"Peligro, Explosives!" read the sign, with a skull and crossbones added for good measure to alert us of the danger ahead. We had reached the Peruvian border, where landmines remain from from a border skirmish that took place here 15 years ago.

On Friday evening after a long day at the clinic, five of us piled into a taxi-van for an arduous three-hour drive along rough, unpaved winding roads. Upon arrival at a rustic little hotel, we stumbled out and were shown to our cabins. After checking all around and under the bed for tarantulas and other creepy-crawlies, we dove under the mosquito net for a good night´s sleep, disturbed only by the hoarse crows of a rooster at 4 am.

After a breakfast of yogurt and fresh fruit (locally grown mangoes, pineapple and bananas), we walked down to the river bank and climbed into a 30+ foot long metal canoe for the trip up the Nagariza River. The water was so shallow in places that we had to get out and walk while the three member crew dragged the boat over the rocks. At other times we motored against strong whitewater current, narrowly avoiding boulders and logs. We passed through a beautiful green gorge and past Shuar Indian villages to a landing where we scrambled up the bank and had lunch. Then we hiked for about an hour up a trail through dense jungle that brought us to a narrow passage with steep rocky walls called the "Mil de Illusiones" (our guide didn't know why it was called that) near the Peruvian border.

On the return ride down river we stopped to visit a Shuar village, and were ushered inside a large thatched roof hut by a bare-chested man wearing a jaguar tooth on a cord around his neck. Several people stood around the room while a young man lay on the floor. "Is he ill?¨" Burger asked politely, and got a lecture in reply: the problem was spiritual, we were told, and the Shaman uses traditional methods of healing. The villagers don't want modern medicine or interference into their affairs. We all felt a little threatened by an atmosphere of hostility toward us, so we signed the guestbook, bought a few bead necklaces, and quickly took our leave. It was a quick trip back to our hotel for hot showers, cold beer, dinner and a relaxing evening on the verandah. We returned next day to Guadalupe, refreshed and ready for a second busy week.