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Peru is home not only 
to majestic landscapes,

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scenic roads, tasty delights,

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and the grandfather of 
all tall cacti,

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it also happens to be home of 
the little known Amazon Desert.

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Funding for 
        The Desert Speaks

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was provided by 
Desert Program Partners,

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representing concerned viewers 
making a financial commitment

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to the education about and 
preservation of deserts.

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And by the 
Stonewall Foundation.

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Additional funding provided by 
The Nature Conservancy.

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♪ music ♪

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The Amazon, the world's 
largest river system,

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begins its journey high 
in the Andes of Peru.

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More than 3,000 miles from its 
mouth, its main tributary

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flows through wild 
and varied desert,

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home to civilizations 
thousands of years before

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the arrival of the Incas.

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The geology of the Amazon 
desert is so convoluted,

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twisted, faulted, that I 
need the help of my brother,

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Dick Yetman, a geologist, 
to make sense of it all.

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My Argentine friend, 
Axel Neilsen, will bring

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an international 
cultural perspective

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to the people we meet.

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As we wind our way through the 
mountains east of Cajamarca,

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we crown out at a pass 
over 10,000 feet.

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Here we catch our first 
glimpse of the Amazon.

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It lies 7,000 feet below us.

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In Peru, it's called 
the Rio Marañón

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and the canyon through 
which it flows is deeper

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than the Grand Canyon.

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Buenos dias!

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A donde van.

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Gracias.

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A donde van.

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Excellente.

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Buena suerte.

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How many dollars do you 
think they spend a year

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maintaining this road?

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150.

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So I suppose that helps.

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It also makes it 
really a rough road.

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The circulation of goods

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between the eastern 
slopes of the Andes

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and the Andean highlands and 
the coast, the maritime coast,

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was very important 
throughout Andean history

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and I could say that it is

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even one of the hallmarks 
of Andean history

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is this intensity of 
inter-regional trade.

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I'd called this 
country vertical.

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Oh, man, that's a long ways 
down and very slowly now

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we will, you'll, we'll 
get out of the fog zone.

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That valley's another 3,000 
feet below us, possibly?

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Well, it's possibly that much.

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We know that at the beginning,

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in the time of the 
hunter-gathers,

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this is between 10,000 years 
ago and about 4,000 years ago,

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some of these groups were 
combining their economies,

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resources from the lowlands 
and from the highlands.

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When the economy shifted to 
agricultural and pastoralism

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and therefore these populations 
settled and became sedentary.

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(Spanish speaking woman) 
Si, hay blanca, roja,...

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Y cada uno es diferente?

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Es diferente.

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So this is sufficient here 
for, almost for one family

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for a year, they need 
a little more land,

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but they don't sell these.

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These are raised for the family.

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They don't take the time to 
separate out the varieties.

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They come out in various colors

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and each color has 
its own flavor

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and own place in the diet.

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These fellas use the oxen 
in tandem, two pairs,

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so that they can cover 
the field more quickly.

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They're from the 
same family or clan

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and working working 
together like this,

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they can do a field in 
about a quarter of the time

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as it would be if they were just 
to do it with one pair of oxen

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at a time.

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It is hard to settle in 
this very steep landscape

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but this is an ideal place

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for economically 
diversified economies

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because you can access resources 
from very different environments

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with a relatively 
short distance.

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Archeologists have always 
paid too much attention

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to the highlands 
and to the desert

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mainly because the archeological 
sites are easier to find;

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those environments and 
perishable materials, like

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textiles and wood, preserve much 
better, so, what we find is,

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archeology is much 
more impressive.

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But we, we know that these 
eastern slopes of the Andes

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and the forest 
played a major role

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in all the history of 
the Andean highlands.

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When we get to the Marañón,

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its origin is about 500 
miles south of us in,

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still in Peru.

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So it flows north?

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So it's flowing 
north for 500 miles

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and then another 100 
after the bridge.

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That is, my gosh, 
that's a long way down.

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Look at the strike of 
that limestone down there.

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If we focus on the 
last 4 or 5,000 years

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we see a shift in the 
direction of influence

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between highlands 
and lowlands

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in the eastern 
side of the Andes.

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At the beginning, the lowlands 
were much more important

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because, through the lowlands,

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some of the technologies, 
like ceramics,

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and some of the important 
highland crops, like corn,

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were introduced into the 
rest of the Andean area.

