work hard, play harder

Endlessly am I amazed at the group of people Luis is able to pull together to one table in the jungle of Peru. After a FULL day of complicated surgeries, holding cameras and filming, painting, and teaching kids and adults (all with no time for food, in between down pours of rain, and often lacking a common language) each person is still standing - or sitting - at the table at midnight clinking their full glasses of pisco sours and laughing. Thank you Luis and happy birthday, may we all be half as amazing as you when we are on the "other side" of 70 years.

Only two more full days in the Yantalo area - the fastest trip here yet. It does feel like the right amount of time though, since really all the film needs now is a finished clinic, fully functioning. But - isn't that what everyone needs?

But, this trip was made 100% worth it yesterday. Sometimes when filming a documentary for over 5 years, you loose track, or wonder what the film will look like. Other times, it is perfectly clear. Yesterday as the group of over 20 volunteers / visitors saw the construction

site for the first time, Luis got a call that parents with a sick baby had flown all the way from Lima to see the visiting physicians. When they arrived in Moyobamba, they heard the American doctors had just left the hospital to go to Yantalo. So, the parents drove to Yantalo - came to the constructions site - and there, among the blue prints, mud floor, and construction material, the doctors performed an examination. The Yantalo clinic's first patient.

Now this is the film.

Peru Trip #6

After over 24 hours of travel from Los Angeles we landed in the jungle. We had to stay thenight in Tarapoto (where the airport is), since we landed in the dark and the drive to Yantalo is not safe at night. We got a good 4 hours of sleep and then climbed in the van at 5:30am for a sunrise 3 hour drive to Moyobamba. We arrived at the hotel with 10min to unload before heading to Yantalo for a full day of filming. Welcome to the jungle. The arrival was made complete by ice cold Cusquena beers and a cold shower before bed. Always a reminder here how much less people,including myself, can live with and how much we have in the US.


Day 2 was AMAZING due to stumbling upon a circus in a town we had followed Luis to for ameeting at the city hall. I got up the guts, after filming the outside of the tent, to wander in and find the owner. We had the most wonderful interview. Even in the jungle of Peru when asked what circus means he replied, "it is art, it is culture, it is in our veins."

On the way back to Yantalo we passed fields of pineapples, I don't know why they made me so happy... just the FUNNIEST thing I had ever seen. Think of small plants in a huge field with a whole pineapple just sitting on top of them. It's like someone went out there and glued them to the top of each plant in a HUGE field.

I also ate a fried ant, actually really tasty, kind of smokey, salty, crunchy snack. But as soon as I thought about what I was chewing I gagged. Just don't think. Nothing like post meal turning to your friend and asking, "do I have ant legs in my teeth?"

Mis amigos. The best of the best. :o)