Full.Circle.With.Michael.Palin.08.Bolivia+Peru

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00:30The surface of Lake Titicaca covers 5,000 square miles of the Andes.
00:47It's the highest lake in the world.
00:49The lakeside town of Copacabana is a half-day's travel north
00:59from the Bolivian capital La Paz.
01:06The Spanish colonized Bolivia 450 years ago.
01:10As important as the wealth they took away was the religion they brought with them.
01:20Copacabana is a very important place for Catholics.
01:24Miracles happened here and there's a shrine to the Virgin
01:28in the cathedral back there.
01:30And also, you're expected to do a pilgrimage if you come here
01:34in honour of the Virgin, past the stations of the cross.
01:39This is number three, up to the top of the hill Chedo Calvario here.
01:44And as I started, just over 12,500 feet, it's a test of faith, I tell you.
01:51A test of other things too.
01:53My body is not yet happy living life at two and a half miles above the sea.
02:05At this height, oxygen is less easy to absorb.
02:08Every step I take requires 40% more effort than at sea level.
02:14The scenery, mind you, is at least 40% more spectacular.
02:26My efforts are rewarded by a personal audience with the dark virgin of the lake.
02:33Her miracles brought fame and fortune to Copacabana.
02:38The Spanish Catholics were not the first to sense the spiritual qualities of this place.
02:44Before them, the Incas believed that the sun god himself, creator of the world,
02:49sprang from the bottomless blue waters of Lake Titicaca.
03:02The lake straddles the two countries of Bolivia and Colombia.
03:06The two countries of Bolivia and Peru.
03:08And at San Pablo Tiquina, its narrowest point, there's a ferry service.
03:22Vehicles go on one boat and foot passengers on another,
03:25both under the beady eye of Don Eduardo Averoa,
03:29whose likeness on the quayside must qualify as one of the world's least impressive statues.
03:35It's a gesture of defiance rather than glory,
03:38for in the war that it commemorates,
03:40Bolivia lost its entire Pacific coastline to Chile.
03:49The people here are less Spanish than the Chileans.
03:52More than half the Bolivian population is pure Indian.
03:57On the other side of the water lies the nerve centre of the Bolivian navy.
04:04Undaunted by the loss of their entire coastline,
04:06they maintain a strong presence on the Bolivian half of the lake.
04:14This is the portsmouth of Lake Titicaca.
04:17And some of the fleet, at least, is in.
04:20These modest patrol boats may only be needed to keep an eye on smugglers,
04:24but they're symbols of Bolivian hopes
04:26that one day their Pacific property will be returned
04:29and Lake Titicaca will no longer be their only coastline.
04:41The boats that have plied the lake for most of its human history
04:44were made from Tortora reeds,
04:46They still grow in thick, lush beds around the shoreline.
05:05The skills of the Indian boatbuilders are kept alive by the Esteban family.
05:09The head of the family, Paulino Esteban,
05:13helped the Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl,
05:16construct two reed boats which they sailed across the Atlantic.
05:21See, this is from the reed as well.
05:24The same reed that you make the boat from, you make the twine from.
05:42That's the before and after, yeah.
05:46Years of experience, yeah.
05:48Yeah, that's beautiful.
05:54Strong enough to sail the Atlantic.
05:59This is what normal ships would have, rivets.
06:02You just have this twine which holds the whole lot together.
06:06Hmm.
06:08OK?
06:10Yeah.
06:11We're going to test it.
06:17I ask if I can test drive one of his boats.
06:20We don't have time to cross the Atlantic,
06:23but Paulino offers me a trip round the bay.
06:26Yeah, in about the middle.
06:28It's very, very precarious.
06:32Bueno?
06:33Aki?
06:34Bueno.
06:35Ah, nice.
06:38Yeah, ooh.
06:42That's my great waterborne sofa.
06:48Oh, that's nice.
06:50That's my great waterborne sofa.
06:56A boat like this costs $40.
06:58On the lake, no extras.
07:00It doesn't waste fuel, costs nothing to run,
07:02and is made from constantly renewable resources,
07:05which I suppose explains why they're dying out.
07:09Unfortunately, there are no boats to take us across to Peru.
07:15We shall have to drive to the frontier at Kasani.
07:18Once we have crossed, we shall run along the Peruvian shore
07:21to catch a train from Juliaca,
07:23which will carry us over the Andes to Cuzco.