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Later on, say a thousand 
years ago approximately,

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we see a reversion 
in this trend.

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Highland civilizations, which 
were more organized politically,

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perhaps technologically 
more sophisticated,

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began to exert an 
influence on the lowlands.

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Just in case some 
skeptics should question

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whether the Amazon really 
flows through desert or not,

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I'd like to present 
a living proof.

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This is the Sonoran Palo Verde, 
a native of the Sonoran Desert

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and for many people, 
the proto-typical plant

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of our great Sonoran Desert

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here on the Rio Marañón in Peru.

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As an example of evolution 
here in the Rio Marañón Valley,

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this young browningia cactus, 
this species is found only here,

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has these potent spines 
up to 3 inches long.

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These are an effective 
deterrent against herbivores,

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that is, mammals that 
would eat plants.

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By the time the browningias 
have become adults,

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generally about 20 year or so,

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they have lost most of those 
spines so that their exterior

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is just as smooth as can 
be, and I can stroke it

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without any fear 
of being impaled.

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They no longer need those spines 
because they're tough enough

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to withstand the 
attacks of herbivores.

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However not all columnar 
cacti lose their spines.

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But this cactus, in addition 
to maintaining its spines,

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develops this felt-y surface 
that's called a cephalium

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and it has an interesting role

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of protecting the developing 
flowers and fruits

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so that predators can't 
get at them and eat them

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before they're ripe.

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When they ripen, they open up,

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the pollinators have an 
easy way to get at them.

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Until that time,

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they're protected under 
that wooly cephalium.

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It's surprising to 
find this bombax tree

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growing here in 
the Amazon desert.

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These get grotesquely big

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and grow in all sorts 
of weird contortions.

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They're a very tropical tree.

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They don't grow in 
the Sonoran Desert

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but right on the margins.

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You can find a close relative 
of this tree growing,

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so for my purposes, this 
is a good desert tree.

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This little flower is a close 
relative of the poinsettia.

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It's actually a member 
of the genus jatropha

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and one characteristic of 
warm New World deserts

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is an abundance of 
plants in this genus.

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This cactus is a member 
of the genus armatocereus

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but I call it the 
sausage cactus.

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In addition to looking 
kind of strange,

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it has a very unusual use.

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Local people say that if you 
cut off a piece of an arm

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and drop it into a 
bucket of muddy water

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from the Rio Marañón, within two 
hours all the mud and impurities

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will have dropped 
off into the bottom

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and you can drink the water.

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It's a natural water purifier.

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Five hours later and 8,500 
feet below where we first

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spied the river, 
we reach its edge.

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Across from us lies 
the sultry, buggy,

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parasite-ridden 
village of Balsas.

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Well, this is a river, 
this is a large river

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and we're in a desert.

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Why is it oxymoronic to 
have a river in the desert?

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I don't know, it, it isn't, 
there's, all over the world,

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the Nile is a river 
in the desert.

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But there's something 
different here.

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Now you tell me that this is 
granite, right, the basement?

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This is the basement 
of the whole complex

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which is really wonderful 
because we've been traveling

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through limestone and sandstone 
for the last two days.

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Yeah.

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Thousands of feet of it and now

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we get into the intrusive bottom 
which actually came underneath

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and melted into the rock 
that was already there.

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And those two huge 
ranges then, each of them

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captures the rain, one 
coming from the Atlantic,

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the other anything 
coming into the Pacific,

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very little of it 
makes it down here.

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So is, is that why 
it's in the desert?

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Maybe when a place 
doesn't get much rain,

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maybe that would be a desert.

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Hey, look at the 
loading in that water.

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My gosh.

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Look at all the sediments.

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You couldn't get a 
glass of this water

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00:11:34,994 --> 00:11:36,696
and I bet it would take a day 
for it to settle out completely.

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00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:38,864
Yeah, it's real, 
real fine stuff.

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That is a lot of materials 
being transported.

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00:11:40,599 --> 00:11:41,434
And it's gotta come 
from somewhere.

201
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Why?

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Well, gravity.

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That's, that's the way I 
was taught gravity works.

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So all those, all the Andes 
are being worn down by rain

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00:11:48,574 --> 00:11:50,576
and they are being lifted up

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00:11:50,576 --> 00:11:53,145
by the plate tectonics 
you described.

