Amazing Quest: Stories from Brazil | Somewhere on Earth: Brazil | Free Documentary

um [Music] so [Music] somewhere on earth is off to brazil the largest latin american country as vast as a continent far from rio's famous beaches there is another brazil where the spirit of adventure and mystery still lingers on expedito and remondo are brothers their lives are inextricably linked to a legendary river the paraguasu and their boat a savero that looks like it's straight out of a swashbuckling adventure book they earn their living with this sailboat [Music] the nordest day further north near the equator is one of brazil's poorest regions the lanchois domaranensis on the atlantic coast is a bewitching site only a few men live in this desert where time itself has evaporated and the beauty of nature reigns supreme joyous son is right at home in the len choice [Music] roy was born near new york he landed in brazil about 30 years ago in the chapada diamantina this history and archaeology enthusiast has become an ardent defender of a vast territory where he roams every day i found my spot in the world it's i think everyone should look and and try to find it some people are lucky i was lucky i found it [Music] brazil is the largest country of south america and the fifth largest of the planet it's a land of paradox and contrast urban sprawls exist side by side with vast unspoiled regions still a far cry from the modern world [Music] the forests and rivers are characteristic features of brazil the europeans discovered this new world the majestic rivers were their gateways into the vast inland territories [Music] the paraguasu is a legendary river it empties into the bay of salvador the country's third largest city in the state of bahia on the atlantic coast 1 800 kilometers north of rio [Music] the pataguasu river is the home of the las saveros these boats are part of the country's traditions and culture they even say that the soul of the brazilian people hovers over bahia above all saints bay that's up to god this is absolute freedom [Music] [Music] the saveros sailed the calm waters of the paraguasu and the vast bay of salvador these boats are not made for the open sea so they always hug the coastline [Music] the runs are short but still can take several days depending on the winds currents and tides the savers ship all sorts of freight sugar cane fruit crockery sand they may also carry passengers on the odd trip [Music] for the past 15 years raymondo and expedito have been doing the same run between the villages along the river and the city of salvador the two brothers are old hands at the severes and when they're not working their boat they live on an island in the bay i did i'd rather live on the boat than in salvador it's true the city is beautiful from a distance but a lot less when you get closer i'd like to see it from out here or on tv [Music] the origin of the severo is steeped in mystery they say that the portuguese brought sailors from india to train brazilian shipbuilders these flat bottom craft were perfectly adapted for sailing the rivers and close to the shore for centuries the salveros would ship the materials necessary for the construction of the villages and religious buildings like the sao antonio monastery built in the 17th century by french monks [Music] the franciscans established this mission on the river to convert the native populations sao antonio is the country's second oldest catholic church when the monastery was being built the paraguay river was brazil's major commercial artery [Applause] after a day of sailing the savero skippers moor their boats on the illiado mare the island of the sea a little patch of land in the middle of the bay of salvador the two brothers have to take on several hundred kilos of freshly cut bananas before the heat becomes too oppressive banana shipping makes up a good part of our business [Music] [Music] i know it by heart i know where the rocks and sandbars are i know where it's safe to anchor sometimes i'll think about all the time i've spent on this river it really moves even if it doesn't bring in much money times are tough for the savers even though the country is enjoying an economic boom it's harder and harder for them to compete with the trucking industry on the paraguasu the sailor's experience is handed down from one generation to the next remundo and expedito learned everything about their craft from their father he taught them the ancestral sailing skills but that's not all skipper doesn't know how to cook he doesn't need three days at sea three days without food we'd get home with an empty belly shriveled up starving tonight is football night on the radio and the saveros are headed for salvador where they'll deliver the bananas [Music] is [Music] at dawn the boat comes within sight of salvador skyscrapers the world of the big city and the world of the sailors each goes its own way ignoring the other the little world of the saveros lives on traditional beliefs and superstitions every time expedito and remondo cross the bay they placed their fate in the hands of the goddess of the sea [Music] okay the bananas are swallowed up by this remarkable bustling hive on salvador's port one of latin america's largest covered markets they don't stay very long hardly an hour just enough time to stock up on supplies for expedito the less time spent in the city the better foreign [Music] today this 100 year old boat is getting a second festive youth as a collective taxi for over the past few days the entire country has been gearing up for carnival with its intoxicating rhythms [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] so it's tilted too far back and the severo is sluggish the other mast had the same problem why didn't you come sooner because we've got this problem with the mask you coming here on a saturday it's my day with the kids it's bad timing you know how we brazilians are we'll do it on monday i'll take the mast off cut it do it the way you want meanwhile they have to replace a faulty pulley the only mechanical part of the boat it's up at the top of the mast at the top of a 12 meter tree trunk it's very dangerous he's really brave to climb that mast just two shipyards in brazil still build saberos and only about 10 of these boats are still sailing where the river meets the ocean is where the savero's fate is played out remondo and expedito live a simple life following the winds of the wind the current and the sea [Music] so [Music] [Music] it was looking faster i enjoy what i do if you don't like what you do it's not worth the effort i really love my life it's harder in winter but in summer with a gentle breeze it's just great such peace have remained unchanged for centuries there are no blueprints to construct these boats the secrets of the saveros remain locked away in the memory of the river