07:49A dirt road gives way to a cobbled road,
07:52which vibrates us gently through the village of Kasani
07:55towards our 14th international border.
08:04This may look like the entrance to a farmyard,
08:06but actually this chain separates Bolivia from the rest of the world,
08:09or, in this case, from Peru.
08:12I must say, in all my travelling,
08:14it's the least daunting border I've come across.
08:17But still, chain or no chain, formalities have to be gone through.
08:23Because we're the only people crossing out of Bolivia,
08:26they're delighted to see us
08:28and make sure the formalities last as long as possible.
08:40Four hours later, there's absolutely nothing more they can think of
08:43to keep us here.
08:45Our chain is removed, and we're released into Peru.
08:57Our first stop in Peru is the port of Puno,
09:00home to three of the original Lake Titicaca steamboats.
09:04One of them is being restored by an Englishwoman called Mariel Larkin.
09:08Her family were once Clydeside shipbuilders,
09:11and it's still in the blood.
09:13She spends a few months in Peru every year, and lives on board.
09:17Hello!
09:19Hello!
09:21Anyone on board? Hello!
09:23I'm Mariel, Michael Palin. Very nice to see you.
09:25Nice to see you. Welcome aboard.
09:27I thought you might be out on the lake, cruising.
09:29Well, we're going to. We're going to.
09:31Give us another year, and we'll be there.
09:33How did the ship originally get here, to Lake Titicaca?
09:37It was meant for promoting the area, bringing out the local produce.
09:43And they brought it in pieces,
09:45and each piece had to be designed in such a way that a mule could carry it.
09:49The maximum a mule could carry was about 400 pounds.
09:52So having designed that and built it and packed it in packing cases,
09:55they brought it all the way to Arica.
09:57So that was how many pieces? 2,766.
10:00So all these bits, and they're very heavy.
10:02This is real sort of solid... All iron. ..cast iron.
10:05It was on mules back over the Andes. How long did that take?
10:08Well, it took about six years.
10:10Can I have a look around? Yes, please do.
10:12Why not? Come up to the bridge.
10:14Mariel hopes that the Yavari, named after a local river,
10:18will soon be restored to her former glories, which were considerable.
10:27I want to show you...
10:29Well, this is the original binnacle here.
10:31Yes, lovely.
10:33And the wheel is in the museum in Arequipa, so we hope to get that back.
10:37And this is the original chain steering.
10:40This chain led out through that hole there,
10:42and the other one went out through there
10:44and went right back to this stern, to the propeller.
10:47So the wheel had sort of directed...
10:49Pretty heavy wheel to turn. Heavy wheel.
10:51Had to move that chain each time. That's right, that's right.
10:54OK, shall we see a bit below? Yes, let's go below. OK.
10:58The machinery is a little more sophisticated down in the engine room
11:02and only 80 years old.
11:04Brass and copper fittings.
11:06This actually was installed in 1913.
11:08It's a Swedish Bollander four-cylinder...
11:12Is it a steam engine? ..hot bulb, semi-diesel.
11:14It's a semi-diesel, actually, but it replaced the steam engine
11:18that the ship was equipped with originally.
11:20And that proved so unsatisfactory.
11:22It would run on dried llama droppings.
11:24It was the only fuel available up here.
11:26So the first thing the crew had to do when they reached any little port
11:30was to hurry ashore with their bags and fill them up
11:33and fill up the cargo hole, which was meant for the cargo,
11:36so they had to extend the hull... With llama droppings.
11:39Yes, llama droppings.
11:41They still use them for fires and heating?
11:43For fuel, yes, very much so.
11:47Let me take you down to the aft deck.
11:49You're looking at the hull.
11:51We're very lucky, actually, because being iron,
11:53and because of the altitude and because of the lake being fresh water,
11:57the corrosion is absolutely minimal.
11:59So it's in really good condition. It's in good shape, yeah.
12:02On behalf of all those mules that carried it over the Andes,
12:05I can only hope Meryl gets the support she needs to relaunch the Yavari.
12:18Next day, we have considerable trouble
12:20launching ourselves out of Juliaca Station.
12:23Our Cusco-bound train seems to have been waiting for an awful long time.
12:27Rumours abound.
