We were picked up at 8am by our guide Jhon (28), his brother and our cook Angel (26), and a driver. Apart from the six of us plus all our gear & food, a Hoarani woman and her baby daughter was also crammed into the truck. It was hot, humid and cramped as we drove for around three hours, most of the way on a dirt road alongside various unsightly, rusty oil pipes and scattered small farms.

Our driver dropped us and all our stuff off at a tiny "restaurant" by the Shiripuno River, on which we were to travel for the next seven days. A group of Hoarani were also waiting for a lift downriver to their settlement. The kids were happily frolicking around in the brown, murky water as were our guides and driver. Us gringoes came unprepared, and had to be content with sitting on a log with our feet in the river. Ahhhh... it had a surprisingly good cooling effect - a great respite from the oppressive heat as we waited patiently for our (several hours delayed) canoa.

While watching the kids, I noticed that all the pre-teens had protruding bellies - not like in Africa but more like they had extreme constipation. They looked healthy apart from that, and seemed to have plenty of energy. Our guide simply said that all Hoarani kids look the same, nothing wrong. I don´t know though, it didn´t look normal to me...

After hours of waiting and trying to stay cool-ish, our transportation for the next week finally arrived - a 15m long x 1m wide wooden canoe, carved from a single tree and rented from a village forther upstream. I was relieved to see that it had a motor, and that its inevitable leaks weren´t too severe...

With all our supplies stashed inside, we set off downriver. The "action" started straight away, as we spotted monkeys in the trees and numerous turtles sliding quickly off their sunny perches as our motorized monster approached. In front of me sat three young Hoarani girls, taking turns grooming each others´ hair and ears, eating whatever goodies they found (i.e. headlice). Quite the National Geographic Moment...

After about an hour we came to the Hoarani village, but due to being so late only got to spend about 10 minutes there while the locals unloaded their purchases. All the villagers were in western dress, and most were missing their front teeth due to their increasingly "civilized" diet. Apart from the rotten teeth, the Hoaranis were handsome people with chocolate brown skin, very little body hair, broad mouths/teeth and slightly "flatter" faces than us gringoes.

The Hoarani houses were western but their common areas traditional, thatched shelters built jungle-style with lianas holding the beams together. The cooking area was filthy, with food scraps everywhere and the biggest cockroach I´ve ever had the "pleasure" of seeing scurried around the gas cooker. It was easily 10cm (4") long... Hanging from a beam was some traditional hunting gear, I assume for the benefit of us tourists. Jhon posed for a picture in full hunting regalia, with a 3m long blow-tube & poison arrows. He would later show us how and from what the weapons were made, and we would get to try our hunting skills at the end of the trip when we would come back for another visit to the village.

A 17 year-old Hoarani, Andres, joined us as Canoe-Captain. Dodging fallen trees and sandbanks, we cruised downriver watching turtles and birds to our hearts´content until we found a camping spot on a sandy beach at a bend in the river. The sun had disappeared and clouds were getting thicker by the second as we hurriedly set up camp. It wasn´t long before the rain was falling in bucketloads, and the boys scrambled to cover our tents and cooking area with tarps held up by trees felled on the other side of the river.

With thunder roaring in the background, we had refreshing bath while Angel and Andres tried (and failed) to start a fire with our soaked firewood. We spent the evening eating salad and learning how to weave bracelets out of palm-fibre, the start of a large jungle-jewellery collection... Before 8pm we fell asleep to the fascinating sounds of the jungle; the river, buzzing insects and croaking frogs. We slept soundly until about 3am when the boys woke us up... The thunder and lightning was still going strong and the river, instead of being at several meters´ distance, was now lapping a mere 20cm from our tents. Time to make a move... Ramiro´s promise of an adventure seemed to be coming true :-)