WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.792 align:start For millennia people have trekked hundreds of miles 00:01.792 --> 00:03.792 align:start along a route in theAtacama Desert. 00:03.792 --> 00:08.209 align:start They traveled back and forth from the Pacific Coast up to 00:08.209 --> 00:12.292 align:start above 15,000 feet in theChilean Andes. 00:12.292 --> 00:14.375 align:start Well, we're at the top of thispucarasite 00:14.375 --> 00:15.918 align:start and usually the more... 00:15.918 --> 00:18.542 align:start Llamasno longer bear the burden of the trade 00:18.542 --> 00:21.834 align:start but today's high tech traders still follow the same 00:21.834 --> 00:29.125 align:start perilous route through the dries place on earth. 00:29.459 --> 00:31.999 align:start Funding for The Desert Speaks is provided by 00:31.999 --> 00:33.417 align:start Desert Program Partners. 00:33.417 --> 00:36.626 align:start Representing concerned viewers making a financial committment 00:36.626 --> 00:41.292 align:start to the education about and preservation of deserts 00:41.292 --> 00:46.834 align:start and by The Stonewall Foundation. 00:49.042 --> 01:10.542 align:start ♪ music 01:17.250 --> 01:20.375 align:start One of the oldest trade routes in the Americas crosses the 01:20.375 --> 01:26.584 align:start !Atacama DesertconnectingArica on the coast ofChile 01:26.584 --> 01:29.709 align:start with the highlands ofBolivia. 01:29.709 --> 01:34.042 align:start Aricais a modern city dating back to Colonial times but 01:34.042 --> 01:37.999 align:start people were there thousands of years before following this 01:37.999 --> 01:42.292 align:start ancient trade route. On a road trip along the route, 01:42.292 --> 01:45.999 align:start I know that we'll encounter a variety of landscapes and 01:45.999 --> 01:50.876 align:start places with very deep history and some most unusual 01:50.876 --> 01:56.292 align:start desert plants and animals. 01:56.292 --> 02:00.626 align:start AlthoughChileis over 3,000 miles long in only a few 02:00.626 --> 02:04.959 align:start places is it much more than 100 miles wide. 02:04.959 --> 02:07.999 align:start Wherever west/east paved roads exist, 02:07.999 --> 02:10.042 align:start traveling across the country seldom 02:10.042 --> 02:11.834 align:start takes more than a few hours. 02:11.834 --> 02:15.584 align:start Chile'seastern boundary is almost always the crest of the 02:15.584 --> 02:21.501 align:start Andes with border crossings as high as 15,000 feet. 02:21.501 --> 02:24.542 align:start As the location of a critically important trade 02:24.542 --> 02:28.125 align:start route, northernChilehas a long history of conflict, 02:28.125 --> 02:33.876 align:start both over natural resources and over access to the ocean. 02:33.876 --> 02:36.999 align:start Historian Bill Beasley knows this well. 02:36.999 --> 02:39.709 align:start This isChile's doorstep to the world. 02:39.709 --> 02:42.501 align:start Through the Straits of Magellan ships would arrive 02:42.501 --> 02:46.375 align:start from North America and from especially Spain but all of 02:46.375 --> 02:50.375 align:start Europe and then later they would head back with all sorts 02:50.375 --> 02:53.792 align:start of goods from the greater Pacific. 02:53.792 --> 02:56.999 align:start From here they would be shipping out silver from 02:56.999 --> 03:00.209 align:start Bolivia, nitrates from northernChile. 03:00.209 --> 03:01.999 align:start So the whole shipping world would 03:01.999 --> 03:03.918 align:start pass before your eyes inArica. 03:03.918 --> 03:07.417 align:start Chileansprobably were the most international of all 03:07.417 --> 03:09.999 align:start Latin American peoples because of their location because they 03:09.999 --> 03:14.000 align:start served as handlers for all the ships going 03:14.000 --> 03:22.250 align:start by before the Panama Canal. 03:22.250 --> 03:23.999 align:start A modern paved road has replaced the ancientllama 03:23.999 --> 03:26.999 align:start caravan trail facilitating the transportation of goods and 03:26.999 --> 03:30.667 align:start making it easy for us to crossChileright 03:30.667 --> 03:34.334 align:start up to its eastern frontier. 03:34.334 --> 03:37.250 align:start Can you imagine in the United States seeing a road sign that 03:37.250 --> 03:41.542 align:start says Chicago 2,085 kilometers? 03:41.542 --> 03:43.792 align:start That's only half of the distance so there's another 03:43.792 --> 03:46.667 align:start 2,000 kilometers beyond Santiagoto the tip of the 03:46.667 --> 03:51.792 align:start county and we have to roll through the great north with 03:51.792 --> 03:55.417 align:start all of the desert here, then the steps region and 03:55.417 --> 03:57.125 align:start then on to the central valley. 