12:29Well, it could be a bit of a problem here,
12:31because there's not a strike, but a go slow,
12:33which, of course, is the worst thing for us,
12:35because if there's a strike, we can all stay at home and go to bed,
12:38but it's going to be a go slow.
12:40The journey's 12 hours anyway, so we'll see what happens.
12:43It could be a lot longer than that.
12:45More information as it arrives.
12:50Despite the sunshine, it's midwinter in the southern hemisphere
12:53and bitterly cold.
12:55Men wear modern jackets,
12:57while women keep warm with traditional shawls and layers of skirts.
13:05An air of lethargy hangs over Juliaca Station.
13:08Nobody's going anywhere.
13:10Then, suddenly, the stillness is broken by an orgy of shunting.
13:41WHISTLE BLOWS
13:56It's hard to tell what's go slow and what isn't.
13:59In a situation like this, it's do as the Romans do.
14:02Climb aboard and hope that the sheer weight of demand
14:04will persuade them to run the train.
14:07And it works.
14:09A few hours late may be, but we're on our way to Cuzco.
14:20Armed guards are a reminder
14:22that terrorism is still taken seriously in Peru.
14:25Shining Path guerrillas were once active here.
14:32But you're never far away from a market in South America,
14:35and where there's a market, there's usually a fiesta.
15:05MUSIC PLAYS
15:36Around lunchtime, we pull into a station, and not a moment too soon.
15:46This isn't the kind of train that has a restaurant.
15:49If you want a hot meal, it has to be platform food.
15:54There doesn't seem to be much around.
15:58I've been up since five o'clock. I need more than a stuffed llama.
16:02I'm a bit hungry now.
16:05Asado?
16:07Ooh.
16:09Ooh, a little tasting first.
16:13Mmm.
16:15Perfectly done. Mmm.
16:17Mmm, very good roast lamb.
16:19Can I have a little bit? It'll be very good.
16:21Don't worry about them, it's me there.
16:23Mmm.
16:25Mmm.
16:27Mmm.
16:29Don't worry about them, it's me there.
16:31Roast lamb in brown paper. Oh, thank you.
16:33Complete Sunday lunch. How much?
16:35¿Cuánto es?
16:37Cinco. Cinco.
16:39Cinco. There we go.
16:41Don't bother them.
16:43Hey, ooh, that's...
16:45Very expensive, that little brother.
16:49He's sort of like Grandpa Parrot.
16:51He's never been assaulted like that before.
16:53There's five, look.
16:55And leave him alone, please.
16:59We are climbing steadily now
17:01towards the top of the pass,
17:03over 14,000 feet above sea level.
17:09The dry grassland may look drab
17:11and unexceptional,
17:13but geographically,
17:15this is one of the key points
17:17in all of South America.
17:19In the marshland here,
17:21just at the watershed of the Andes,
17:23is where the Urubamba River rises
17:25and the Urubamba River
17:27is where the Urubamba River rises,
17:29which becomes the Amazon.
17:31It's going to be the river
17:33which we're going to be following
17:35for about the next three weeks,
17:37right through Peru and hopefully
17:39to the borders of Colombia,
17:41where it is the Amazon River.
17:43So this is where the big rivers begin.
17:57We're now in the land
17:59once dominated by the Incas.
18:01They were the last of a series
18:03of splendid civilisations
18:05that flourished in these mountains,
18:07hidden away from the rest of the world,
18:09until the first Europeans found their way here
18:11450 years ago.
18:13MUSIC
18:27Cusco, founded by the Incas,
18:29who called it the navel of the earth.
18:31They made it the centre
18:33of their worship of the sun
18:35until the Spanish conquerors arrived
18:37and stamped their own mark on the city.
18:39We've arrived by chance
18:41in the middle of the Catholic festival
18:43of Corpus Christi.
18:49The Spaniards are caricatured
18:51as having wide hats, long moustaches,
18:53big noses and drinking problems.
18:59The fact remains
19:01that fewer than 200 Spaniards
19:03overthrew the Inca Empire.
19:11MUSIC
19:15Now a largely Indian population
19:17parades the statues
19:19of European saints.
19:21This is the most important Catholic celebration
19:23in Cusco, which involves
19:25the whole population.
19:27Everybody participates in this celebration.
19:29What is happening?
19:31They're each bringing their own statues?
