Rainforests

Yesterday I saw the new movie Apocalypto, about the final days of the Maya civilization. Quite a good movie, I thought, and definitely recommended! Much of the movie takes place in the rainforest (I read that the rainforest scenes were filmed in Guatemala, which coincidentally is a country I am thinking about visiting early next year) and it reminded me so much of the Amazon rainforest where I spent a few days last year while in Ecuador.



This is a photo I made while riding in a dugout canoe on a river in the rainforest during a steady rain. Speaking of rain, I think the highlight of the days in the Amazon was the partly cloudy morning we were walking down a trail in the rainforest and when we all stopped, and it was quieter, I thought I could hear a very faint, strange sound far away. I couldn't identify it, but then a few minutes later it sounded a bit louder and I asked if anyone else could hear it. Within a few short minutes the sound went from barely audible to suddenly a pouring, drenching, waterfall crashing down upon us! For maybe 10 minutes the hard rain fell and I just kept thinking that this is my image of the rainforest!

Here's a self-portrait in the same dugout canoe (with paint on my face made from red berries). :-)



The temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest are also gorgeous. This is a photo I made in British Columbia. In the forest as I was walking along I came upon this old carved tree stump that was about 10 feet (3 meters) tall. It was off the trail and hidden away so that it was difficult to see from the trail. Who carved it? I don't know, but it almost felt like a dream to be there alone with it.