Apart from the electric eels, piranhas and stingrays, there is a fish we've been warned about. You have to wear two pair of pants because it does something disgusting. It is a small fish, almost microscopic, with two spikes that go downwards. It crawls up things and can't go backwards due to the spikes. Once it's there, it stays.
Local people call it canero.
At this point, both men look a little green, but they quickly regroup with enthusiasm. Anthony, Core Team member leading the expedition, has been involved with other trips organised by the Police Expeditions Club, a group of British bobbies who trek for charity. In 1995 I led an expedition to Borneo that took us into the jungle. This will be substantially different, in that the Amazon is considered to be more hostile than the Borneo jungle. The advantage of the Amazon is that at least we won't be suffering from leeches.