19:33Each bringing their own statues
19:35and they are taken to the main square
19:37and they're taken to the church
19:39and then brought out
19:41in a procession around the square.
19:49They look incredibly heavy.
19:51I mean, there's so many people.
19:53They are. They have a tonne.
19:55Some of them could weigh almost one tonne.
19:59What are they made of?
20:01They're made of wood and plaster.
20:03But the support
20:05is silver.
20:07Right, a silver base.
20:09Yes.
20:11So who carries them?
20:13People from the different parishes.
20:15People who stay close to the church.
20:17And they think that
20:19by participating in this
20:21they are going to be blessed and they're going to be protected.
20:23And there's a lot of...
20:25Are they vying with each other?
20:27I mean, the bands seem to be playing against each other.
20:29Yeah, they seem to follow the rhythm of the band.
20:31It's an extraordinary thing to see.
20:33People fight, struggle to be one of those.
20:35Yeah, well, I mean, just then...
20:37We were being pushed out of the way.
20:39It's very serious.
20:47It is ironic that much of the weight
20:49that makes these effigies so painful to carry
20:51is made up of the precious metals
20:53that the Spanish once looted from the city.
20:55When all the saints have been paraded
20:57into all the churches,
20:59my companion Wilbur and I
21:01have the square more or less to ourselves.
21:03Well, quite out of breath after all that.
21:05That was a great stroke of fortune.
21:07But now we can see the square sort of cleared a bit.
21:09Yeah.
21:11What does the square sort of mean?
21:13Was this originally Inca?
21:15Yeah, it was Inca.
21:17It was Inca.
21:19It was Inca.
21:21It was Inca.
21:23Was this originally Inca?
21:25Yes, this was the former square of the Incan city.
21:29Yeah.
21:31And, you know, Cusco was the capital.
21:33Yeah.
21:35So the palaces of the Incan rulers
21:37were arranged around this square.
21:39What we've just seen.
21:41Yes.
21:43The Incas would have made their own ceremonies like that here.
21:45Yes, something similar to what we have seen now.
21:47Different religion.
21:49Different religion.
21:51The Spanish not only grafted their festivals
21:53onto existing ceremonies,
21:55but built their churches on top of Inca temples.
22:01The Inca walls have withstood
22:03all the great earthquakes that have shaken the city.
22:05And many of Cusco's streets
22:07are still built on Inca foundations.
22:21Spanish colonial architecture
22:23is better preserved in Cusco
22:25than almost anywhere else in South America.
22:27But I'm leaving all this behind for the day
22:29and taking a taxi ride
22:31out beyond the city
22:33to the old Inca heartlands.
22:51Gracias.
22:53Gracias.
22:55Muchas gracias aquí.
22:57Gracias.
22:59Facebook work.
23:01Gracias.
23:03We're heading towards the Sacred Valley,
23:05a fertile buffer zone
23:07between Cusco, the mountains,
23:09and the jungle beyond.
23:13Watered by the Urubamba,
23:15fields produce 360 varieties
23:17of potatoes
23:19and rich crops of maize and barley.
23:27Farming here is not high-tech.
23:29Horses are still used for threshing.
23:31Those sheaves of barley
23:33have been successfully fitted with legs.
23:35At the end of the valley,
23:37where the river disappears into dark ravines,
23:39the Incas built granaries
23:41high on the side of the mountains
23:43where the grain would be kept cool,
23:45dry, and safe.
23:53They built a temple, too.
23:55The temple was built
23:57in the middle of the valley
23:59where the river flows.
24:01They built a temple, too,
24:03and a system of terraces
24:05from which, in 1536,
24:07the army of Manco Inca
24:09gave the Spaniards a rare bloody nose.
24:17All this served an empire
24:19that lasted little more than a century.
24:21Upper Side Valley,
24:23a road laid less than two years ago,
24:25leads to villages
24:27where the purest descendants
24:29of the Incas still live.
24:33They raise llamas,
24:35or yamas, as I must learn to call them.
24:37They live in stone-walled houses
24:39with thatched roofs.
24:43They dress as they have done
24:45for hundreds of years
24:47and still speak the language of the Incas.
24:53The Incas have been living here
24:55for a long time,
24:57and they have been living here
24:59for a long time,
25:01and they have been living here
25:03for a long time,
25:05for a long time.
