08 | May | 2012 | MATTHEW'S ISLAND

I’ve been to tropical rain forests over the years – in the Caribbean, Central America, and Venezuela. Stunningly beautiful, and an amazingly rich and abundant ecosystem. Vertical landscaping in its primeval form. But one things you don’t get from seeing pictures of the rain forests is a sense of the smell that seems pretty universal. Rotting leaves and a whiff of urine is how I’d describe it. That, and snakes in branches right over your head, are the two down sides.