My first assisting with filming of a documentary
I have learned that life on the road while shooting a documentary leaves no time for anything else that is why this story is so late in coming. We arrived in Mexico City and went up to the mountains to film the Monarch Butterfly winter grounds. Millions and millions of Monarchs congregate on a few mountain tops every winter. Individual trees would have tens of thousands of butterflies on them, branches would be weighted down by them and the bark was completely covered and looked like really thick strange bark until one would flutter its wings. Whenever a cloud would cover the sun a large number would take flight and flutter all around.
Spider Monkeys are amazing acrobats, watching them swinging about and jumping from tree to tree even while holding an infant, is truly amazing. My favorite was one hanging by his tail and swinging back and forth, just for fun. He would push off of the tree trunk each time he passed it. Some people think that humans are the only animals that continue to play after they are mature but I have seen many animals playing.
Several people have asked what my role is in the filming. I’m one part Sherpa, one part cameraman assistant, one part interpreter (yes even in Mexico, because some of the Mexicans are fluent in English so it is easier to talk that way then using Spanish, as Claudia is the only one that speaks Spanish and not fluently), one part personal assistant to Claudia, one part guide, one part trip planner and one part animal finder.
SHARKS! My first dive with a fairly large shark the Bull Shark, the first time there where 6 of them one quite large, the second time only 3. The third time we went down there where 16 of them. Too many for me to be able to count but that was the number the guide came up with. That time I was closer too, frequently they would swim by at only about 4 or 5 feet (1 1/2 meters). What a thrill and a chill down the spine to be so close to them. The sharks would come in to get food from thee guide passing right in front of the camera and then more then turn (half the time in my direction, swimming straight towards me and then turn and pass me to my left.
Additional wildlife was a 6ft(2 M) crocodile at a close distance, the largest Mantle Ray I have ever seen, an attempt at filming sailfish, (I never even saw them, they did but to brief to film), and bat eating snakes that live only in one cave. Swimming with Manatees is quite an experience as some times they grab onto you with their flippers. The strength that they have in their small flippers is amazing, just grabbing on with one they can pull you towards them. It can be a little scary as you realize that if they wanted to grab you with both they could hold you under the water without you being able to break away.
At one point we had four languages being spoken in our van at the same time; Spanish, English, Italian and Mayan. I love the great diversity that one gets when traveling and meeting people.