WEBVTT

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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.

01:47.574 --> 01:50.243 align:start
The geology of the Amazon
desert is so convoluted,

01:50.243 --> 01:53.613 align:start
twisted, faulted, that I
need the help of my brother,

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

01:57.484 --> 02:00.120 align:start
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?

02:58.211 --> 02:59.612 align:start
150.

02:59.646 --> 03:01.648 align:start
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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and I bet it would take a day
for it to settle out completely.

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Yeah, it's real,
real fine stuff.

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That is a lot of materials
being transported.

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And it's gotta come
from somewhere.

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Why?

11:42.435 --> 11:44.003 align:start
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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and they are being lifted up

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by the plate tectonics
you described.

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It's weird but we are now about
500 miles north of the origin

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of the Rio Marañón.

11:59.719 --> 12:02.655 align:start
So what's collecting
from all that basin,

12:02.655 --> 12:04.690 align:start
bringing all that sediment here.

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It's got 3500 miles to
go to reach the Atlantic.

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Cuantos años
tiene el puente?

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       (talking in Spanish)

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Oh I thought thought this bridge
only was 10 years old

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and the bridge operator tells me
it's actually forty years old.

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So Balsas has not
had Balsas operating

12:22.508 --> 12:25.945 align:start
for the last 40 years.

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Before that, everybody
had to cross on rafts.

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This great band of sandstone
that we see up here,

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which is probably a
thousand foot thick,

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as it gets off to the south,
it suddenly just drops

12:43.696 --> 12:46.665 align:start
straight off, almost vertical.

12:46.665 --> 12:49.268 align:start
And this is one example of
the great tectonic movement

12:49.268 --> 12:50.436 align:start
that takes place
here in the Andes,

12:50.436 --> 12:51.971 align:start
the mountain building.

12:51.971 --> 12:54.974 align:start
This is one of the
examples of how it's done.

12:54.974 --> 12:57.777 align:start
The forces that make this
mountain building happen

12:57.777 --> 13:02.848 align:start
are compression of sediments
from one side to the other,

13:02.882 --> 13:06.585 align:start
as well as forces
within the earth

13:06.619 --> 13:09.822 align:start
which are pushing
up at the same time.

13:09.822 --> 13:11.624 align:start
It's something that happens over
such a long period of time,

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but it does demonstrate
the plasticity

13:14.360 --> 13:19.598 align:start
that these rocks have.

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Two years ago when
I was traveling

13:21.801 --> 13:24.170 align:start
in the Rio Marañón region, I
noticed up on this hillside

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a strange cactus.

13:26.272 --> 13:29.008 align:start
I didn't know what it
was, and later on,

13:29.008 --> 13:31.443 align:start
I was able to identify it and
subsequently found that

13:31.443 --> 13:34.747 align:start
DNA studies have traced
this to a very primitive

13:34.747 --> 13:37.817 align:start
cactus that matter of fact,
it is the grand-daddy,

13:37.817 --> 13:42.087 align:start
the original cactus from which
all of our columnar cacti

13:42.087 --> 13:48.627 align:start
are evolved, including our
beautiful saguaro cactus.

13:48.661 --> 13:51.363 align:start
This fits in perfectly
with the discovery

13:51.397 --> 13:59.405 align:start
that the Rio Marañón is a hot
spot of evolution of cacti.

13:59.405 --> 14:26.098 align:start
Adelante, vamanos. Tell me if
I'm wrong but it seems to me

14:26.098 --> 14:28.467 align:start
the people in Chachapoyas
are lighter skinned

14:28.467 --> 14:29.568 align:start
and certainly look different
from elsewhere in the Andes.

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Yes.

14:31.604 --> 14:33.672 align:start
Tradition has it that the women
from Chachapoya were known

14:33.706 --> 14:35.941 align:start
for their beauty and that
the Incas took some of them

14:35.975 --> 14:38.244 align:start
to serve as concubines
for the kings

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and some of them to
serve as acllas,

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this is virgins of the
sun, the chosen ones,

14:44.483 --> 14:47.519 align:start
for sacrifices and, you know
for weaving the special clothes

14:47.519 --> 14:51.257 align:start
for the Inca and other
special chores like that.

