Pre-Expedition Blog: May 4, 2012

May 4, 2012:  I have a busy day ahead of me, trying to maximize my stay in the city for needed preparation prior to the expedition launch day. From cataloging my gear, testing my Delorme satellite communication devices and satellite phones, to a visit at a local dentist clinic for a final teeth check up before I leave civilization for the wild. The morning flew by. Natalia still busy arranging for media coverage, she scheduled a TV interview on the government channel for this coming Monday.

Back to the Hostal we returned and packed up our stuff. We are moving today to the apartment I rented. There we will be waiting for two of my camera team members to arrive from there homes, 5 hours East of Quito. The apartment located in a busy center of Quito, discos, bars, karaoke rat holes, fine restaurants, Ecuadorian food, art and of course lots of music. The crowd is made out of the locals who pack up the bars, drinking cervesas and singing their hearts off until 2:00am every night. It is an international crowd of backpackers, business men and women, tourists and students abroad that fills up the restaurants and cafes. Not exactly my life style but it feels great to sit down at a local restaurant and watch the crowd, after all there is only a short time before I head up to the wild and a sight like this will not be found in the jungle.

My local Videographers team, Nixon and Sumac arrived at the afternoon from Puyo, a gateway town to the jungle. Both are indigenous of the Amazon region and are projected to join me throughout the duration of the expedition to document the journey. Matt, who has mastered the use of the cameras by now and trained on all the new high tech devices we carry along, did a quick overview with Nixon and Sumac over the new state of the art camera gear I brought here. 

Videographers: Matt, Sumac and Nixon

Hiring a camera crew on such an extreme challenge adventure and for the length of time (an estimated one continuous year) is not something you can “buy at the supermarket”. Taking in consideration the harsh environment we will deal with, the treacherous terrain we will trek through: cloud forests, mountains, volcanoes, jungles, rushing rivers and constant rain.


You need to think out of the box when hiring camera crew. Not only that they need to be courageous, they also need to be physically fit, determined and mentally prepared to work harder than any of the expedition members, all while surviving the elements with us. There is no tent behind the scenes with cooked food for the crew, no dry roof above their heads at night and no lab to work and sort their daily takes of filmed footage. Above all, they will need to survive me! My choice of videographers for this mission is quite a gamble, I know.

We ended the night over cervesas for the guys, Matt and Nixon, and wine for the young women Natalia and Sumac. The sound of loud South American music at a local restaurant filled the air. No dancing in any of the clubs tonight… the young women danced to the music along the sidewalk all the way back to the apartment.

Tonight Sumac and Nixon slept in the living room on air mattresses they had to blow up manually because they forgot to bring the pump from my storage at their town in Puyo. Blow after blow, much laughter, jokes and deep sleep catches all. 


The attitude of this team is amazing, the jungle makes them resilient in all situations. They will truly be put to the test on the Amazon 5000 Expedition, will their resilience carry through?   


- Mickey