Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Man Vs Wild - Recap & Review - Belize

Man Vs. Wild
Belize

Original Air Date: Jan 12, 2009

Jeff P. - Sr. Staff Writer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Belize, Bear Grylls will most likely be doing what the Mayans did… like it was 1500 years ago.

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  1. Man Vs. Wild
    Belize

    Original Air Date: Jan 12, 2009

    Jeff P. - Sr. Staff Writer
    jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com

    When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Belize, Bear Grylls will most likely be doing what the Mayans did… like it was 1500 years ago.

    Bear repels 150’ down out of a helicopter to the ground. His goal is to descend into the heart of the jungle and head toward the coast where humanity will certainly be found. Before he heads down he extracts some resin from a pine that will help him when he gets down in the jungle. Everything is waterlogged down there so now he has something to use as tinder for fire. As he walks along rocks aside of the river, he slips and almost falls in! Fortunately he gets a hold of the rock and hoists himself up to safety. He can’t follow the river due to a waterfall, so he gets a log to cross the river and descend on the other side. He shimmies across very precariously and makes it over to the other side.

    He still is making his way down past the multiple waterfalls to the jungle floor. In a gorgeous shot, Bear has the crew and camera cross a ledge under a waterfall so you can see the power of it. He gets to another 30’ drop before he arrives at the next waterfall pool. He makes a depth gauge with a vine and rock to determine if it’s safe to jump. He makes the long jump and is finally at the bottom of the jungle floor. He finds a tree that looks like a porcupine with many spikes on it. It would hurt if it sticks you, but you can use the sap to help cure a wound. He then runs into a cavern that may be a way back to a river. It has a 60’ drop before he can get to it so he has to find a way down. So he finds a vine and does a Tarzan maneuver by swinging over to the other side of the chasm to grab hold of a second vine. Then he climbs his way down both vines to get to the cave opening.

    Now Bear is coasting along in the water of a subterranean river. The flow of the river is moving him along the darkness with hints of light beaming from cracks above to the surface. The tunnel gets tight and stops at a point that forces him to go underwater. But he sees light and knows that an exit is near. He comes up in a separate pool and emerges from the water. He finds a Bullhorn Acacia tree and tells us that the bark from it will slow your heart rate. This will help especially if you get snakebite. It was worth getting bitten by a few ants, which protect the tree from attackers. Later he runs into a Boa Constrictor! He dispatches it and now he has dinner for the evening. He finds two trees that he will build a bed between before it gets dark. He starts a fire with his dry tinder and cooks up his snake dinner. Before he goes to sleep, he tucks his hands under his arms with the warning that Vampire Bats could come to suck blood out of his fingers without him even knowing. Yikes!

    The next day he trudges through the rain and wants to find high ground to get his bearings. He finds a ridge and climbs up to see which way that east is and moves on. Later he finds another cave and this time he makes a torch to head inside. He finds a stalactite with water coming through and refills his water bottle. The rock has filtered the water and should be clean. He finds a giant rat but it’s too fast for him. Then he finds (and unfortunately for us, captures) a Whip Scorpion. It’s like a mix between a spider and scorpion, and Bear eats it whole. Yeech! He then leaves the cave and finds some water. He makes a raft with the hope that this water will lead to a river. The raft does lead to a river and it’s moving slowly along. Darkness falls and it’s too difficult to get to land with the heavy brush. It gets darker and darker and as the river picks up he knows the ocean is near. He finally gets to the mouth of the river and sees a searchlight. He yells to the boat and they hear him and Bear makes it out safe again.

    I have mentioned before that my favorite episodes of this show are his jungle adventures. I would say that this one certainly stands up to one of my favorite episodes when he was in the Florida Everglades. I enjoyed his excursions through both of the caves and I loved the waterfall shots. And I also really liked when he swung across the chasm of the first cave on that vine. What do you think? And could you do as the Mayans did? I know I wouldn’t be eating a Whip Scorpion, that’s for sure.

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