men [Music] [Music] a strange land it looks like a desert that the rains have not abandoned [Music] in the lanchois domaranensis a mystical alchemy has blended everything together [Music] this is a scorched landscape made up of ocean wind sand and the fresh water of the lagoons [Music] ah joyousn is 25 years old he's treading the land of his childhood he lives in a small town two days walk from this spot here where he was born whenever he can he comes back to the land choice to visit his parents who live in this desert near the equator in brazil's nordeste [Music] [Applause] in town you're not really free to do what you like okay everyone has their own little space when i come here almost all of it is mine it's like a dream come true before there was no one living here in the 1950s joyosun's family fleeing a severe drought in the certain an arid inland region of brazil decided to settle in an oasis in the len choice to survive joyassen's ancestors came to a desert where fresh water can be found just beneath the surface of the sand [Music] joyous son is always glad to see his horse when he comes back he named him great tiger and he's an ideal mount for galloping across the dunes in the rainy season countless freshwater lagoons form on the surface they're not a mirage like you'd find in other deserts the world over they're very real [Music] [Music] len choice means linen in portuguese and indeed this white expanse looks like a sheet dried by the sun and buffeted by the wind [Music] the rainy season has just begun it lasts six months and completely transforms the landscape the scorching heat and the influence of the ocean the len choice suffer the effects of the weather the lagoons are formed by water from aquifers lying just beneath the surface of the sand this bounty of fresh water is the source of life in this arid environment in just a few weeks the plant and animal life re-flourish in the lentichois lagoons after lying dormant through months of drought [Applause] it lives in the lagoons in the water for six months and then it burrows down into the sand for six months it's lucky to be able to live like that in the lagoons i protect them from the predators i'm going to take this one and move it to a deeper lagoon because i think it's not doing too well here [Music] how to grasp the dimensions of this bewitching land in this vast desert distances are measured in days joyosun has learned to adapt to this environment where man-made time evaporates and one has to cling to life [Music] i started going out with my father to attend the livestock we'd go out into the len choice for two three days at a time we'd sleep outside no tent or anything the dunes would be our walls our shelter and to sleep we dig out a sort of bed in the sand okay joyasun is on his way to visit his community on the vast beaches that border the desert during the rainy season fishermen set up temporary encampments on the shore fishing is the principal activity in the main source of revenue for these communities it's a collective effort everyone doing their part then they share out the catch among the families sometimes today we'll get 20 30 kilos but sometimes you end up with no more than five or six fish in the net it depends the page [Music] so [Music] we could sell these in two days it depends on the number of buyers the fish we don't sell will allow us to get through the next three or four days before we go out fishing again and that's how we manage joyoson's family lives here in the dry season they tend their flocks the rest of the time they farm and fish the inhabitants of the lent choice live almost completely on their own cut off from the rest of the world in their two oases nature is not very generous here but they do manage to grow vegetables and some fruit in the rainy season they harvest cashew nuts which they then sell or barter in the neighboring villages if water gets inside the nut rots and it's no good anymore out of 50 kilos of cashew nuts we sometimes end up with no more than 20 kilos that are good the rest gets damaged by the rain [Music] [Music] joyousn grew up on this land far from the bustling world here where nature and beauty are so much more imposing than man [Music] [Music] this landscape of shifting sand and water radiates a certain harmony the lanchois domaranensis are a haven where the inhabitants seem to be waiting for something [Music] the lanchoise possess a fascinating allure tinted with colors of a voyage in counterpoint to every other place on earth [Music] for i think i'll stay here forever [Music] [Music] the chapada diamantina situated less than 500 kilometers from the atlantic coast is a land of mountains canyons and wide open spaces [Music] in the late 1970s roy was 30 years old and living in the united states dreaming of adventure then he discovered brazil when i first came to the shepard montina no one ever visited this place it was there was no road up no no way to get here and i said to myself i said wow i found it this is the place and it's just like love at first sight [Music] i really didn't decide it was decided for me and the place just just grabbed me and i said wow yeah i can handle that i love it so i just stayed just never even thought about leaving it's just a great place it's my i found my spot in the world it's i think everyone should look and and try to find it some people are lucky i was lucky i found it [Music] in the mid-19th century the chapada diamantina was the scene of an incredible diamond rush thousands of adventurers flocked here to try their luck roy is going to spend the night in the mountains in an old diamond prospector's cabin roy fought intensely to protect the chapada diamantina he campaigned for the region to be declared a natural reserve then in the 1980s the brazilian government decided to create a natural park and since there has to be someone to manage it roy was quite naturally recruited for the job yeah i said well it sounded like a really great uh a really great thing and it was interesting and uh but basically they just gave me a 38 gun and a badge and a jeep and said go get them you know make a park so i was director and the guard and the secretary and the driver i was everything in one it was only me so out in the middle of 1 500 square kilometers of park so i was a a prophet in the wilderness [Music] [Music] so [Music] i had been a professional student in the united states going to college forever and i burned out and i i just uh was working a bit in the united states just traveling a bit there but i didn't have any direction i didn't i didn't have any idea what i really wanted to do so i just just you know kind of threw the dice in the air and just so it came up and it it really changed my life i hadn't expected i expected to spend two or three years just doing something different but it it just totally