't ask for too much! The people who live here have two cats. One was extra friendly and I managed to coax it into bounding towards me before sweeping it into my arms. The cats were loving the amount of moths and flies to catch and eat in the early night time.
After dinner our guide suggested going into the forest with torches to see what we could find. The amount of insects must more than quadruple at night because it felt like I was being swarmed. Every five yards we saw a different species of spider. Our brief trip was highlighted by finding a toad on the riverside. No snakes found tonight! Bats were swooping abovehead however. It was off to bed not too long after that though, the last few days of waking up no later than 4am have started to take it's toll. Thankfully it's a nice wake-up of 6ish tomorrow though. More exploring to do!