25:11This must have been how it was
25:13before the Spaniards came.
25:15This must have been how it was before the Spaniards came.
25:33The women here use modern dyes
25:35to enrich the colours,
25:37though the method of spinning and weaving
25:39hasn't changed for centuries.
25:45Things will change much faster
25:47now the road is built.
25:49Electricity has arrived
25:51and a new school is promised.
25:53The outside world has found them out,
25:55and for the people in these remote mountains,
25:57the future could be very different.
26:05The Pacific coast of Peru
26:07is largely barren
26:09and thick with cold sea mist
26:11at this time of year.
26:13So we've chosen to go north
26:15by an inland route.
26:17It will take us up the Amazon River system
26:19to the jungle city of Iquitos,
26:21and from there by boat
26:23to the borders of Colombia.
26:25Then we shall have to cross the Andes
26:27one last time to reach the north coast
26:29of South America.
26:31We're going to need a lot of help.
26:43I've been given the address
26:45of a pub in Cuzco run by an Englishman
26:47who now lives in Peru.
26:49In between pulling pints,
26:51Barry Walker runs a travel outfit,
26:53and he's prepared to take us on.
26:55What are we in for
26:57on the route?
26:59A lot of adventure.
27:01It's going to be a bit arduous, I think.
27:03We've been in mountains, really,
27:05up to now, almost all the way up
27:07from Cape Horn.
27:09I suppose we're going down into...
27:11We're going to slide over the slope
27:13down to the cloud forest, basically,
27:15following a major river,
27:17a major Amazon tributary,
27:19but it's very little travel.
27:21Very few foreigners do the route.
27:23What's the conditions like?
27:25Hot, humid, sticky, buggy.
27:27But you know it well,
27:29which is good, do you?
27:31Well, no. In fact, I've never been
27:33down that river before,
27:35and I'm quite looking forward to it.
27:37I'm glad you decided to do it
27:39for someone who's never been there.
27:41Well, cheers, anyway.
27:43Cheers to it. We'll both learn something.
27:45If the boat doesn't turn over, we'll make it.
27:47We'll have a beer in Pucallpa.
27:57Our adventure begins
27:59almost conventionally on a train
28:01out of Cuzco bound for
28:03Kiabamba, 100 miles north.
28:09Not that any train in the Andes
28:11is ever conventional.
28:13The line runs out of Cuzco
28:15in a series of zigzags,
28:17for the sides of the navel of the earth
28:19are very steep.
28:29The city itself lies
28:31at 11,000 feet,
28:33and we have to climb another 1,000 feet
28:35just to get out of it.
28:38Our speed is so leisurely
28:40that local children have time to get on and off
28:42and work the coaches.
28:49The city slips away
28:51and the village life takes over.
28:53All human life is here.
28:55Barry, this train?
28:57Yes, local train to Kiabamba.
28:59Everyone uses it.
29:01It's their only means of transport
29:03on this stretch.
29:05I wish they had smell-o-vision
29:07because there's a wonderful sort of
29:09odour of onions pervading the coach.
29:11Why is that?
29:13Is it just local speciality?
29:15We've just arrived.
29:17We've just arrived.
29:19We've just arrived.
29:21What was local speciality?
29:23We've just come through the onion town,
29:25which is very famous for the onions it produces.
29:27They've all been loaded on here
29:29to go further down the line.
29:31Most of them are up here.
29:33I think most of them are around our seat, actually.
29:35So we go on to Kiabamba?
29:37Yes.
29:39End of the train line is Kiabamba.
29:41That's where we leave the train.
29:43But after that,
29:45we've still got seven or eight hours
29:47on very rough roads to get to our boats.
29:49You say that with a slight smile, Barry,
29:51which I don't think becomes you.
29:53It's a rough road.
29:55It's a rough road.
30:19The railway runs alongside the Urubamba River,
30:21following its twisting course
30:23through gorges that grow steeper and steeper.
30:33Seventy miles from Cuzco,
30:35there rises above us
30:37one of the great cities of the world,
30:39a city where no-one lives.
30:41Seventy miles from Cuzco,
30:43there rises above us
30:45one of the great cities of the world,
30:47a city where no-one lives.
30:49This is the Inca stronghold of Machu Picchu,
30:51hidden beneath the forest
30:53for hundreds of years
30:55until an American, Hiram Bingham,
30:57stumbled across it in 1911.
