The Kombai journals…..what a tragedy.I’m really sorry. I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I believe that when we go through rough times in our lives or experience some sort of loss it builds character and helps form us in such a way to make us a perfect “fit” for the person we are to share the rest of our lives with, that’s if you haven’t met that person already. I’m hoping you already did.

On a more personal note however, I can say that I have experienced my own hardships and tragedies in my life before finding my husband. When I was only 15 years old I was diagnosed with Lupus. At 18 years old I decided I was no longer ill and stopped taking all medication. I moved away from home traveled and did some Equestrian Show Jumping. I engaged in the typical 18 year old social activities that I can’t quite say I’m proud of, but I did. By 21 became very ill from not following through with my medical regimen and was put on several cycles of chemotherapy. I did this while working and putting myself through school and most importantly keeping up with the college social life.:)

I’m 33 years old now healthy and am married to the most amazing man on the planet! We have a rambunctious 2 year old little boy that keeps us on our toes and reminds us a lot of your Giana the monkey the way he talks,points and climbs on everything. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I would do it all over again and more if I had to just to be with my husband now. He’s everything to me, he’s my muse. Anyway, thanks for letting me share.

You have so much to offer, you just have to find the right woman who will truly appreciate your talents and is worthy of it, if you haven’t already. Wishing you all the love and happiness you deserve.

p.s. My 2 year old would love for you to teach him the special talent of eating bugs!

Lissa: The San Story: Not sure what’s happened to the second half of that film – Here’s another link – http://oliversteeds.com/journalist/the-san-story/ – For the latest on their situation please check them out via Survival International. Thanks so much for the UN Link – I would love to make a film about the successes and struggles of various indigenous women, although I cant help but feel that it would be better handled by a woman – so I’ll do my best to facilitate some women I know to undertake these investigations. Already have a couple of ideas in the pipelines, so will keep you posted. I find one of the weakest points of these tribal immersive experiences is that we, as 2 blokes, will only ever get a glimpse into one side of tribal life.

Lissa: Sports? Well I love a bit of football, but rugby is my favourite sport – although I aint played for a few years. Having said that, I think petty sports is where I’m now at in life: bowling, ping pong, pool, darts, even boule. There is great joy to be had in taking activities like these with the level of seriousness of professional sportsmen. Very silly.

Emily K: Other indigenous groups: You’re right. I wish there would be a broadcaster who would be interested in the plight of the tribes. But occasionally I manage to get the odd film away – Bushmen in Botswana, Sami Reindeer Herders in Lapland, Tuareg in Niger (should be links in the journalist section if you’re interested). But don’t get off your soapbox! There are too few people passionate about these subjects and we should all be shouting loudly about it. It is truly horrific what has happened to indigenous people in the last 100 years, let alone the last 500 years with the Spanish…. And it’s still going on and on our watch. There is no excuse, we are all stakeholders in this world and have a duty of care and responsibility to each other and our planet, for ourselves and for future generations.

Samantha: Youtube! Wow. Well don’t know really what to say apart from the obvious… thank you so much for going to such great lengths. Amazed and touched, thank you. And love the song – seems to fit wonderfully well with so many memories. So sweet of you to make it. Thank you xx

Jessica: Live Chat? Unfortunately Travel Channel no longer have the ability to host live chats so it wont be happening any time soon. Sorry!

Angela: Kombai journals: sadly I don’t have any Kombai journals for posting. I wrote a journal (more like a book) at the time for the woman I was deeply in love with and gave it to her. Sadly we are no longer together and whilst she gave to them, I’ve never been able to open those journals again. Perhaps one day I will and I’ll let you know when I do.

Martin: adjusting: Yeah, it’s a bit tricky – good days and bad like anyway – if you get a chance, my journal from episode explains what happens inside my head on a bad day! Otherwise, it’s just a case of getting through it – there’s no way out, so I try to focus on the good things in life instead of the bad. Usually does the trick!

Karin: Che! And Peru: Oh, not sure quite what to say about being compared to Che. He had some inspirational times of his life and some shocking and horrific things he was involved in. Thank you for sharing your insight from your visits to Peru and South America. You’re incredibly lucky to get to Manu. We heard so much about it – would love to go. Any plans for you to go back? If you do, try and look in on the Machigenga.