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00:11:53,179 --> 00:11:56,615
It's weird but we are now about 
500 miles north of the origin

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00:11:56,615 --> 00:11:59,719
of the Rio Marañón.

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00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:02,655
So what's collecting 
from all that basin,

210
00:12:02,655 --> 00:12:04,690
bringing all that sediment here.

211
00:12:04,690 --> 00:12:07,693
It's got 3500 miles to 
go to reach the Atlantic.

212
00:12:07,693 --> 00:12:09,228
Cuantos años 
tiene el puente?

213
00:12:09,228 --> 00:12:13,299
(talking in Spanish)

214
00:12:13,299 --> 00:12:17,036
Oh I thought thought this bridge 
only was 10 years old

215
00:12:17,036 --> 00:12:20,473
and the bridge operator tells me 
it's actually forty years old.

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00:12:20,473 --> 00:12:22,508
So Balsas has not 
had Balsas operating

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00:12:22,508 --> 00:12:25,945
for the last 40 years.

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00:12:25,945 --> 00:12:32,318
Before that, everybody 
had to cross on rafts.

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00:12:36,055 --> 00:12:38,157
This great band of sandstone 
that we see up here,

220
00:12:38,157 --> 00:12:40,359
which is probably a 
thousand foot thick,

221
00:12:40,359 --> 00:12:43,696
as it gets off to the south, 
it suddenly just drops

222
00:12:43,696 --> 00:12:46,665
straight off, almost vertical.

223
00:12:46,665 --> 00:12:49,268
And this is one example of 
the great tectonic movement

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00:12:49,268 --> 00:12:50,436
that takes place 
here in the Andes,

225
00:12:50,436 --> 00:12:51,971
the mountain building.

226
00:12:51,971 --> 00:12:54,974
This is one of the 
examples of how it's done.

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00:12:54,974 --> 00:12:57,777
The forces that make this 
mountain building happen

228
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are compression of sediments 
from one side to the other,

229
00:13:02,882 --> 00:13:06,585
as well as forces 
within the earth

230
00:13:06,619 --> 00:13:09,822
which are pushing 
up at the same time.

231
00:13:09,822 --> 00:13:11,624
It's something that happens over 
such a long period of time,

232
00:13:11,624 --> 00:13:14,326
but it does demonstrate 
the plasticity

233
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:19,598
that these rocks have.

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00:13:19,632 --> 00:13:21,801
Two years ago when 
I was traveling

235
00:13:21,801 --> 00:13:24,170
in the Rio Marañón region, I 
noticed up on this hillside

236
00:13:24,170 --> 00:13:26,238
a strange cactus.

237
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I didn't know what it 
was, and later on,

238
00:13:29,008 --> 00:13:31,443
I was able to identify it and 
subsequently found that

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00:13:31,443 --> 00:13:34,747
DNA studies have traced 
this to a very primitive

240
00:13:34,747 --> 00:13:37,817
cactus that matter of fact, 
it is the grand-daddy,

241
00:13:37,817 --> 00:13:42,087
the original cactus from which 
all of our columnar cacti

242
00:13:42,087 --> 00:13:48,627
are evolved, including our 
beautiful saguaro cactus.

243
00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:51,363
This fits in perfectly 
with the discovery

244
00:13:51,397 --> 00:13:59,405
that the Rio Marañón is a hot 
spot of evolution of cacti.

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00:13:59,405 --> 00:14:26,098
Adelante, vamanos. Tell me if 
I'm wrong but it seems to me

246
00:14:26,098 --> 00:14:28,467
the people in Chachapoyas 
are lighter skinned

247
00:14:28,467 --> 00:14:29,568
and certainly look different 
from elsewhere in the Andes.

248
00:14:29,602 --> 00:14:31,604
Yes.

249
00:14:31,604 --> 00:14:33,672
Tradition has it that the women 
from Chachapoya were known

250
00:14:33,706 --> 00:14:35,941
for their beauty and that 
the Incas took some of them

251
00:14:35,975 --> 00:14:38,244
to serve as concubines 
for the kings

252
00:14:38,244 --> 00:14:40,846
and some of them to 
serve as acllas,

253
00:14:40,846 --> 00:14:44,483
this is virgins of the 
sun, the chosen ones,

254
00:14:44,483 --> 00:14:47,519
for sacrifices and, you know 
for weaving the special clothes

255
00:14:47,519 --> 00:14:51,257
for the Inca and other 
special chores like that.