30:59Incredible location.
31:01It certainly is.
31:03Why did they build it up here,
31:05which must have been extremely difficult
31:07to get everything up here?
31:09The reason it was built here
31:11is because the sacred Urubamba River
31:13down here does almost a complete loop
31:15right around the ruins here,
31:17so the ruins are on a promontory
31:19looking out over this astounding mountain scenery
31:21in the cloud forest.
31:25What are we standing on now,
31:27these terraces?
31:29Would they have been used for food,
31:31growing food?
31:33It's not really sure what was grown here.
31:35It's presumed that the sacred foods were here,
31:37for brewing sacred chicha
31:39in the ceremonies,
31:41chicha being the core and alcoholic beverage
31:43of the Incas, which is still drunk today.
31:45Take a look at this wall here.
31:47This is some of the finest stonework
31:49that you can find.
31:51If you actually look down the course of it,
31:53you can see it's flared out at the bottom,
31:55which is an anti-seismic device.
31:57Yeah.
31:59Obviously, they live in an earthquake zone.
32:01That's right, yes.
32:03They were very conscious of it,
32:05What was this the wall of?
32:07What's the building inside?
32:09Just behind here is what Bingham called the Torreon,
32:11which is the only round building
32:13in the complex,
32:15which was an astronomical observation centre.
32:19Machu Picchu has a powerful presence,
32:21a sense of mystery
32:23that clings to the buildings
32:25and makes the hair stand up on your neck
32:27as you walk amongst living quarters
32:29that seem so recently abandoned.
32:35No-one knows for sure
32:37what happened here,
32:39why the city was built,
32:41why it was deserted so soon.
32:47It's quite dizzying up here.
32:49This is the classic picture postcard view.
32:51How much of what we can see down there
32:53is restored?
32:55In fact, quite a lot.
32:57When Bingham found this when it was covered,
32:59many of these walls were tumbled down
33:01and have since been reconstructed.
33:03Why did he never find it?
33:05Well, that's the most important thing about this site.
33:07It's the only large Inca archaeological site
33:09known that the Spanish, in fact,
33:11did not find.
33:13The existence of the Intihuatana,
33:15a ceremonial stone that measured
33:17the position of the sun,
33:19is taken as proof that the Spaniards
33:21never came here.
33:23Every other one they found in Peru,
33:25they destroyed.
33:29The mountains that surround Machu Picchu
33:31are not good at keeping secrets.
33:33Only the cloud on their summits
33:35indicates the rainforest that lies beyond.
33:45The railway ended at Cuyabamba.
33:47We're now on our way to Kitane,
33:49where the road ends.
33:57Alongside us,
33:59the Andes are wider and stronger.
34:09As we drop down into the foothills of the Andes,
34:11the bare brown fields of the high plateau
34:13are a fast-receding memory,
34:15and the heat is back.
34:29At the end of a long day,
34:31we reach the end of the trail.
34:39The grubby little settlement of Kitane,
34:41where the main street
34:43is a patch of waste ground
34:45and the main road
34:47is a patch of waste ground
34:49and the main road
34:51is a patch of waste ground
34:53and the main road
34:55is a patch of waste ground
34:57The main street is a patch of waste ground
34:59and there's a whiff of sewage in the air.
35:05Kitane is the highest navigable point
35:07of the Urubamba.
35:09From here, the river makes a sharp right turn
35:11and flows due north.
35:13About 50 miles upstream,
35:15it passes out of the Andes
35:17and into the Amazon basin.
35:19But first, we must negotiate
35:21rapids that run through a ravine
35:23known to the Indians
35:25as the Pongo de Manaike.
35:33We've watched the Urubamba
35:35growing from a muddy bog
35:37in a mountain field
35:39to a river that will be our way home.
35:41The hand-picked boatmen
35:43pack all we need to be self-sufficient.
35:45For the next eight days,
35:47we will be eating, sleeping
35:49and tackling the white water together.
35:51There's the old generator.
35:53Is he taking our boat?
35:55Yes, he's driving us.
35:57Great.
35:59Two men per boat, is it?
36:01Two men per boat, yeah.
36:03One on the front,
36:05indicating the tricky bits, the route.
36:07Right, yeah, yeah.