14:51.257 --> 14:53.659 align:start
I've heard that the
Spaniards reported

14:53.659 --> 14:56.128 align:start
that Chachapoyans had
light colored eyes

14:56.128 --> 14:58.464 align:start
in addition to skin?

14:58.464 --> 15:02.134 align:start
Yeah, that's, that's a
mystery and light hair

15:02.134 --> 15:06.438 align:start
and that sort of gave way to
all sorts of speculations

15:06.472 --> 15:10.276 align:start
about you know, transatlantic
contact before Columbus.

15:10.276 --> 15:12.845 align:start
Chachapoyas has a
different flavor to it,

15:12.845 --> 15:15.414 align:start
a different feeling than
other places that we've been,

15:15.414 --> 15:18.150 align:start
southern, central
and northern Peru.

15:18.150 --> 15:19.318 align:start
Yes, and very different from
the people of the highlands.

15:19.318 --> 15:21.053 align:start
Yeah.

15:21.053 --> 15:23.689 align:start
Although, look, we're
over 8000 feet here

15:23.689 --> 15:26.892 align:start
so it's not at sea
level by any means.

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I see all this forest and
I think we're the lowlands

15:29.328 --> 15:33.365 align:start
you know but you're right,
actually we're quite high.

15:33.399 --> 15:35.534 align:start
Look, almost every
building around the plaza

15:35.534 --> 15:38.671 align:start
is a travel agency
or a cyber café.

15:38.671 --> 15:40.839 align:start
Yeah, big time
attraction for tourists.

15:40.839 --> 15:41.774 align:start
They know the two things
that tourists need,

15:41.774 --> 15:44.376 align:start
tours and internet.

15:44.410 --> 15:46.045 align:start
Write home.

15:46.045 --> 15:47.179 align:start
Write home, that's right.

15:47.179 --> 15:49.515 align:start
Hey, we're in Chachapoyas.

15:49.515 --> 15:51.684 align:start
But the reality is that
Chachapoyas is the only

15:51.684 --> 15:55.120 align:start
colonial town in the cloud
forest and I have to

15:55.154 --> 15:58.023 align:start
break the news to you that
we're going to go back down

15:58.057 --> 15:59.525 align:start
to places where there
are more cacti.

15:59.525 --> 16:01.994 align:start
Oh, okay.

16:01.994 --> 16:04.029 align:start
Now I know you should
rejoice at that, but I,

16:04.063 --> 16:05.431 align:start
I'd like to see you
a little bit happier.

16:05.431 --> 16:06.865 align:start
Hey, I'll follow you.

16:06.865 --> 16:12.071 align:start
Okay.

16:12.071 --> 16:15.674 align:start
The water that enters
the Amazon is a massive

16:15.708 --> 16:18.677 align:start
amount of water from a
very complex system.

16:18.711 --> 16:22.114 align:start
The Andes have so much
limestone in them

16:22.114 --> 16:24.583 align:start
that they create such
a tremendous aquifer

16:24.583 --> 16:28.087 align:start
which holds so much water
and to release that water

16:28.087 --> 16:33.859 align:start
gradually into these rivers
which drain this vast system.

16:36.362 --> 16:40.099 align:start
These north-south trending
canyons seem to have

16:40.099 --> 16:45.170 align:start
formed along faults between
these blocks of mountains.

16:45.204 --> 16:48.640 align:start
So the mountains dip apart
like this and then they

16:48.640 --> 16:51.744 align:start
can go up or down
depending on the forces

16:51.744 --> 16:54.179 align:start
but it creates a weak zone
and the rivers seem to be

16:54.213 --> 16:57.583 align:start
carving themselves
along those zones.

