Long before poverty had driven most of us into the real world of car payments and domestic anguish and we had to replace four hour workouts with 40 minute body blasts and 40 hour work weeks, a guy named Jake Stienfield started a little business called Body by Jake. This was the first personal training service catering mostly to the odd physiques of Hollywood producers and their charges. Gradually, this notion sunk into the heads of hitherto gym rats, realizing that if they could manage to count to ten they could actually earn a handsome living while hanging at the gym. Low and behold the ubiquitous personal trainer was born.
I was standing in the Species front office futzing around with an electrical connector from the video studio next door and trying hard not to accept the fact that I can no longer see things up close. I know... I know... I need to wear glasses.
Dave walked in the door at the far end of the office. As he came up to me he realized my plight and made some crack about how far away I have to hold something in order to see it. For some reason, my advancing age and the foibles that come along with it - such as blindness - are a constant source of amusement for the Whack Pack. Dave shot me that 4 x6 grin of a car salesman and he said, "you need glasses."
I know I bitched a lot about the heat and humidity and the mosquitoes. Yes, the conditions could have a been a bit more comfortable, but I have to say that the landscape was about as beautiful as it gets. I couldn't imagine a more serene a and picturesque place. During the dry season, the falls are but a ribbon that flows rather uneventfully. This time of year it was a thundering monstrosity. By the time the water hit the deck 2,700 feet below, it had crashed and bashed against the rock face enough to turn most of it to mist, which would blow sometimes for miles downwind. Below the main falls, the water that hadn't been atomized into mist flowed over several smaller falls, and sometimes into a small lagoon.
The proposed, yet ambitious, one-day trip to film the world record rappel down Angel Falls began at 4am when we boarded a 20 year-old Russian Helicopter with no doors. It took off from a sparse airfield outside Ciudad Bolivar and headed for Canaima. There, it followed the Churún river up and into a deep canyon toward the tallest waterfall in the world. We landed in a clearing opposite the face of the falls and unloaded the helicopter. From that moment on, the clock started ticking; every second of daylight was precious. The pilot kept the chopper running and the blades whirling over our heads. As soon as we were clear, the chopper took off to bring Long and his rappelling partner, John Bachar to the top of the falls.
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