256
00:14:51,257 --> 00:14:53,659
I've heard that the 
Spaniards reported

257
00:14:53,659 --> 00:14:56,128
that Chachapoyans had 
light colored eyes

258
00:14:56,128 --> 00:14:58,464
in addition to skin?

259
00:14:58,464 --> 00:15:02,134
Yeah, that's, that's a 
mystery and light hair

260
00:15:02,134 --> 00:15:06,438
and that sort of gave way to 
all sorts of speculations

261
00:15:06,472 --> 00:15:10,276
about you know, transatlantic 
contact before Columbus.

262
00:15:10,276 --> 00:15:12,845
Chachapoyas has a 
different flavor to it,

263
00:15:12,845 --> 00:15:15,414
a different feeling than 
other places that we've been,

264
00:15:15,414 --> 00:15:18,150
southern, central 
and northern Peru.

265
00:15:18,150 --> 00:15:19,318
Yes, and very different from 
the people of the highlands.

266
00:15:19,318 --> 00:15:21,053
Yeah.

267
00:15:21,053 --> 00:15:23,689
Although, look, we're 
over 8000 feet here

268
00:15:23,689 --> 00:15:26,892
so it's not at sea 
level by any means.

269
00:15:26,892 --> 00:15:29,328
I see all this forest and 
I think we're the lowlands

270
00:15:29,328 --> 00:15:33,365
you know but you're right, 
actually we're quite high.

271
00:15:33,399 --> 00:15:35,534
Look, almost every 
building around the plaza

272
00:15:35,534 --> 00:15:38,671
is a travel agency 
or a cyber café.

273
00:15:38,671 --> 00:15:40,839
Yeah, big time 
attraction for tourists.

274
00:15:40,839 --> 00:15:41,774
They know the two things 
that tourists need,

275
00:15:41,774 --> 00:15:44,376
tours and internet.

276
00:15:44,410 --> 00:15:46,045
Write home.

277
00:15:46,045 --> 00:15:47,179
Write home, that's right.

278
00:15:47,179 --> 00:15:49,515
Hey, we're in Chachapoyas.

279
00:15:49,515 --> 00:15:51,684
But the reality is that 
Chachapoyas is the only

280
00:15:51,684 --> 00:15:55,120
colonial town in the cloud 
forest and I have to

281
00:15:55,154 --> 00:15:58,023
break the news to you that 
we're going to go back down

282
00:15:58,057 --> 00:15:59,525
to places where there 
are more cacti.

283
00:15:59,525 --> 00:16:01,994
Oh, okay.

284
00:16:01,994 --> 00:16:04,029
Now I know you should 
rejoice at that, but I,

285
00:16:04,063 --> 00:16:05,431
I'd like to see you 
a little bit happier.

286
00:16:05,431 --> 00:16:06,865
Hey, I'll follow you.

287
00:16:06,865 --> 00:16:12,071
Okay.

288
00:16:12,071 --> 00:16:15,674
The water that enters 
the Amazon is a massive

289
00:16:15,708 --> 00:16:18,677
amount of water from a 
very complex system.

290
00:16:18,711 --> 00:16:22,114
The Andes have so much 
limestone in them

291
00:16:22,114 --> 00:16:24,583
that they create such 
a tremendous aquifer

292
00:16:24,583 --> 00:16:28,087
which holds so much water 
and to release that water

293
00:16:28,087 --> 00:16:33,859
gradually into these rivers 
which drain this vast system.

294
00:16:36,362 --> 00:16:40,099
These north-south trending 
canyons seem to have

295
00:16:40,099 --> 00:16:45,170
formed along faults between 
these blocks of mountains.

296
00:16:45,204 --> 00:16:48,640
So the mountains dip apart 
like this and then they

297
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,744
can go up or down 
depending on the forces

298
00:16:51,744 --> 00:16:54,179
but it creates a weak zone 
and the rivers seem to be

299
00:16:54,213 --> 00:16:57,583
carving themselves 
along those zones.