17:00.319 --> 17:02.988 align:start
When we see water released,

17:02.988 --> 17:07.226 align:start
virtually into the air as this
one is, it means that there is

17:07.226 --> 17:11.463 align:start
a great amount of hydrostatic
pressure on that water

17:11.497 --> 17:19.138 align:start
from a great elevation,
from a great distance.

17:19.138 --> 17:21.707 align:start
2,000 miles downstream
we're goin' to be

17:21.707 --> 17:24.076 align:start
out of the mountains,
like we are now.

17:24.076 --> 17:26.512 align:start
We're out of the Sierra,
we're in the foothills

17:26.512 --> 17:29.481 align:start
and there will be a lot more
vegetation so the water

17:29.515 --> 17:32.751 align:start
will be flatter but maybe
broader, and of course

17:32.785 --> 17:35.020 align:start
the volume will have
increased tenfold

17:35.020 --> 17:38.991 align:start
by the time we reach that point.

17:40.893 --> 17:42.561 align:start
Let's cross the Urubamba.

17:42.561 --> 17:45.197 align:start
As it's now, it's
the dirty Urubamba.

17:45.197 --> 17:46.865 align:start
Yeah, it was clear.

17:46.899 --> 17:48.567 align:start
Buenos dias, señora.

17:48.567 --> 17:50.569 align:start
       (talking in Spanish)

17:50.569 --> 17:57.443 align:start
So this cart is
the main,

17:57.443 --> 18:06.151 align:start
the transportation for
the entire village here.

18:06.185 --> 18:08.387 align:start
This is looking like
a sediment river now.

18:08.387 --> 18:10.122 align:start
Yeah, yeah.

18:10.122 --> 18:11.757 align:start
So the bottom would
be sandy here, right?

18:11.757 --> 18:14.093 align:start
It's not cutting
anymore, it's carrying.

18:14.093 --> 18:21.467 align:start
It's carrying its load on down.

18:21.467 --> 18:24.103 align:start
This woman is
exceptionally strong, too.

18:24.103 --> 18:25.637 align:start
Dang.

18:25.671 --> 18:29.908 align:start
      (talking Spanish) Ah.

18:29.942 --> 18:32.778 align:start
So she does this whenever
anybody wants to cross

18:32.778 --> 18:35.247 align:start
and basically it's just
for families here.

18:35.247 --> 18:37.049 align:start
But I get the feeling she
only does it when she goes.

18:37.049 --> 18:43.689 align:start
She never does it
when she stays here.

18:43.689 --> 18:45.190 align:start
I wonder if I can get one of
these at home?

18:45.224 --> 18:46.692 align:start
Right.

18:46.692 --> 18:48.093 align:start
To across Granite
Creek in Prescott?

18:48.093 --> 18:50.295 align:start
No, to cross my carport.

18:50.329 --> 18:51.897 align:start
You don't suppose she
was going to do that

18:51.897 --> 18:53.298 align:start
just to take a load
of bananas across?

18:53.332 --> 18:55.834 align:start
Gracias, señora.

18:55.868 --> 19:01.940 align:start
So the Urubamba can be crossed
with the proper engineering.

19:01.974 --> 19:04.376 align:start
We've been traveling about
4 hours this morning

19:04.376 --> 19:07.379 align:start
on a very tough dirt road
but we're in the Amazon

19:07.379 --> 19:09.615 align:start
so we can take our time and if
we have to drive after dark,

19:09.615 --> 19:13.352 align:start
what the heck, we're
still in Peru.

19:13.352 --> 19:18.891 align:start
         (music playing)

20:04.703 --> 20:07.472 align:start
We've come through desert and
cloud forest,

20:07.472 --> 20:10.142 align:start
plenty of mud and dust, now
it's time to let nature's power

20:10.142 --> 20:20.552 align:start
clean our cars, gravity flow
hose courtesy of a waterfall.

20:20.586 --> 20:26.858 align:start
It's not often that you
find the right combination

20:26.858 --> 20:29.628 align:start
It's not often that you
find the right combination

20:29.628 --> 20:33.999 align:start
of a waterfall to give
hydropower to move a wheel

20:33.999 --> 20:36.401 align:start
which then turns a larger wheel,

20:36.435 --> 20:38.770 align:start
they put a belt on and
they've got power to operate

20:38.804 --> 20:41.673 align:start
all of their tools here,
doesn't cost them a thing.

