Deadliest Roads | Brazil | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] Natasha para river in Amazonia northern Brazil Jessie aged 14 and Lizette 11 are trying to grab hold of the boat this is not a game it's work then of the only ones working the river traffic other kids catch a ride to the passenger ferries take care careful watch it come on get on get up I'm in front just below them the fairies propeller push that this way come on with the rope this side the swells too strong the canoe will tip I'm not gonna let it go under risking death just to make a few pennies selling jams and sweets how much for the palm sweet two rails aren't any good to buy them all we'll make them yourself I brought them up upriver no they're not rotten are they no no they're good they've got preservatives the sort of commerce is unique to this stretch of the river [Music] here the touch' pura is at its narrowest and the boats pass close to the shore it's the best place for the little canoes to do business about a dozen canoes have fastened onto the bomb Jesus the ship's captain maintain speed he has a schedule to keep two palm suites I'll take one that's two rails well this size it's a dangerous business going alongside a huge and they move very quickly but it's how we are now our daily bread make our living did you blow up Jesse and his friends know all the large boats they make their livings from and their cruise you give me something to eat on board the bomb Jesus there's always some food put aside for the river kids and you know sometimes their accidents we try and help them out you know keep them keep an eye out for them make sure they're okay some of the kids who climbed on board are very young indeed something that worries captain Santos I keep a list of the children's names there seems to be more and more of them lately in fact there's so many now especially little ones less than six years old on their own I let the authorities know about them because it's very very dangerous what they do especially at nighttime I tell them not to do it at night by day it's okay that's fine under Brazilian law the river captain is responsible in case of accidents hey be careful take the rope from the middle tied up that's it come on okay let's go now it's very dangerous especially at the stern it's treacherous it's scary I'm usually in a cold sweat big enough to work on my own now I lost one pot of palm sweets but I sold three fish watch he can neither read nor write but Jesse knows how to count his profits seven rails about three and a half dollars a small contribution to his family's income Jesse's the youngest of 12 children his mother Benedicta who's almost sixty wakes him each morning Jesse's lived in this house on stilts all his life it's a life that revolves entirely around the river gosh little rich boy really hard my husband's too old to work now sometimes we get up in the morning and there's nothing to eat for the whole day we hope there'll be something for the next day it's just the way it is out here sometimes we eat sometimes we don't it's a large family 12 adults and 16 children the kids could swim before he could heal Jessie's grandfather settled here from Portugal at the turn of the last century during the rubber boom and later during the expansion of the logging and timber industry in the Amazonian Basin the rivers are the main arteries for virtually everything this ship from New Zealand has come to pick up a consignment of tree trunks the waterways are constant ebb and flow of people and trade these barges are the public transport system bus train and tram all rolled into one [Music] the hardest ships to get on to though are the passenger ferries 1,500 tons of iron and steel traveling at 30 kilometers an hour Jesse knows the safest place to board is in the bow far from the dangerous Eddie's at the stern at the back the last canoe is in trouble it's slowly filling up the father paddles furiously as the son desperately tries to scoop out the water in the end they dive out to prevent the canoe from sinking the most important thing is to save their merchandise [Applause] no feeling that's my son's feet he wasn't listening to me scoop the water out as quickly as he should have I've only been doing this for about two months before I was in the timber business in the jungle I could make about 10 or 15 dollars a day nothing at all it depended do you make more now with your canoe yes I am something every day at least not like before but today it's a big loss I've lost all the money I had about ten dollars have you eaten today no nothing at all and the money I had for shopping is now at the bottom of the river Manuel Fernandez his son and the rest of his family hoped the next day will be better and that there will be something to eat on his boat however jess is still doing deals give me a dozen that's a dollar I've got bananas ekoo peas passion fruit and palm hearts some of the passengers despite being fully aware of the risks kids like Jessie take still try and haggle over the price hey there's only six bananas no no they're all here eight eight bananas give me a few more no that's it now you wouldn't catch me doing that it's too dangerous if they fall they could die and we sucked under the boats propellers it's their work they climb into onto the boats that go up and down the river to bail em it's part of the river trade the river trade Jesse's been doing every day of the week since he was 10 years old in all he's only ever attended school for a month it's an hour away by canoe for the heifer estimator planta Nova's our Iraqi palace to be situated eyes average before de Vivar day meeting in this tomb my difficult there aren't enough canoes around here that's what the that's what the grown-ups say that's why the kids don't come to school other kids have to work the boats in order to make enough to feed themselves or buy clothes so they don't have time to go to school you should go to school every day if you only go once or twice a week it's it's not worth it may as well not go at all but listen studying is important it opens the door to so many things you're already good