03:57.125 --> 04:00.999 align:start Wow, what a challenge.Vamonos. 04:00.999 --> 04:04.000 align:start I'm lucky to have along not only historian Bill Beasley 04:04.000 --> 04:07.834 align:start but also pre-historian archaeologist 04:07.834 --> 04:09.459 align:start Maria Jose Figuerero. 04:09.459 --> 04:12.292 align:start She knows the deep history of the region from the snow melt 04:12.292 --> 04:16.959 align:start fed valleys in the lowlands to the frigid plateau above 04:16.959 --> 04:21.834 align:start 14,000 feet called thepuna. 04:21.834 --> 04:27.125 align:start Going up from the coast in Arica, heading out due east 04:27.125 --> 04:29.501 align:start up to the mountains we go through 04:29.501 --> 04:32.999 align:start several distinct ecological sounds. 04:32.999 --> 04:36.999 align:start As we go further up, we find greater concentration of human 04:36.999 --> 04:40.999 align:start presence in the foothills of theAndes. 04:40.999 --> 04:44.876 align:start There's that big space in between which is the empty 04:44.876 --> 04:48.999 align:start quarter where human presence is very slight and people 04:48.999 --> 04:52.999 align:start obviously went through that without staying and building 04:52.999 --> 04:54.542 align:start up permanent habitation. 04:54.542 --> 04:57.999 align:start In thealtiplanoand thepuna there are villages not as 04:57.999 --> 05:01.542 align:start dense or as heavily populated as you find either on 05:01.542 --> 05:04.667 align:start the coast or in the Sierras. 05:04.667 --> 05:11.751 align:start My GPS says that I'm at about 1600 feet or about 500 meters 05:11.751 --> 05:18.375 align:start and before the day is over we will be at 4500 meters 05:18.375 --> 05:21.042 align:start or close to 15,000 feet. 05:21.042 --> 05:24.999 align:start We're going along a fault here that created this valley. 05:24.999 --> 05:26.751 align:start That's the only thing that keeps this 05:26.751 --> 05:31.542 align:start from becoming a lunar landscape. 05:31.542 --> 05:34.000 align:start The coastal range kind of makes up the unit, the ecological 05:34.000 --> 05:37.709 align:start unit but every now and then it's interrupted by valleys. 05:37.709 --> 05:40.709 align:start The people that lived in each of the ecological 05:40.709 --> 05:44.167 align:start units were not isolated. 05:44.167 --> 05:45.792 align:start They had contact with each other, 05:45.792 --> 05:48.584 align:start even from way back in hunter/gatherer times. 05:48.584 --> 05:52.501 align:start You have people on the coast using and accessing cactus 05:52.501 --> 05:57.417 align:start spines and camelid fur which only grow up further near the 05:57.417 --> 05:59.375 align:start Sierras and vice versa. 05:59.375 --> 06:02.792 align:start The people from the Sierras accessing marine resources, 06:02.792 --> 06:06.834 align:start so that means that the main movement has always been 06:06.834 --> 06:11.334 align:start east/west or west/east never south because that would mean 06:11.334 --> 06:14.042 align:start that you're moving along the same area, 06:14.042 --> 06:16.250 align:start just moving further along. 06:16.250 --> 06:19.999 align:start One of the oddities of this part of theAndesis that the 06:19.999 --> 06:24.083 align:start first plants you see as you go higher are these very tall 06:24.083 --> 06:26.125 align:start believe it or not cacti. 06:26.125 --> 06:29.584 align:start They're a columnar cactus, they call them candelabras, 06:29.584 --> 06:31.167 align:start they're with good names. 06:31.167 --> 06:35.375 align:start They live only in a range of less than 1,000 feet, 06:35.375 --> 06:40.042 align:start they need very specific climatic conditions. 06:40.042 --> 06:43.250 align:start The spines grow only up about two meters, 06:43.250 --> 06:46.918 align:start I'm less than two meters tall, and then they quit completely 06:46.918 --> 06:50.209 align:start and the reason is there is no mammal, 06:50.209 --> 06:52.667 align:start no herbivore that can reach higher than that. 06:52.667 --> 06:56.167 align:start Thejuanacocan reach about that high, that camelid, 06:56.167 --> 06:59.792 align:start and that's all so over the millions of years the plant 06:59.792 --> 07:02.999 align:start figures out, why am I going to all this work of producing 07:02.999 --> 07:05.542 align:start spines when I don't need to. 07:05.542 --> 07:07.999 align:start Yeah, look how, ay... Be careful. 