So while Geoff and Flavio practice their art, the rest of us tour the INPA campus. With the enthusiastic Rita Mesquita as our guide, we get to meet some of the researchers there and describe our project to them. Along with Rita, whose research is on trees in the fragmented forest, we talk to Eduardo Venticinque, a researcher who studies social spiders, Bill Laurance, a team leader in the project with some harrowing tales of life in the forest, and Cristina Cox, who studies the fish of the region’s waterways. Everyone is most gracious in welcoming us and talking to us about the project, an amazing thing considering we show up with video camera for impromptu pictures!

(Rita Mesquita pictured at right.)

You don’t have to go to Brazil yourself to meet these scientists. You can get to know them right here by reading their journals and hearing them talk about themselves and their work. What do you think the day-to-day life of a rainforest research scientist would be like? You may be surprised!

(Eduardo Venticinque pictured at left.)

Too soon for us, we have to leave to leave the INPA campus, and after a quick lunch, Geoff and Flavio are off to another round of meetings. For the rest of the crew, the assignment is to capture the flavor of Manaus—not an easy thing to do!