Thank you for your thoughts. I would love to go to the Trail of Tears Museum. I think it would be fascinating. Western Indian history and culture are very interesting to me, maybe because it so different from my own. A couple of years ago my daughter and a friend and I drove from Vermont to Los Angeles. Highlights of that trip were Dinosaur National Park and Capital Reef National Park (both in Utah) where I saw petroglyphs for the first time. A long story, but antelope came to mean a lot to me on that whole voyage. I was absolutely delighted to see an antelope petroglyph at Capital Reef. I took a picture of it and when I got back home had tattoo of it put on the top of my left foot (yes, that hurt like a b#stard!). It is my favorite tattoo. I think if I had been on the Machigenga adventure, I would have commemorated it with a tattoo of the “Good Machigenga” face that Jacinto showed to Mark.

The canoe you mentioned seeing makes me think of the Adirondack guide boats used in that region in upstate New York, They are very wide and sit very low in the water, only a couple of inches above it. When I was a kid we had friends who had a camp in that region and we would visit during the summer. I remember one year when “Papa” (as we kids all called him) took my mom and I out in a guide boat one morning before breakfast. I was about 5 and couldn’t swim yet (but I did have a life vest on). Anyway, we got snagged on some tree stumps that were under the water. I was pretty freaked out as we tried to free ourselves without taking on any water. Eventually, we did break free (obviously!).

Sara M

P.S. Very nice job on the tribute video!

Sara, I’m sorry the farm visit didn’t turn out like you expected. I did some traveling yesterday myself. I went to Tahlequah OK and visited the Trail of Tears Museum. That was a site to see. Our tour guide took us around a villiage of how the Cherokee used to live. They called their hut an “Ocie” which I found interesting since my grandmother’s name was Ocie Oler but they called her Ola and my aunt’s name was Ocie. My daughters, my mom and my cousin Lois went. We had a great time. They had a tree that they had burnt a hole in to make a canoe. It reminded me of Mark helping to make the canoe. Our guide said that he and two other men took out a canoe like that one that was 15 feet long. He said that the canoe sank all but 3 inches from the top. I was thinking to myself that the canoe that Mark and Olly were on must have been much better than the Cherokee canoe.

I’ve been watching your documentary of “Mark and Olly Living with the Machigenga” since day one. I was hooked immediately. I missed the majority of last Sunday documentary (and was very disappointed) but I did catch the trade. I thought those ladies were relentless in pointing out everything wrong with the coffee beans and the cotton just to pay as little as they could. It’s been rough seeing you and Mark getting the blame for bringing evil spirits into their village. I think it was very sweet of Mark to heal and raise the baby monkey. Will the baby monkey be kept as a pet once you leave the village or will they later kill it for food when it becomes an adult? What has it been like for you eating grubs and monkey and drinking beer made from spit? When you are drinking their beer, do you think about the fact that you are drinking someone else’s spit?
I felt heaviness in my heart when it was uncertain whether or not they would kill that new born baby if it had birth defects and I could see the battle you were having with your own moral issue’s but at the same time I could understand how they couldn’t afford to have a mentally challenged or handicapped child in their village as it would be difficult to raise that child just to have it die at a young age in the end.
I appreciate the work you and Mark are doing. It gives us people an understanding of how these indenginous people live. I’ve seen some people mention that they live in paradise but I don’t see it that way. I see that their lives are very hard and they have to fight for survival everyday and they are faced with challenges that civialized people couldn’t even comprehend what that way of life consists of. Everyone can sit here and say Oh that must be hard or why don’t they just learn to live in civilization but the truth is, is that they could never comprehend it unless they lived it.
Thank you for taking us into the lives of the Machiganga and showing us the reality of these people’s lives. Your doing a great job and I loved your blog.
When I knew about the episode that you and Mark were going to have to compete against the guy that wanted to marry the Chiefs daughter, I thought for sure that you guys wouldn’t try that hard as it wouldn’t make any sense for any of you to win because you wouldn’t be able to take her hand in marriage and I was shocked to see that Mark put a real effort in each challenge that was given to you guys. Then Mark won. It’s a good thing he couldn’t speak their language. Which leads me to another question for you. Obviously you had to have a translator. What effort does it take for you to find a translator that will stay with you throughout your documentary? I got to watch what it took to be invited to stay with the tribe but what does it take to even be able to get to the tribe in the first place?
One other thing before I go. I know you had to tell Jose about your life as a man and you said you had one girlfriend. I think you are absolutely adorable and I think your girlfriend is very lucky to have you. I am looking forward to seeing your replies to my questions if I’m lucky enough to hear from you.
I’m glad you have made it through another adventure alive and I can’t wait to see your next documentary. And kudos to the camera crew.

I bent down and picked up a small stone, a little piece of barn board and an old nail then got back in my car. I thought, “It’s true. You really can’t go home again”. Then I thought about Jose and the outside world at his door. I wondered how long he will be able to hang onto his way of life.

Thank you again truely!