With good humor, they endure being wired up with mics and earpieces, and patiently help us test and adjust the video and audio connections back to Mississippi State: “Testing, one, two, three—can you hear me? Hello? Testing, testing? Hul-LOooo...”

(Cristina Cox Fernandes pictured at right.)

Cristina sits out on a high deck alongside the river for about an hour, fielding questions about everything from fish to viruses to deforestation. It is REALLY hot. Besides Brian, operating the camera, there are two or three other people wrangling cables and other equipment. The occasional curious staff member or group of tourists drift nonchalantly over to watch, and periodically have to be shooed away when they get too noisy. By the time we start Mario’s segment, in a shaded alcove in the canopy a little beyond the deck, the on-lookers have lost interest, due to the heat, no doubt, and we are undisturbed.

When finally two o’clock rolls around, however, we’re done, and both guests and crew gratefully retreat to the breezy comfort of the reception area for sprawling wicker chairs and cold drinks.

(Mario Cohn-Halft and cameraman Scott Enlow pictured at left.)

This’ll be our Tuesday routine, now. Wake up early and work frantically to set up, broil slowly in the sun for two or three hours during the rehearsals and show, and then spend the rest of the day in the shade trying to cool off and recover. Who says Mondays are the toughest day of the week? Here in the rainforest, it’s definitely Tuesdays!