Thoughts From a New Recruit....

Life on camp at GVI Amazon is a world away from home, but I guess that's why we all come here. It's pretty basic... cold showers, no electricty. It's comfortable though - how many people have flushing toilets out in the jungle?? Food here is actually pretty good, which was a suprise, considering it consists solely of rice, beans, pasta and veg... apparently it's all about the flavour - who knew?! Saying that, though, I would recommend bringing plenty of snacks!

Most days we spend part of the morning or afternoon in the jungle, sometimes the added extra of doing a night walk as well. We are here to help with the field research in the Yachana Reserve, which means we've had to study pretty hard during the first week to pass a Species Identification Test so that our 'help' will actually be useful. While some of us didn’t really want to study, it's cool to wake up in the morning and know which bird call has woken you and out in the rainforest little by little being able to ID different species. Other aspects of the rainforest expedition are camp duties (cooking, cleaning etc.), reading, hanging out, etc.

At the moment there are 20 volunteers, which is the maximum. This is a good number, as there are enough people to stop the jungle feeling too isolated, although it means that it's hard to get any time alone, which is something you have to get used to. Also hard to adjust to is smelling permanently of damp, mould and various other unsavoury things, despite showering every day. But, to be honest, I'm in the middle of the Amazon - can I really complain about anything. It's been awesome!

Caoimhe Hanley - GVI Amazon volunteer, July-August 2010 - Cathal, Happy Birthday honey. I love you. xxx

Thoughts From a New Recruit....