Conquistadors: The Stories: Deborah Mc Lauchlan (Location Manager, Peru)
What was your most memorable moment on the shoot?
One very pleasurable memory of mine is our evening at Francisco de Orellana, a typical Amazonian small village on the Napo river - after a difficult journey to the location (by plane and boat) we are all sitting on a couple of tables lit by lamp lights outside Mr Julio Chang's "Hotel" (a very sweet tiny building with six 7x5 foot cabins with an open air shower and toilet in the back patio), in a perfectly warm and breezy night, waiting for dinner being prepared by some women neighbours... The sense of BEING in a place where time (and history, I am afraid to say) didn't matter that much.
What did you learn about the Conquistadors?
The importance of geographical/location visual information in getting a better sense of history.
What were the worst moments?
At Tabatinga, Brazilian Amazonian "border town". After another very long boat journey (whole night and day ), having already handed the crew over to the Brazilian fixer, I realized that not only I had left my return air ticket to Iquitos in the hotel's safe box (in Iquitos) but that there was no space for me to go back to Iquitos (and from there to Lima) the following day and probably not for 2 days. The prospect of staying on my own in a border town terrified me; border towns are nothing like Orellana, they are very weird places, and not a very safe place for women on their own.
The infamous 2 day Helicopter "rescue" operation. It was very unnerving to see the crew out there "lost in the jungle"...
Would you do it again?
Absolutely YES.