1200 feet above the roaring Rio Negro in Colombia nine-year-old Daisy Mora prepares to throw herself over the abyss.
Attaching herself to an old and rusted pulley system she drops over the edge before plummeting at 40 miles an hour along a steel cable down to the opposite bank.
For the handful of families living in the area, some forty miles to the southeast of Bogota, the 12 steel cables that connect one side of the river to the other are their only access to the outside world.
It was German explorer Alexander von Humboldt who first observed, in 1804, Colombian natives using the unusual rope system.
With the beginning of industrialisation the hemp ropes traditionally used were replaced by steel cables.
These were used to transport raw wood produced by logging initiatives in the surrounding rainforest.
Such operations continued for decades before climaxing in the sixties when new laws were introduced banning such destructive logging.
No longer able to make money from the trees around them, many in the area turned their attention to farming and cattle-breeding on the now cleared land.
The steel cable system, having served for two centuries to transport wood, now became the basis for the further opening up of these once inaccessible regions.
And for the settlers the cables were, and still are, the only transport system at their disposal.
What they can't produce themselves the women and men buy in the village of Guajabetal, which is six miles away.
With the support of the cables, maniok, corn and cattle are transported to the market, with vital supplies also flowing in the opposite direction.
And for children like Daisy the cable system is the only way for them to get to school on the opposite bank of the river.
Each day the youngster attaches herself to a rusty pulley that is more reminiscent of a meat hook.
Meanwhile, her brother Jamid, who at five-years-old is considered too young to use the system by himself, curls up in a jute sack.
With effort, Daisy attaches this sack to the hook before creating an improvised seat for herself from a piece of hemp rope.
She then pushes off and the pair plunge along the steel cable down into the deepness of the dark-green valley of the Rio Negro.
Travelling at around 40 miles an hour the half-mile-long trip takes just 60 seconds.
As the opposite bank approaches and the rebounding protection, made from an old van tire, becomes bigger and bigger, Daisy must utilise a 'brake' made out of a tree branch fork.
She presses this branch rhythmically against the steel cable to slow their hectic approach, until sparks fly and the smell of burning wood fills the air.
An impatient Jamid is eager to be allowed to use the pulley system for himself but is still a year too young.
When he does complete his first journey it will be seen as something of an initiation rite and the whole family will take part.
It will be his father Guillermo Mora who will demonstrate how to complete the journey safely.
Daisy and Jamid live with their father Guillermo and mother Nidia in a crude wooden hut, which has just two rooms.
Guillermo and his wife share their only bed with their four youngest children; meanwhile, Daisy and Jamid sleep on a mattress on the floor.
Rain has caused their wooden hut to warp, producing gaps as big as a hand that allow the wind to blow through.
Looking on the bright side, Nidia says the gaps enable her to keep an eye on the children while they are outside.
They also mean that the smoke produced by the hut's open fireplace doesn't linger.
For Daisy's family and the others that live nearby, often the only escape from their difficult and dangerous life are festivals.
These mountains festivals are a cause for celebration and see all the local families gather together to cook a meal and enjoy themselves.
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