36:09We've got the spare motors, I'm pleased to see.
36:11We've brought one for each boat
36:13plus two spares, just in case.
36:15What, spare outboards?
36:17Yeah.
36:19Where are they?
36:21Under that green tarp there.
36:27Nearly there, Barry.
36:29The water is only about
36:31ten yards away now.
36:33I think this is the most nervous part of the trip for me.
36:35I've read so many accounts of early explorers,
36:37I'm a bit nervous, I must say,
36:39going down here, but the boatmen say
36:41it's going to be OK, so hopefully it will be.
36:43Well, I'm excited, I am excited.
36:45Well, so am I.
36:47On we go, on we go.
36:51Soon after ten in the morning,
36:53on a grey, rain-beckoning day,
36:55my wish comes true.
37:09We set out on what are,
37:11for most of us, completely uncharted waters.
37:13And just to make me feel
37:15a little more nervous,
37:17Barry makes me don a life jacket.
37:19What's happening here?
37:21It's got very narrow.
37:23The landslides come in here,
37:25so this is a bit dodgy here.
37:27Yeah.
37:29Here we go.
37:33That's the side that's just come away.
37:39Yeah, look at this.
37:41Big wave, watch out.
37:45Yeah.
37:51When, then?
37:57Conditions on the river can change quickly,
37:59from docile to lethal.
38:07If there's too much water flowing,
38:09the boats can be swept out of control.
38:11If there's too little, rocks and shoals
38:13close to the surface can flip us over.
38:15Wow.
38:17Just a rock by the skin of our teeth there.
38:37Whatever the state of the water,
38:39Gustavo looks reassuringly calm.
38:43A tiger heron couldn't care less.
38:53There seem to be a few more rapids
38:55than we were promised.
38:57Whenever I ask if we've reached the Pongo,
38:59Gustavo smiles inscrutably and shakes his head.
39:13Halfway through the day,
39:15we pass into the territory
39:17of the Machiganga Indians.
39:19They stand and watch us
39:21from villages built
39:23where the rainforest has been cleared.
39:27I wave,
39:29but they don't wave back.
39:35Maybe it's understandable.
39:37On tributaries higher up the river,
39:39there are Indian tribes
39:41who have only just come into contact
39:43with white men.
39:55As we draw closer to the Pongo,
39:57the clouds build up,
39:59the trees grow taller,
40:01and Barry comes over all ornithological.
40:05It's a bit of a bird safari for you,
40:07isn't it, as well?
40:09Is that the main reason you're so excited
40:11about doing this new bit of river for you?
40:13Not particularly the birds,
40:15actually doing a new river,
40:17but the birds are very interesting here.
40:19Right where we are,
40:21there are more species of bird per square mile
40:23than anywhere else on the planet.
40:25Peru has about 1,700 species
40:27and a lot of them are concentrated
40:29in this forest here.
40:31Are there any bird species
40:33that are intelligent
40:35in the sense they interact with man?
40:37I think perhaps the parrot family
40:39are perhaps more intelligent
40:41than the rest.
40:43They seem to catch on to things pretty quickly.
40:45Hello, miss.
40:47I have this parrot I bought not half an hour ago
40:49and it's very boutique.
40:51Yeah, we know all about that.
40:55Ahead of us,
40:57the Pongo is looking more and more
40:59like the entrance to some dark and threatening tunnel.
41:07The river turns
41:09from glassy smooth
41:11to fast and slippery
41:13as the level falls sharply
41:15and we begin to slide
41:17down the last few miles of the Andes.
41:33Then,
41:35just as I think we're being incredibly brave...
42:05Well...
42:11I feel more secure now.
42:13I know we're in a wooden boat.
42:15I'm glad you do.
42:17Oh, no!
42:27These are still the approaches, is that right?
42:29Yeah, this is still the tip.
42:31And it's like this
42:33for 15 minutes of whirlpools
42:35and turbulence.
42:43Here we go. It's just the start now.
42:45These great tall, sheer walls.
42:47It is extraordinary.
42:49It's a sudden change of the landscape.
42:51Suddenly sheer and it's raining.
42:53Look at that. Isn't it incredible?
42:55As if to offer us
42:57one last warning of mortality,
42:59one final reminder
43:01of whose boss,
43:03the elements mix together
43:05a fierce cocktail of wind, rain
43:07and foaming current.
