Day 5 26th April 2006

The usual early morning start brought an hour and a half walk through the jungle to Cocha Salvador a large and beautiful Oxbow Lake.
On the way we were stopped in our tracks by a meandering line of fresh Jaguar footprints, not just one big cat but the prints of a cub walking alongside too.
We once again took to a catamaran and slid out onto the lake in blistering hot sun.
Hoatzin's hissed in the bushes around the lake as we took a two hour glide though beautiful scenery.
Towards the end of our visit a single Giant Otter circled us as a storm brought huge raindrops cascading down on us.
We took the boat back to Casa Matsiguenka where the rain had turned the whole site into a quagmire.
After lunch, the main event began, a football match between Casa Matsiguenka and the visitor from Atalaya.
Casa Matsiguenka were a man short so I was co-opted onto their team.
The pitch was two inches deep with mud as the game started.
Carlitos, the huge native who had greeted us yesterday, took the role of sweeper in a chaotic formation.
Soon most of the mud had made it's way onto all of us as we slid and fell all over the place.
One of the Casa Matsiguenka boys fell into the forest down the entrance steps.
I managed to score a few goals with Dante renaming me the 'English Pirate', goal hanging as usual.
I was surprised to hear a young girl calling from our goal area, when I looked round it was Carlitos, who is blessed with an incredibly high pitched voice.
Halfway through the game a group of tourists arrived to see authentic jungle life.
They had to walk across the pitch to get to the lodge and looked totally confused by the colourful and loud game taking place.
The match lasted three hours and was a riot of screaming, laughing and some of the most bizarre football I have ever seen.
The encounter ended in a draw because everyone lost count of the score.
Afterwards it was time for another cold shower and some packing then to bed ready for a 4am start back to Boca Manu and the airstrip in the morning.