300
00:17:00,319 --> 00:17:02,988
When we see water released,

301
00:17:02,988 --> 00:17:07,226
virtually into the air as this 
one is, it means that there is

302
00:17:07,226 --> 00:17:11,463
a great amount of hydrostatic 
pressure on that water

303
00:17:11,497 --> 00:17:19,138
from a great elevation, 
from a great distance.

304
00:17:19,138 --> 00:17:21,707
2,000 miles downstream 
we're goin' to be

305
00:17:21,707 --> 00:17:24,076
out of the mountains, 
like we are now.

306
00:17:24,076 --> 00:17:26,512
We're out of the Sierra, 
we're in the foothills

307
00:17:26,512 --> 00:17:29,481
and there will be a lot more 
vegetation so the water

308
00:17:29,515 --> 00:17:32,751
will be flatter but maybe 
broader, and of course

309
00:17:32,785 --> 00:17:35,020
the volume will have 
increased tenfold

310
00:17:35,020 --> 00:17:38,991
by the time we reach that point.

311
00:17:40,893 --> 00:17:42,561
Let's cross the Urubamba.

312
00:17:42,561 --> 00:17:45,197
As it's now, it's 
the dirty Urubamba.

313
00:17:45,197 --> 00:17:46,865
Yeah, it was clear.

314
00:17:46,899 --> 00:17:48,567
Buenos dias, señora.

315
00:17:48,567 --> 00:17:50,569
(talking in Spanish)

316
00:17:50,569 --> 00:17:57,443
So this cart is 
the main,

317
00:17:57,443 --> 00:18:06,151
the transportation for 
the entire village here.

318
00:18:06,185 --> 00:18:08,387
This is looking like 
a sediment river now.

319
00:18:08,387 --> 00:18:10,122
Yeah, yeah.

320
00:18:10,122 --> 00:18:11,757
So the bottom would 
be sandy here, right?

321
00:18:11,757 --> 00:18:14,093
It's not cutting 
anymore, it's carrying.

322
00:18:14,093 --> 00:18:21,467
It's carrying its load on down.

323
00:18:21,467 --> 00:18:24,103
This woman is 
exceptionally strong, too.

324
00:18:24,103 --> 00:18:25,637
Dang.

325
00:18:25,671 --> 00:18:29,908
(talking Spanish) Ah.

326
00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:32,778
So she does this whenever 
anybody wants to cross

327
00:18:32,778 --> 00:18:35,247
and basically it's just 
for families here.

328
00:18:35,247 --> 00:18:37,049
But I get the feeling she 
only does it when she goes.

329
00:18:37,049 --> 00:18:43,689
She never does it 
when she stays here.

330
00:18:43,689 --> 00:18:45,190
I wonder if I can get one of 
these at home?

331
00:18:45,224 --> 00:18:46,692
Right.

332
00:18:46,692 --> 00:18:48,093
To across Granite 
Creek in Prescott?

333
00:18:48,093 --> 00:18:50,295
No, to cross my carport.

334
00:18:50,329 --> 00:18:51,897
You don't suppose she 
was going to do that

335
00:18:51,897 --> 00:18:53,298
just to take a load 
of bananas across?

336
00:18:53,332 --> 00:18:55,834
Gracias, señora.

337
00:18:55,868 --> 00:19:01,940
So the Urubamba can be crossed 
with the proper engineering.

338
00:19:01,974 --> 00:19:04,376
We've been traveling about 
4 hours this morning

339
00:19:04,376 --> 00:19:07,379
on a very tough dirt road 
but we're in the Amazon

340
00:19:07,379 --> 00:19:09,615
so we can take our time and if 
we have to drive after dark,

341
00:19:09,615 --> 00:19:13,352
what the heck, we're 
still in Peru.

342
00:19:13,352 --> 00:19:18,891
(music playing)

343
00:20:04,703 --> 00:20:07,472
We've come through desert and 
cloud forest,

344
00:20:07,472 --> 00:20:10,142
plenty of mud and dust, now 
it's time to let nature's power

345
00:20:10,142 --> 00:20:20,552
clean our cars, gravity flow 
hose courtesy of a waterfall.