43:11Glistening granite walls
43:13loom ahead like slowly closing doors.
43:15It's a tricky one, Barry.
43:17Yeah, it's got to get just right here.
43:19If it messes up here,
43:21it's going to be a disaster.
43:23It's got to get just right here.
43:25If it messes up here, we could be into that rock
43:27or into that rock.
43:41It's very narrow now, isn't it?
43:43This whole river just squeezed in.
43:45It's getting narrower up ahead too.
43:49This must be just incredible
43:51in the rains.
43:53The fact the rock is black,
43:55the weather's clouded over,
43:57it's beginning to drizzle,
43:59it's like someone described them
44:01as the gates of hell.
44:05I expected the Pongo
44:07to be dangerous,
44:09but never to be so beautiful.
44:11Rocks which look as if they've been
44:13blasted apart rise from the river
44:15like the buttresses
44:17of some half-submerged cathedral.
44:21MUSIC PLAYS
44:23MUSIC PLAYS
44:25MUSIC PLAYS
44:27MUSIC PLAYS
44:29MUSIC PLAYS
44:31MUSIC PLAYS
44:33After the noise and chaos
44:35of the rapids,
44:37the river has fallen still and quiet.
44:39The only sound is from the water
44:41pouring out of the jungle,
44:43carving a weird and wonderful architecture
44:45on the canyon walls.
44:52In the Pongo de Manaiki,
44:54I feel I've come as close as I ever will
44:56to a lost world.
45:14The dramatic beauty of the Pongo
45:16passes in less than half an hour.
45:22The current that was so angry
45:24now sweeps us imperiously
45:26past the last two granite portals
45:28and out of the Andes.
45:37Gustavo, magnificently unimpressed,
45:39is already looking for a campsite.
45:43I'm afraid I'm not much help.
45:52A sandbank,
45:54hopefully free of jungle creepy-crawlies,
45:56is chosen as our home for the night.
46:01River travel, I've decided,
46:03is 1% beauty
46:05and 99% practicality.
46:07The need to eat, sleep and dry out
46:09plays havoc with your sense of wonder.
46:13I'm going to try and find a place
46:15where I can get some sleep.
46:17As darkness wraps itself around us
46:19and our camp seems to shrink
46:21to a tiny speck in the Amazon rainforest,
46:23I feel a distinct need
46:25for the cocktail cabinet.
46:29Come, Barry.
46:31Celebrate the passing of the dreaded...
46:33Oh, Pongo.
46:35Yes, indeed.
46:37He now thinks he's all built up,
46:39but he's not.
46:41Celebrate the passing of the dreaded...
46:43Oh, Pongo.
46:45Yes, indeed.
46:47He now thinks he's all built up,
46:49but he's not.
46:51I've been worrying about it the last three nights.
46:53It's rather ridiculous, really.
46:55For a while, I labour under the pleasant delusion
46:57that I'm through the worst.
46:59Then the doubts come flooding in.
47:01Are there any nasty things lurking about
47:03in the...
47:05In the bushes or in the forest?
47:07Animals, wild animals.
47:09You'll hear lots of noise.
47:11Yeah, we have caimans here,
47:13which are members of the alligator family.
47:15They're around here,
47:17but they're normally in the water in the evening
47:19and come out on the beaches during the daytime.
47:21And I definitely wouldn't provoke any jaguars.
47:23Well, how do you not provoke a jaguar?
47:25Just go out and say,
47:27hello, you're an extremely nice jaguar.
47:29I think you're severely underrated, jaguars.
47:31I mean, leopards, they get all...
47:33Panthers, they get all the publicity.
47:35Black panthers, leopards.
47:37A car firm almost went into liquidation.
47:39It was saved by Ford, wasn't it?
47:41Or now sold to BMW. I don't know.
47:43It's been sold to McDonald's since I was away.
47:49It's like Insect Corner in here, isn't it?
47:51Hello, on Insect Corner tonight,
47:53there are 43 types of moths,
47:55four bugs and a sandflag.
47:57Anyway, cheers.
47:59Here's to a good first day's travel.
48:01Here's to getting through the punga.
48:03Getting through the rum at this rate.
48:07Ooh, actually,
48:09rum and horseradish are damn good.
48:37© transcript Emily Beynon