07:07.999 --> 07:10.000 align:start Look how dense and how long they are. 07:10.000 --> 07:12.999 align:start Yeah, they're six inches long. And they get shorter and shorter 07:12.999 --> 07:15.459 align:start as you go up and here, look, they're tiny. 07:15.459 --> 07:16.999 align:start And less and less dense so 07:16.999 --> 07:23.292 align:start by the time you get up to seven feet, none. 07:23.292 --> 07:25.834 align:start But you do realize that even though they were coastal 07:25.834 --> 07:28.334 align:start fishermen, they had to have come all the way up to here or 07:28.334 --> 07:31.626 align:start at least traded with people up here to access these cacti 07:31.626 --> 07:35.626 align:start because we're at least how many kilometers 07:35.626 --> 07:37.042 align:start away from the sea right now. 07:37.042 --> 07:43.918 align:start Oh, we're probably between 45 and 50 miles away. 07:43.918 --> 07:46.999 align:start All of a sudden we come across these very fine sediments, 07:46.999 --> 07:51.792 align:start very seldom rains and it hasn't for millions of years. 07:51.792 --> 07:53.792 align:start You ask how did they get here. 07:53.792 --> 07:56.375 align:start One theory would be that millions of years ago there 07:56.375 --> 07:59.999 align:start was a lot of wind that blew huge amounts of dust in and it 07:59.999 --> 08:02.999 align:start settled and it's just sitting here waiting for something to 08:02.999 --> 08:09.709 align:start happen that may come to pass in another five million years. 08:09.709 --> 08:13.542 align:start For the first three hours we see almost no sign of people 08:13.542 --> 08:16.876 align:start along the highway until an odd settlement, more like an 08:16.876 --> 08:19.667 align:start apparition, appears along the highway. 08:19.667 --> 08:21.999 align:start It's an ideal place to stop to search out 08:21.999 --> 08:24.999 align:start food and catch our breath. 08:24.999 --> 08:27.959 align:start Here at a little over 10,000 feet in theAndes, 08:27.959 --> 08:31.667 align:start if you want to build a house you've got a real problem. 08:31.667 --> 08:33.501 align:start There is no lumber available. 08:33.501 --> 08:35.999 align:start The only thing you can substitute for lumber is the 08:35.999 --> 08:42.000 align:start dead stems of a cactus, the candelabra cactus. 08:42.000 --> 08:45.501 align:start They are very long lived but when they die 08:45.501 --> 08:48.083 align:start they also are very long dead. 08:48.083 --> 08:50.792 align:start These will stay in the ground for hundreds 08:50.792 --> 08:52.042 align:start of years and people have 08:52.042 --> 08:55.000 align:start found that they can go collect them, bring them in and use them 08:55.000 --> 08:59.999 align:start for posts that also will last for hundreds of years. 08:59.999 --> 09:02.999 align:start Only a few miles farther up the road is the pre-Incan site 09:02.999 --> 09:06.999 align:start ofCopaquillawhere we stop to view an 800 year 09:06.999 --> 09:11.709 align:start old ruin and to acclimatize. 09:11.709 --> 09:14.250 align:start The people who preceded the Incas constructed a 09:14.250 --> 09:17.250 align:start defensive site known as abucara. 09:17.250 --> 09:19.584 align:start They were accustomed to the chilly, 09:19.584 --> 09:22.709 align:start dry weather and to the altitude. 09:22.709 --> 09:25.125 align:start We're at the top of this bucarasite and usually the 09:25.125 --> 09:29.292 align:start more ceremonial, more public areas were located at the top. 09:29.292 --> 09:32.999 align:start You can see very well why we call this a defensive spot. 09:32.999 --> 09:35.417 align:start Yeah, try attacking it from down there. 09:35.417 --> 09:36.626 align:start Yes. I mean, you dominate 09:36.626 --> 09:39.751 align:start the whole landscape. You can see miles all around. 09:39.751 --> 09:42.751 align:start The economy here was more geared to agriculture, 09:42.751 --> 09:46.334 align:start intensive agriculture, and so there was of course the strong 09:46.334 --> 09:49.999 align:start impulse to defend these from anybody else 09:49.999 --> 09:52.042 align:start who wanted to take them over. 09:52.042 --> 09:55.292 align:start The residential area would have been in the middle 09:55.292 --> 09:57.999 align:start to lower parts of the site. 09:57.999 --> 09:59.584 align:start Do you suppose they had roofs here? 09:59.584 --> 10:01.999 align:start It did rain a tiny bit, maybe two inches a year. 10:01.999 --> 10:04.667 align:start Well, yes. Well, look at the feel of the sun right now. 10:04.667 --> 10:07.042 align:start Yeah, it's pretty... so they wanted shade and probably 10:07.042 --> 10:09.709 align:start protects them from cold as well. 10:09.709 --> 10:13.417 align:start We have these round-ish habitations sites and attached 10:13.417 --> 10:17.999 align:start to them in many cases there were these circular structures. 