Currently we're in
post on two documentaries shot in Costa Rica and the Peruvian
Amazon respectively. In Costa Rica we covered the work
of Selby Botanical Gardens. Selby is one of America's foremost
botanical research centers. Selby scientists are working closely
with Costa Rican educators in the study of the rain forests
and efforts to educate young students to the importance of preservation.
As the narrative in the project states, "The trees are
worth more standing in the forest than going to the mill."
Then it was off to the city of Iquitos at the headwaters of
the Peruvian Amazon. In the company of scientists and volunteers
from the Florida Aquarium and the Atlanta Zoo we boarded the
river boat "La Amatista" and headed upstream. While
we're accustomed to roughing it in remote tropical places, life
aboard La Amatista was anything but rough. Air conditioned staterooms
with full baths, an air conditioned dining room on the stern
with enormous panoramic windows that provide incredible views
of life and wildlife as the banks of the river coast by. Add
to that fresh and fabulously prepared indigenous meals three
times a day and the trip may have spoiled us forevermore. As
you'll see in the finished project, however, we still lost our
share of sweat and gathered a platoon's share of bug bites during
our frequent forays into the jungle.