20:41.707 --> 20:43.775 align:start
All they have to do is cut
the wood, bring it here,

20:43.809 --> 20:52.618 align:start
nature takes care
of everything else.

21:00.826 --> 21:06.164 align:start
         (music playing)

21:06.164 --> 21:08.333 align:start
We've driven now from

21:08.367 --> 21:12.204 align:start
10,000 feet in the cloud
forest to about 1500 feet

21:12.204 --> 21:16.308 align:start
in the Amazon Desert
along the Rio Marañón.

21:16.308 --> 21:19.778 align:start
The similarities between
this Amazon Desert and the

21:19.778 --> 21:22.447 align:start
southern Sonoran
Desert are uncanny.

21:22.481 --> 21:25.050 align:start
In a Sonoran Desert, as
here, you have a lot of

21:25.050 --> 21:28.754 align:start
this sort of croton bush
which is a toxic member

21:28.754 --> 21:32.891 align:start
of the poinsettia family and we
see a lot of different members

21:32.891 --> 21:35.227 align:start
of the bean family
that have all sorts of

21:35.227 --> 21:39.464 align:start
thorns and spines on them,
but most of all we see

21:39.498 --> 21:42.401 align:start
a proliferation of cacti and
most of them great cacti

21:42.401 --> 21:44.903 align:start
just as in the Sonoran Desert.

21:44.903 --> 21:50.108 align:start
I feel like I'm at home
but I'm in the Amazon.

21:50.142 --> 21:51.410 align:start
In the Sonoran Desert a little
cactus called the pincushion

21:51.410 --> 21:54.579 align:start
is quite common.

21:54.579 --> 21:56.348 align:start
Here, they don't have
those along the Amazon,

21:56.348 --> 21:58.383 align:start
instead they have this.

21:58.417 --> 22:01.320 align:start
It's called the mellow cactus.

22:01.320 --> 22:04.222 align:start
When they become adults, the
green part quits growing.

22:04.222 --> 22:07.359 align:start
This upper part, which is called
the cephalium or the head,

22:07.359 --> 22:13.398 align:start
continues to grow
and grows and grows.

22:13.432 --> 22:15.934 align:start
And each year puts out fruits,

22:15.934 --> 22:18.870 align:start
these little wonderful
pink fruits.

22:18.904 --> 22:25.911 align:start
Believe it or not, it tastes
like a cherry tomato.

22:25.911 --> 22:28.013 align:start
The only cactus fruit
I've ever tasted

22:28.013 --> 22:33.118 align:start
that has that specific twang.

22:35.654 --> 22:38.056 align:start
Before we cross the lower
bridge over the Marañón

22:38.090 --> 22:41.493 align:start
and begin to wind our way up
and out of the Amazon Desert,

22:41.493 --> 22:43.729 align:start
it's only appropriate
that we stop

22:43.729 --> 22:46.231 align:start
and treat ourselves to
the sweet juice of a fruit

22:46.231 --> 22:52.003 align:start
surprisingly suited to
this hot dry climate.

22:52.003 --> 22:56.041 align:start
Apparently this region
produces, what they claim,

22:56.041 --> 22:59.411 align:start
are the sweetest and juiciest
pineapples in the world.

22:59.411 --> 23:01.747 align:start
And apparently they
don't export very well.

23:01.747 --> 23:05.117 align:start
They don't travel.

23:05.117 --> 23:07.819 align:start
Yeah, they don't travel well;
they rot or they damage,

23:07.853 --> 23:09.788 align:start
so it's the only place you can
get them is right around in here

23:09.788 --> 23:12.758 align:start
and I'm glad that we're here.

23:12.758 --> 23:19.498 align:start
I gotta have more.

23:19.498 --> 23:20.932 align:start
That's good.

23:20.966 --> 23:23.135 align:start
That's good bass.