10:17.999 --> 10:20.167 align:start See how perfectly round it is. 10:20.167 --> 10:22.999 align:start So you think they stored their grain here? 10:22.999 --> 10:23.751 align:start Well, yes. 10:23.751 --> 10:25.999 align:start It's the surplus that made this place attractive and of 10:25.999 --> 10:28.667 align:start course that's why they had to make it defensive against 10:28.667 --> 10:31.792 align:start their neighbors, their greedier neighbors. 10:31.792 --> 10:35.167 align:start A thousand feet higher and still colder situation on a 10:35.167 --> 10:38.250 align:start plain called apampa, we encounter the first obvious 10:38.250 --> 10:43.501 align:start signs of Incan civilization, whose long stern arm extended 10:43.501 --> 10:50.751 align:start even this far south and west from their capital inPeru. 10:50.751 --> 10:53.999 align:start The Inca presence is felt mostly here in the Sierra and 10:53.999 --> 10:57.999 align:start it's only here a few generations before the Spanish conquest. 10:57.999 --> 11:01.209 align:start And the way that their presence is felt here is by 11:01.209 --> 11:04.999 align:start appropriation, appropriation of sacred spots. 11:04.999 --> 11:09.834 align:start For example that snowy peak over there,Volcano Tarapacá. 11:09.834 --> 11:11.000 align:start Tarapacá. 11:11.000 --> 11:12.918 align:start Yeah, that is the site of an offering, 11:12.918 --> 11:16.999 align:start a sacrifice and that's how the Incas appropriated this as 11:16.999 --> 11:18.999 align:start their own special landscape. 11:18.999 --> 11:20.999 align:start A human sacrifice. Mm mm. 11:20.999 --> 11:22.999 align:start This is kind of a functional building. 11:22.999 --> 11:24.334 align:start I can't say much more than that. 11:24.334 --> 11:26.999 align:start Well, another reason for the Incapresence here is because 11:26.999 --> 11:29.918 align:start they were after raw materials in many ways and of course 11:29.918 --> 11:33.042 align:start they needed to store and move it so the other constructions 11:33.042 --> 11:36.999 align:start that you find here are deposits and this is actually 11:36.999 --> 11:40.709 align:start acolca, which is a word for a silo or deposit. 11:40.709 --> 11:43.667 align:start So buildings like this would be found at regular 11:43.667 --> 11:46.834 align:start intervals along theInca Road. 11:46.834 --> 11:48.584 align:start Supplies for their military? 11:48.584 --> 11:50.667 align:start No, it's actually... for them. 11:50.667 --> 11:57.417 align:start For them, fiber, fiber for textiles, minerals, grain. 11:57.417 --> 11:59.626 align:start They were administrative geniuses. 11:59.626 --> 12:01.209 align:start Well, they certainly were. 12:01.209 --> 12:03.042 align:start Probably the best the world has ever known. 12:03.042 --> 12:13.125 align:start Well, this was certainly the key to the success of their empire. 12:13.125 --> 12:15.709 align:start Yeah. Most ofIncacountry is cold to very cold, 12:15.709 --> 12:17.834 align:start very cold on top of the 20,000 foot peaks, 12:17.834 --> 12:21.709 align:start cold here at 11,500 feet so plants like this columnar 12:21.709 --> 12:27.083 align:start cactus oreocereus are adapted well to withstanding the cold 12:27.083 --> 12:30.876 align:start with this thick layer of insulation and these mean 12:30.876 --> 12:33.417 align:start needles that can collect condensation and take it all 12:33.417 --> 12:36.834 align:start the way down to the base for a free drink of water. 12:36.834 --> 12:39.375 align:start TheIncasdiscovered that this particular cactus, 12:39.375 --> 12:44.125 align:start when cooked, the needles singed off and baked, 12:44.125 --> 12:47.959 align:start then dried, produces the ideal alkaloid, the catalyst, 12:47.959 --> 12:52.042 align:start that when combined with a coca leaf produces an extra amount 12:52.042 --> 12:57.834 align:start of the anesthetic that enabled them and enables people today 12:57.834 --> 13:00.709 align:start to tolerate the high altitude and the 13:00.709 --> 13:04.250 align:start misery of the cold weather. 13:04.250 --> 13:07.999 align:start The coca leaf is symbolic of the extent of theInca Empire. 13:07.999 --> 13:12.918 align:start Populated villages are far fewer now but a few persist, 13:12.918 --> 13:16.501 align:start such as theAmada village ofSocoroma. 