completely changed my life and it it just introduced me to a whole new country a whole new culture and a um and a utility that i didn't have in the u.s i can't even imagine what i'd be doing in the us if i was there now but here i have a i have a function i i'm doing something that i feel is important every day roy hikes the trails of these mountains that nourish the dreams of thousands of diamond hunters and adventurers to repay this country for all it has given him roy has become an amateur historian now just just to show you this is a it's an old mining structure here it was a cohida they would put water down down this this ramp here 90 of the work of a diamond mine here is bringing water to your claim to your mind because what diamond mining is is separating a couple of milligrams of carbon crystals of diamonds from tons of sand and rock and mud and other things and the only way you can do that is with water so they they've the mountains are full of aqueducts here small ones big ones all over the place that bring the water from the river or collect it from rainfall and direct it toward their minds all those dreams of riches vanished along with the forests but the forests will regrow the precious gems swept along by the rivers are quite scarce now and nature has reclaimed its own the chapada diamantina has reverted to its wild state it is tea it's organic material it's not iron or anything like that it's it's just the fallen leaves and trees and sticks from the from the vegetation that uh that the rain just passes through them and picks up the uh the curl of just like just like tea it is tea [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] roy has become a local personality thanks to his efforts the chapada diamantina is once again a land of exploration a paradise for hikers and people in search of wide open spaces in the 1980s you had to be slightly mad to settle in this old colonial town roy has founded a family here he's become a brazilian citizen and he's committed to the protection of this land that has gradually become his own this was a town that was very isolated well this whole area here they had very little experience with farm well they had experience with foreigners 100 years ago during the diamond era but after that all they really knew about americans or european or especially americans were what they saw in the movies which were and at that this was in the 70s just just spy films and things like that so they naturally assumed that every all americans were spies and uh and they couldn't imagine they really couldn't imagine anyone living here because they just thought it was nice place they they would say to me literally they would say well what do you want to live here for we just want to get out and i said well it's beautiful here and they go there's something else here something else day after day roy puts pen to paper he's drawing up maps to keep the memory of this land alive the idea is to put this down on paper before it's lost to to get their history remembered and permanent whereas now it's very it's very volatile it's all in there in all their heads and uh and i say they're the this is the last generation of the old-time miners so we either get this information down now or it's lost forever roy is now 62 and he still tirelessly hikes through the hills of the region today anisio the oldest of the diamond hunters is out walking with him this old friend of roy's is a precious witness the living memory of the region what's i heard these stories are in danger of disappearing yeah no it's important i'm not washed up yet i'm still lucid this is the last generation that that lived in the mountains and we worked here and knew it intimately so i'm just a scribe but it's all depends on these guys and my and the other half of my hobby is what i like to do is wander around the hills here and find all the old ruins from the diamond mining it's kind of like modern industrial archaeology i love my way of life i love to strike out into the forest sleep on the stone or in the branches how old are you 83 how about that i'm not the man i used to be that i can still get around [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] there's a chamber inside you're sheltered in there it's very big this is a toca a cave the diamond hunters used it as a makeshift shelter they live here for weeks on end wow it's really neat i'll need a light though the stones are cold you know and there are a lot of mosquitoes so we always had to have a fire going i think of all the others who used to live back then in the diamond sites everyone would get together on saturdays around a big part of failure we were all friends [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] i'm good at finding things so i i would have really loved to be a minor when i first came here that's all i ever did not mining but i went out in the hills with the old miners and learned about the the geology of the area how they worked the mines where they lived how they lived that's all i ever did here for years was just walk around the miners it was kind of like watching the old black and white movies from my childhood with in the far west with the miners and their lifestyle up in the hills [Music] [Music] my the sons of the miners the sons of the hunters who lived exploiting directly to you know hunting game and and digging out diamonds and setting fire to everything now their sons are guides and they're green and they taking on the the banner of conservation and protection so now their sons are are putting out the fires and picking up the garbage and protecting nature so in one generation it turned 180 degrees from direct exploitation to indirect use and protection of the area every morning roy hikes the national park to feel the history of the chapada diamantina beneath his feet in a few years the locals will remember this american who traveled from new york and happened onto this place they'll probably say they'd see him head off into the mountains every day the ones that knew him will be able to tell how the life of this quiet american was a story of love at first sight between a man and nature so [Music] we could say this the spirits of the hills welcome me and uh i welcome them and we have a good relationship and uh it's just a really nice place to live uh to be in harmony with to help i do what i can to protect the hills and the hills do what they can to protect me so it's a pretty good relationship all right and just a really nice place and i hope i can keep doing this [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 543,452

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), somewhere on earth, amazing stories, amazing stories from brazil, amazing quest, brazil

Id: lDPyZg-GFrU

Length: 52min 14sec (3134 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 10 2022