23:23.135 --> 23:25.103 align:start
Yeah.

23:25.137 --> 23:29.674 align:start
Isn't that wonderful?

23:29.674 --> 23:31.810 align:start
Hey, Yetman, do you
realize that both times

23:31.810 --> 23:34.413 align:start
that we've crossed the
Marañón/Amazon on a bridge,

23:34.413 --> 23:37.015 align:start
it's been in the desert.

23:37.015 --> 23:40.685 align:start
And did you realize it would
ever be this dirty in Peru?

23:40.685 --> 23:43.555 align:start
I didn't.

23:43.555 --> 23:48.560 align:start
That carrying the Andres
down to the Atlantic.

23:48.560 --> 23:51.263 align:start
If you take all the water
that's in the Amazon basin,

23:51.263 --> 23:55.233 align:start
that's one-fourth of all the
fresh water in the world.

23:55.267 --> 23:58.637 align:start
If you were to get in a kayak
here at the Marañón Bridge

23:58.637 --> 24:00.672 align:start
and do 50 miles a day, how long
do you think it would take you

24:00.672 --> 24:03.175 align:start
to reach the Atlantic?

24:03.175 --> 24:05.277 align:start
I think it would
depend on how long

24:05.277 --> 24:06.912 align:start
my insect repellant would last.

24:06.912 --> 24:09.247 align:start
That's true.

24:09.281 --> 24:11.917 align:start
I would, well look,
I'll give you an answer.

24:11.917 --> 24:14.319 align:start
You couldn't do it in 60 days,

24:14.319 --> 24:20.225 align:start
cause it's more than
3,000 miles from here.

24:29.434 --> 24:31.970 align:start
Where the Rio Marañón
heads to the northeast,

24:31.970 --> 24:34.306 align:start
the river has cut a gap
through the Andes,

24:34.306 --> 24:36.041 align:start
making for the shortest
and easiest passage

24:36.041 --> 24:39.311 align:start
across the whole range.

24:39.311 --> 24:41.646 align:start
This meant the people from
the Amazon could trade

24:41.680 --> 24:45.016 align:start
with people from the highlands
in the desert coast to the west.

24:45.050 --> 24:49.488 align:start
It also created a most
unusual desert ecosystem.

24:49.488 --> 24:53.158 align:start
Where the Marañón has
created this unusual habitat

24:53.158 --> 24:56.061 align:start
has become a cross roads, making
for one of the most important

24:56.061 --> 24:59.598 align:start
human historical and
natural historical places

24:59.598 --> 25:00.999 align:start
in the entire Amazon basin.

25:05.070 --> 25:07.606 align:start
The coastal deserts
of Peru were home to

25:07.606 --> 25:09.441 align:start
elaborate civilizations
long before the Incas

25:09.441 --> 25:14.212 align:start
arrived.

25:14.246 --> 25:16.181 align:start
Oh that would be
something, you know if I

25:16.181 --> 25:19.017 align:start
found something. Treasures
from the colossal to the

25:19.017 --> 25:21.052 align:start
minute can still be
found as well as ancient

25:21.086 --> 25:25.790 align:start
traditions that are
still in practice.

25:25.790 --> 25:30.328 align:start
Next time on The
         Desert Speaks .

25:32.831 --> 25:39.838 align:start
        (speaking Spanish)

25:39.838 --> 25:48.747 align:start
Well,
I always wanted to walk

25:48.747 --> 25:55.120 align:start
my way to Balsas
anyway, bye guys!

25:55.120 --> 25:58.757 align:start
        (speaking Spanish)

26:02.827 --> 26:04.529 align:start
Funding for
        The Desert Speaks

26:04.529 --> 26:06.965 align:start
was provided by
Desert Program Partners,

26:06.965 --> 26:09.868 align:start
representing concerned viewers
making a financial commitment

26:09.868 --> 26:13.371 align:start
to the education about and
preservation of deserts.

26:13.405 --> 26:15.507 align:start
And by the
Stonewall Foundation.