13:16.501 --> 13:20.626 align:start Villagers are descendants of people conquered by theIncas. 13:20.626 --> 13:24.375 align:start They still combine Christian and pagan elements in their 13:24.375 --> 13:30.417 align:start ceremonies and in their way of life. 13:30.417 --> 13:32.667 align:start For most of Catholic Christendom Good Friday night 13:32.667 --> 13:36.209 align:start and Holy Saturday morning are the most exciting times of the 13:36.209 --> 13:40.209 align:start year and in this village of Socoromait's no different. 13:40.209 --> 13:40.999 align:start No, it isn't. 13:40.999 --> 13:43.375 align:start Well, they're busy getting ready for the procession that 13:43.375 --> 13:47.751 align:start starts very late at night, around 1 or 2 AM. 13:47.751 --> 13:51.584 align:start We're in the main plaza and there are little chapels at each 13:51.584 --> 13:55.501 align:start corner so the procession will move from one chapel to another. 13:55.501 --> 13:58.292 align:start They say a mass at each one? 13:58.292 --> 13:58.918 align:start Right. 13:58.918 --> 14:04.751 align:start So they start right at 1, 2 AM and end at dawn, around 8 AM. 14:04.751 --> 14:06.209 align:start It's going to be really cold. 14:06.209 --> 14:07.667 align:start It's going to be freezing. 14:07.667 --> 14:12.042 align:start This is anImaravillage and the traditions go way back here. 14:12.042 --> 14:15.751 align:start It's near the frontier so it's Imarabut I guess there's a 14:15.751 --> 14:18.417 align:start mix of families that are of different nationalities, 14:18.417 --> 14:23.501 align:start fromPeru, Boliviaas well as Chileand so I know that this 14:23.501 --> 14:29.626 align:start little town is from Colonial and pre-Columbian times and so 14:29.626 --> 14:34.375 align:start it's been a focus of population for a long, long time. 14:34.375 --> 14:37.542 align:start Looking around here there are terrace fields that go way up 14:37.542 --> 14:40.751 align:start into the mountains so that means they've been around and 14:40.751 --> 14:45.083 align:start cultivated the land for many, many, many centuries. 14:45.083 --> 14:48.626 align:start We are not prepared to withstand the sub-freezing 14:48.626 --> 14:51.999 align:start temperatures of the night festivities inSocomora. 14:51.999 --> 14:56.167 align:start Instead we seek more permanent and comfortable shelter up the 14:56.167 --> 14:59.334 align:start road where it's higher still. 14:59.334 --> 15:01.542 align:start In the morning we venture into the 15:01.542 --> 15:04.334 align:start oxygen pooraltiplano of theAndes. 15:04.334 --> 15:08.334 align:start InChileit's also called thepuna. 15:08.334 --> 15:12.501 align:start In the transect between the altiplanoandAricait's a 15:12.501 --> 15:17.292 align:start wonderful place to see the four species of camelids that 15:17.292 --> 15:18.959 align:start you can find in South America. 15:18.959 --> 15:22.083 align:start They're the largest herbivores there are and you get both the 15:22.083 --> 15:25.417 align:start two wild species, juanacoandvicuña, 15:25.417 --> 15:29.584 align:start and the two domesticated species,alpacaandllama. 15:29.584 --> 15:32.709 align:start Thevicuñas, they live in a very fragile environment. 15:32.709 --> 15:35.167 align:start They only live in very high altitude. 15:35.167 --> 15:37.584 align:start They have a more restricted distribution than any of the 15:37.584 --> 15:41.042 align:start other camelids, either wild or domesticated. 15:41.042 --> 15:44.999 align:start So you can only find them in restricted places. 15:44.999 --> 15:47.334 align:start Thejuanacois a very versatile species. 15:47.334 --> 15:50.501 align:start It's distributed on a greater part of the arid 15:50.501 --> 15:52.999 align:start to semi-arid lands of South America. 15:52.999 --> 15:55.375 align:start They go all the way up to Ecuadorbut you can find it 15:55.375 --> 15:58.542 align:start all the way down to Tierra del Fuego. 15:58.542 --> 16:01.834 align:start Thealpacais a domesticated species. 16:01.834 --> 16:03.834 align:start They were mostly domesticated for their fiber. 16:03.834 --> 16:06.834 align:start It seems that their domestication occurred around 16:06.834 --> 16:09.999 align:start 4,000 years ago in different places along theAndesbut 16:09.999 --> 16:14.626 align:start always more restricted to high altitude places in what is now 16:14.626 --> 16:17.250 align:start !Peru, Bolivia, northernChile. 16:17.250 --> 16:20.250 align:start And you can tell them now by their banana shaped ears and 16:20.250 --> 16:24.999 align:start the very dense fiber making very huggable or adorable 16:24.999 --> 16:30.626 align:start because they're just so, so woolly and very colorful. 