346
00:20:20,586 --> 00:20:26,858
It's not often that you 
find the right combination

347
00:20:26,858 --> 00:20:29,628
It's not often that you 
find the right combination

348
00:20:29,628 --> 00:20:33,999
of a waterfall to give 
hydropower to move a wheel

349
00:20:33,999 --> 00:20:36,401
which then turns a larger wheel,

350
00:20:36,435 --> 00:20:38,770
they put a belt on and 
they've got power to operate

351
00:20:38,804 --> 00:20:41,673
all of their tools here, 
doesn't cost them a thing.

352
00:20:41,707 --> 00:20:43,775
All they have to do is cut 
the wood, bring it here,

353
00:20:43,809 --> 00:20:52,618
nature takes care 
of everything else.

354
00:21:00,826 --> 00:21:06,164
(music playing)

355
00:21:06,164 --> 00:21:08,333
We've driven now from

356
00:21:08,367 --> 00:21:12,204
10,000 feet in the cloud 
forest to about 1500 feet

357
00:21:12,204 --> 00:21:16,308
in the Amazon Desert 
along the Rio Marañón.

358
00:21:16,308 --> 00:21:19,778
The similarities between 
this Amazon Desert and the

359
00:21:19,778 --> 00:21:22,447
southern Sonoran 
Desert are uncanny.

360
00:21:22,481 --> 00:21:25,050
In a Sonoran Desert, as 
here, you have a lot of

361
00:21:25,050 --> 00:21:28,754
this sort of croton bush 
which is a toxic member

362
00:21:28,754 --> 00:21:32,891
of the poinsettia family and we 
see a lot of different members

363
00:21:32,891 --> 00:21:35,227
of the bean family 
that have all sorts of

364
00:21:35,227 --> 00:21:39,464
thorns and spines on them, 
but most of all we see

365
00:21:39,498 --> 00:21:42,401
a proliferation of cacti and 
most of them great cacti

366
00:21:42,401 --> 00:21:44,903
just as in the Sonoran Desert.

367
00:21:44,903 --> 00:21:50,108
I feel like I'm at home 
but I'm in the Amazon.

368
00:21:50,142 --> 00:21:51,410
In the Sonoran Desert a little 
cactus called the pincushion

369
00:21:51,410 --> 00:21:54,579
is quite common.

370
00:21:54,579 --> 00:21:56,348
Here, they don't have 
those along the Amazon,

371
00:21:56,348 --> 00:21:58,383
instead they have this.

372
00:21:58,417 --> 00:22:01,320
It's called the mellow cactus.

373
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,222
When they become adults, the 
green part quits growing.

374
00:22:04,222 --> 00:22:07,359
This upper part, which is called 
the cephalium or the head,

375
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:13,398
continues to grow 
and grows and grows.

376
00:22:13,432 --> 00:22:15,934
And each year puts out fruits,

377
00:22:15,934 --> 00:22:18,870
these little wonderful 
pink fruits.

378
00:22:18,904 --> 00:22:25,911
Believe it or not, it tastes 
like a cherry tomato.

379
00:22:25,911 --> 00:22:28,013
The only cactus fruit 
I've ever tasted

380
00:22:28,013 --> 00:22:33,118
that has that specific twang.

381
00:22:35,654 --> 00:22:38,056
Before we cross the lower 
bridge over the Marañón

382
00:22:38,090 --> 00:22:41,493
and begin to wind our way up 
and out of the Amazon Desert,

383
00:22:41,493 --> 00:22:43,729
it's only appropriate 
that we stop

384
00:22:43,729 --> 00:22:46,231
and treat ourselves to 
the sweet juice of a fruit

385
00:22:46,231 --> 00:22:52,003
surprisingly suited to 
this hot dry climate.

386
00:22:52,003 --> 00:22:56,041
Apparently this region 
produces, what they claim,

387
00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:59,411
are the sweetest and juiciest 
pineapples in the world.

388
00:22:59,411 --> 00:23:01,747
And apparently they 
don't export very well.

389
00:23:01,747 --> 00:23:05,117
They don't travel.

390
00:23:05,117 --> 00:23:07,819
Yeah, they don't travel well; 
they rot or they damage,

391
00:23:07,853 --> 00:23:09,788
so it's the only place you can 
get them is right around in here

392
00:23:09,788 --> 00:23:12,758
and I'm glad that we're here.

393
00:23:12,758 --> 00:23:19,498
I gotta have more.

394
00:23:19,498 --> 00:23:20,932
That's good.