16:30.626 --> 16:33.459 align:start Thellamais one of the biggest of the species. 16:33.459 --> 16:36.999 align:start It's mostly used for transport of goods from the 16:36.999 --> 16:41.959 align:start coast to the high altitude Sierras. 16:41.959 --> 16:44.999 align:start Above 13,000 feet the air is too thin 16:44.999 --> 16:48.000 align:start for most plants and most people. 16:48.000 --> 16:52.542 align:start What does grow there is often bizarre. 16:52.542 --> 16:54.959 align:start I love checking out these rocky hillsides up in the 16:54.959 --> 17:01.999 align:start altiplanoand especially because we got so much of thellareta. 17:01.999 --> 17:05.292 align:start It is a fabulous plant. 17:05.292 --> 17:06.292 align:start Here's a good one. 17:06.292 --> 17:07.667 align:start This is great. 17:07.667 --> 17:10.292 align:start It's in flower too. 17:10.292 --> 17:12.999 align:start The weird thing about these is they're 17:12.999 --> 17:15.209 align:start actually closely related to celery. 17:15.209 --> 17:18.375 align:start They look like moss but they're not. 17:18.375 --> 17:19.876 align:start They're really hard. 17:19.876 --> 17:22.042 align:start Look, this one's been vandalized and we can see the 17:22.042 --> 17:24.751 align:start woody part of the interior that's just full of resin. 17:24.751 --> 17:28.375 align:start They're glistening with all that resin. 17:28.375 --> 17:31.584 align:start It's just the strangest plant. 17:31.584 --> 17:33.667 align:start I've heard that they grow between one 17:33.667 --> 17:36.042 align:start and three millimeters a year. 17:36.042 --> 17:39.792 align:start And these may be 500 years old, these plants. 17:39.792 --> 17:40.334 align:start Probably. 17:40.334 --> 17:43.292 align:start These are very, very slow growing and so if people kept 17:43.292 --> 17:46.083 align:start on cutting them down indiscriminately we'd be left 17:46.083 --> 17:53.751 align:start with an even more barren landscape than we have now. 17:53.751 --> 17:57.999 align:start At this little pass it says on the GPS that we're at a little 17:57.999 --> 18:02.751 align:start over 15,000 feet and that means this highway is higher 18:02.751 --> 18:06.083 align:start than any in North America, in Europe, 18:06.083 --> 18:10.959 align:start in Africa and Australia and in Antarctica. 18:10.959 --> 18:11.375 align:start Wow. 18:11.375 --> 18:14.751 align:start But you said that this is the Continental Divide. 18:14.751 --> 18:14.999 align:start It is. 18:14.999 --> 18:18.584 align:start We are at the high point that divides all the water that 18:18.584 --> 18:22.959 align:start flows from these mountains into these human weapons 18:22.959 --> 18:26.417 align:start calledbofedales, will eventually go west to the 18:26.417 --> 18:30.626 align:start Pacific and behind us the water that flows out will go 18:30.626 --> 18:34.125 align:start into big basins forming lakes to the east. 18:34.125 --> 18:36.417 align:start So though it doesn't look very impressive, 18:36.417 --> 18:39.834 align:start this is a continental divide. 18:39.834 --> 18:42.417 align:start The trucks that come along this highway have a pretty good view. 18:42.417 --> 18:45.918 align:start This is one of the major truck connections in the world and 18:45.918 --> 18:49.542 align:start it runs fromLa!■Paz, Bolivia, toAricainChile. 18:49.542 --> 18:53.083 align:start They only have two ways to get materials out ofBolivia. 18:53.083 --> 18:56.125 align:start They can go east through Paraguayto the river system 18:56.125 --> 18:59.083 align:start or take this road and go down toArica. 18:59.083 --> 19:03.999 align:start That used to be the route that would go 19:03.999 --> 19:07.459 align:start down to theBoliviancoast. 19:07.459 --> 19:10.083 align:start Bolivialost that coast in the war. 19:10.083 --> 19:11.375 align:start In the war? 19:11.375 --> 19:13.000 align:start In the war of the Pacific. 19:13.000 --> 19:15.000 align:start It's still a matter of great bitterness. 19:15.000 --> 19:16.999 align:start But as we see the trucks roll by here, 19:16.999 --> 19:21.459 align:start Boliviawill ship down tin, other minerals and also 19:21.459 --> 19:23.584 align:start tropical fruits to the coast. 19:23.584 --> 19:26.709 align:start And going the other direction we see finished products like 19:26.709 --> 19:30.542 align:start Nissan cars from Japan that come through the port ofArica 19:30.542 --> 19:32.375 align:start and sail right up toBolivia. 19:32.375 --> 19:34.459 align:start AndBoliviais sort of the loser in that deal. 19:34.459 --> 19:37.999 align:start Boliviais definitely the loser in that deal. 19:37.999 --> 19:39.667 align:start Here comes one now. 19:39.667 --> 19:41.584 align:start And that's raw material, some kind of 19:41.584 --> 19:43.501 align:start raw material they're carrying. 19:43.501 --> 19:43.999 align:start Exactly. 19:43.999 --> 19:46.334 align:start No finished products are coming down fromBoliviatoArica. 19:46.334 --> 19:51.751 align:start And look, here comes a string of them. 19:55.250 --> 19:57.999 align:start And we will never know what's in that container. 19:57.999 --> 19:59.999 align:start We don't know what's in them but we know where they're 19:59.999 --> 20:03.250 align:start headed and it's either to the Chinese, the Japanese, 20:03.250 --> 20:06.417 align:start or even the Korean markets. 20:06.417 --> 20:09.709 align:start Away from the paved road we find one of the affects 20:09.709 --> 20:12.834 align:start of modern transportation and technology. 20:12.834 --> 20:15.459 align:start Everywhere in thepuna traditional villages are 20:15.459 --> 20:20.125 align:start slowly becoming depopulated as people of thealtiplanoseem 20:20.125 --> 20:26.999 align:start to follow the goods of the altiplanodown to the coast. 20:26.999 --> 20:31.501 align:start We're inParidacotaright now and this is fairly typical of 20:31.501 --> 20:35.709 align:start this region in the fact that we have a series of churches 20:35.709 --> 20:40.667 align:start that date from the mid to late 17th century which were built 20:40.667 --> 20:44.999 align:start as the first advance of the church civilizing 20:44.999 --> 20:46.999 align:start the Indians in this region. 20:46.999 --> 20:48.000 align:start It's a little confusing. 20:48.000 --> 20:50.167 align:start I know this is a Catholic church, 20:50.167 --> 20:51.834 align:start it was founded as a Catholic church, 20:51.834 --> 20:57.417 align:start but are not those symbols these monuments clearly pagan? 20:57.417 --> 20:58.999 align:start Well, here we have a mix of two things. 20:58.999 --> 21:02.125 align:start We have the Catholic church who put these churches in 21:02.125 --> 21:05.999 align:start existing Indian villages and so you have a clear perimeter 21:05.999 --> 21:08.000 align:start of where everything is sacred. 21:08.000 --> 21:11.918 align:start You have a church and a wall enclosing the sacred ground. 21:11.918 --> 21:12.999 align:start And European. 21:12.999 --> 21:13.792 align:start And European. 21:13.792 --> 21:15.918 align:start But then you have lots of local elements. 21:15.918 --> 21:18.999 align:start The first of them are maybe these what you call pagan 21:18.999 --> 21:23.542 align:start symbols and of course the duality of the Andean 21:23.542 --> 21:28.000 align:start mentality or ideology where you have this opposition of 21:28.000 --> 21:32.999 align:start sun/moon, masculine/feminine and over here 21:32.999 --> 21:34.584 align:start you have that same duality. 21:34.584 --> 21:37.709 align:start You have the chapel and of course the tower, 21:37.709 --> 21:40.083 align:start which is separate from the chapel so both the 21:40.083 --> 21:42.792 align:start decorations, what you call decorations, 21:42.792 --> 21:46.459 align:start the pagan ones here, are kind of mixed in with the sacred 21:46.459 --> 21:51.125 align:start ground that is delimited by this perimeter wall and 21:51.125 --> 21:54.250 align:start maintained at the same time. 21:54.250 --> 21:59.167 align:start If you had come here 30 years my guess is that virtually all 21:59.167 --> 22:03.459 align:start of the roofs here would have been made of thispaja brava, 22:03.459 --> 22:08.876 align:start this straw and now only a couple are left with straw 22:08.876 --> 22:11.751 align:start and the rest is of galvanized roofing. 22:11.751 --> 22:15.584 align:start Yeah, well, slowly they're replacing local 22:15.584 --> 22:18.167 align:start materials by modern materials. 22:18.167 --> 22:22.375 align:start Here you have a house... 22:25.125 --> 22:28.751 align:start This snow covered volcano calledParidacotaappears to 22:28.751 --> 22:32.999 align:start be tranquil, just like the town named after it. 22:32.999 --> 22:35.584 align:start But archaeological studies have shown that within the 22:35.584 --> 22:39.334 align:start last 10,000 years it has exploded sending vast clouds 22:39.334 --> 22:43.709 align:start of volcanic ash all over everything and associated 22:43.709 --> 22:46.876 align:start volcanoes have unleashed lava flows. 