395
00:23:20,966 --> 00:23:23,135
That's good bass.

396
00:23:23,135 --> 00:23:25,103
Yeah.

397
00:23:25,137 --> 00:23:29,674
Isn't that wonderful?

398
00:23:29,674 --> 00:23:31,810
Hey, Yetman, do you 
realize that both times

399
00:23:31,810 --> 00:23:34,413
that we've crossed the 
Marañón/Amazon on a bridge,

400
00:23:34,413 --> 00:23:37,015
it's been in the desert.

401
00:23:37,015 --> 00:23:40,685
And did you realize it would 
ever be this dirty in Peru?

402
00:23:40,685 --> 00:23:43,555
I didn't.

403
00:23:43,555 --> 00:23:48,560
That carrying the Andres 
down to the Atlantic.

404
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,263
If you take all the water 
that's in the Amazon basin,

405
00:23:51,263 --> 00:23:55,233
that's one-fourth of all the 
fresh water in the world.

406
00:23:55,267 --> 00:23:58,637
If you were to get in a kayak 
here at the Marañón Bridge

407
00:23:58,637 --> 00:24:00,672
and do 50 miles a day, how long 
do you think it would take you

408
00:24:00,672 --> 00:24:03,175
to reach the Atlantic?

409
00:24:03,175 --> 00:24:05,277
I think it would 
depend on how long

410
00:24:05,277 --> 00:24:06,912
my insect repellant would last.

411
00:24:06,912 --> 00:24:09,247
That's true.

412
00:24:09,281 --> 00:24:11,917
I would, well look, 
I'll give you an answer.

413
00:24:11,917 --> 00:24:14,319
You couldn't do it in 60 days,

414
00:24:14,319 --> 00:24:20,225
cause it's more than 
3,000 miles from here.

415
00:24:29,434 --> 00:24:31,970
Where the Rio Marañón 
heads to the northeast,

416
00:24:31,970 --> 00:24:34,306
the river has cut a gap 
through the Andes,

417
00:24:34,306 --> 00:24:36,041
making for the shortest 
and easiest passage

418
00:24:36,041 --> 00:24:39,311
across the whole range.

419
00:24:39,311 --> 00:24:41,646
This meant the people from 
the Amazon could trade

420
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,016
with people from the highlands 
in the desert coast to the west.

421
00:24:45,050 --> 00:24:49,488
It also created a most 
unusual desert ecosystem.

422
00:24:49,488 --> 00:24:53,158
Where the Marañón has 
created this unusual habitat

423
00:24:53,158 --> 00:24:56,061
has become a cross roads, making 
for one of the most important

424
00:24:56,061 --> 00:24:59,598
human historical and 
natural historical places

425
00:24:59,598 --> 00:25:00,999
in the entire Amazon basin.

426
00:25:05,070 --> 00:25:07,606
The coastal deserts 
of Peru were home to

427
00:25:07,606 --> 00:25:09,441
elaborate civilizations 
long before the Incas

428
00:25:09,441 --> 00:25:14,212
arrived.

429
00:25:14,246 --> 00:25:16,181
Oh that would be 
something, you know if I

430
00:25:16,181 --> 00:25:19,017
found something. Treasures 
from the colossal to the

431
00:25:19,017 --> 00:25:21,052
minute can still be 
found as well as ancient

432
00:25:21,086 --> 00:25:25,790
traditions that are 
still in practice.

433
00:25:25,790 --> 00:25:30,328
Next time on The 
         Desert Speaks .

434
00:25:32,831 --> 00:25:39,838
(speaking Spanish)

435
00:25:39,838 --> 00:25:48,747
Well, 
I always wanted to walk

436
00:25:48,747 --> 00:25:55,120
my way to Balsas 
anyway, bye guys!

437
00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:58,757
(speaking Spanish)

438
00:26:02,827 --> 00:26:04,529
Funding for 
        The Desert Speaks

439
00:26:04,529 --> 00:26:06,965
was provided by 
Desert Program Partners,

440
00:26:06,965 --> 00:26:09,868
representing concerned viewers 
making a financial commitment

441
00:26:09,868 --> 00:26:13,371
to the education about and 
preservation of deserts.

442
00:26:13,405 --> 00:26:15,507
And by the 
Stonewall Foundation.