22:46.876 --> 22:50.626 align:start Even the tiny lava flows can show up almost anywhere and 22:50.626 --> 22:56.999 align:start the major flows can engulf and destroy any town at any time. 22:56.999 --> 22:59.375 align:start They do have a slight benefit however. 22:59.375 --> 23:03.083 align:start They fragment thebofedales or these swamps as they're 23:03.083 --> 23:06.999 align:start called, making for a more varied area and enriching the 23:06.999 --> 23:10.501 align:start already rich wildlife productivity and 23:10.501 --> 23:16.334 align:start beauty of these Andeanswamps. 23:16.334 --> 23:20.709 align:start Back on the paved road we've gone as far as we can inChile. 23:20.709 --> 23:24.042 align:start The border crossing is a reminder that the territory we 23:24.042 --> 23:28.167 align:start have traversed prior to the late 19th century 23:28.167 --> 23:31.250 align:start was part ofBolivia. 23:31.250 --> 23:34.125 align:start Here at the border crossing betweenBoliviaandChile 23:34.125 --> 23:36.542 align:start we're slightly under 15,000 feet. 23:36.542 --> 23:40.709 align:start Certainly the truck drivers who are rolling by here are up 23:40.709 --> 23:43.542 align:start in their trucks over 15,000 feet and that makes this one 23:43.542 --> 23:47.083 align:start of the highest border crossings in the Americas and 23:47.083 --> 23:50.918 align:start in the world, everywhere except for in the Himalayas in 23:50.918 --> 23:54.999 align:start some of the central Asia high mountain passes. 23:54.999 --> 23:57.709 align:start Every time aBolivian crosses the border here, 23:57.709 --> 24:02.959 align:start there's a memory of over 100 years that this wasBolivian 24:02.959 --> 24:08.375 align:start territory and he should be driving down to aBolivianport. 24:08.375 --> 24:11.209 align:start This is a place of continual debate that 24:11.209 --> 24:17.709 align:start some time must be resolved. 24:19.125 --> 24:22.167 align:start FromAricaon the balmy seacoast ofChileto the 24:22.167 --> 24:25.542 align:start frigid border crossing ofBolivia, 24:25.542 --> 24:28.501 align:start there's a distance of about 200 kilometers. 24:28.501 --> 24:32.334 align:start It only took us a few hours to travel what a hundred years 24:32.334 --> 24:35.999 align:start ago would have taken llamacaravans weeks. 24:35.999 --> 24:39.918 align:start The route, the climate, the geology and the 24:39.918 --> 24:42.918 align:start geography have not changed. 24:42.918 --> 24:46.292 align:start The ownership of the route was sufficiently important 24:46.292 --> 24:49.292 align:start to give rise to wars. 24:49.292 --> 24:53.125 align:start Disputes formerly solved only with military confrontation 24:53.125 --> 25:01.501 align:start have been shoved aside by burgeoning international trade. 25:02.999 --> 25:06.042 align:start The highAndeandesert of northernChileis a landscape 25:06.042 --> 25:08.999 align:start of volcanoes and weird plants and animals. 25:08.999 --> 25:17.751 align:start But it is increasingly become devoid of human beings. 25:17.751 --> 25:21.042 align:start It makes for quite a contrast with theAtacama Desert 25:21.042 --> 25:24.667 align:start thousands of feet below where it hasn't rained 25:24.667 --> 25:26.250 align:start for millions of years. 25:26.250 --> 25:29.709 align:start ...and we're on the brown, the green or the brown... 25:29.709 --> 25:32.209 align:start Next time onThe Desert Speaks. 25:32.209 --> 25:34.709 align:start This is really an interesting railroad because it was 25:34.709 --> 25:36.999 align:start engineered by an American, William Wheelwright, 25:36.999 --> 25:39.375 align:start with British investment capital and workers from all 25:39.375 --> 25:42.709 align:start over the place including Chinese workers who came from 25:42.709 --> 25:46.375 align:start the U.S.,Chileanworkers. 25:46.375 --> 25:48.334 align:start From the 49ers, you mean from the gold fields? 25:48.334 --> 25:51.125 align:start Yeah, from the gold fields and ones who had worked on the 25:51.125 --> 25:53.292 align:start transcontinental continued to work on the 25:53.292 --> 25:54.334 align:start railroads heading down here. 25:54.334 --> 25:56.042 align:start Well, it goes up as high as 15,000 feet. 25:56.042 --> 25:58.209 align:start We're at sea level here. 26:02.584 --> 26:07.125 align:start FUNDING FOR THE DESERT SPEAKS IS PROVIDED BY 26:07.125 --> 26:08.999 align:start DESERT PROGRAM PARTNERS. 26:08.999 --> 26:11.834 align:start REPRESENTING CONCERNED VIEWERS MAKING A FINANCIAL COMMITTMENT 26:11.834 --> 26:16.709 align:start TO THE EDUCATION ABOUT AND PRESERVATION OF DESERTS 26:16.709 --> 26:20.334 align:start AND BY THE STONEWALL FOUNDATION.