at getting into boats so if you knew how to read and write you'd be a king I'm ashamed that at my age I can't read or write I don't even know how to write my own name instead Jessie school is the river and the jungle and his teacher his elder brother Tony knew whose 26 years old taught me how to make cartridges now I'm teaching Jessie I never wanted to live in town we go when we need to but I'm happy here I've got some work offers in town but I've turned them down here you're free to do what you like when you like life's fairly calm here you just need to know how to get by I think it's important I learn to do many things like like my brother how to build a boat make things out of wood clear the jungle Jessie's family has always preferred life along the river living off the river trade and hunting yeah got him right in the head right where he was aiming to come boy a poisonous snake that's the kind of snake that will bite you straightaway and if you're bitten you'll die it's over there somewhere look I don't go up and get it [Applause] sloths fetch up to $15 they're considered a delicacy this one however is too young so you'll live to see another day I've seen lots of kids my agent in town even younger smoking drugs or sniffing glue around looking for things to steal sometimes the police arrest them never happens to me I've got a mum and dad Daniel Fire doesn't understand you mind you God keeps me on the right path [Music] on the ferries Jesse watches sale by his house every day par many who've come to seek their fortune in the heart of the Amazon forests this elderly man is Ulysses and he's happy to tell anyone who cares to listen about a treasure hidden in the depths of the jungle [Music] I've heard that along the river Juma they used to be an old gold mine a real Eldorado right in the heart of the jungle I heard so much about it I decided to go and look for myself the story spread rapidly and was soon front-page news all of which led to the biggest gold rush in Brazil for more than 20 years to get there thousands of miners hitched a ride on the boats that head deep into the jungle it's a dangerous journey I got real sick down there stomach pains fevers I think it was malaria in the end I had to give up I went back home to find this Eldorado it's a matter of leaving the touch of Peru and heading upriver along the Amazon into the heart of Brazil 20,000 people live in up.we a town built up around a few paved roads in the middle of nowhere three months ago no one had ever heard of it but then gold was found in the jungle about 80 kilometres away since then at least 10,000 prospectors have passed through up.we on their way to El Dorado two of the latest newcomers are amid ego and big using field laborers they've left behind wives and children to travel the 2,000 kilometers it's taken them to get here I hope is to strike gold sheer fine gold and get rich families back home come and look for the gold in order to feed our children to finance their Gold Fever amid ego and news they have sold up all their belongings back home all they've left their families is a TV set and a sack of rice ten days into their journey and they're already short of money which might make renting a four-wheel drive for the final leg of the journey the problem [Music] if we strike it lucky quickly then we're heading back home asap if it takes longer it takes longer we've put what money we had towards this trip and we've left our families with nothing [Music] I've no experience of being a minor or a prospector and I just trust to my courage it's all I've got looking for gold is a real adventure we've no idea how it might turn out we're risking everything including our lives at the end of the track a row of tents on the riverbank but the journey still isn't over this elbow of water juts into the jungle it's the river Juma that leads to El Dorado to go any further you need to pay the ticket to a dream is about $20 for a two-hour boat ride [Music] we're nervous it was gold mines of dangerous places our families have to be worried about us because we have no means of letting them know how we're doing they know nothing about what might go wrong in the gold mining bank for that matter neither do we after about 20 kilometers some splashes of color begin to show through the dense jungle here finally is the Eldorado of so many dreams to the adventurers the place looks like a slum makeshift Hut's plastic bags as ruse about three or four thousand people live here it's a small town that sprung up complete with bistros businesses a hairdresser and even a dentist generators provide power and it's even possible to catch the latest football matches the bingo is about to start winner 50cc motorbike by your cards right now friends the minimum wager is one gram of gold per cart here the currency is literally gold dust no effort is spared to ensure the miners gold doesn't remain with its rightful owner for long amory go and user our data lost this is not what they expected to find [Music] there's even a large food store where almost anything it seems can be bought for about double its normal price the owner Mercedes took the gamble of coming here and she's making the most out of it jams thermos flasks drinks I sell a lot of those sweets so well - coffee soups noodles even radios get sold I've been in the business for a long time it's in my blood I love selling stuff but here it's in gold where the real money lies which is how Mercedes makes her biggest profits by buying up the miners gold for cash almost $20 a gram which she later sells on at a 10 percent profit amory go and uses stick it out El Dorado seems to hold its promise there's gold for everyone including for the new arrivals and there's no time to lose they head for the main seem some three kilometers along this jungle path the whole forest seems to have been turned into a building site with huts and holes scattered everywhere just three months ago this gentle river flowed through virgin jungle today it's a battleground between man and nature as the prospectors sift through the earth twelve hours a day and colleagues panned the dirt through the water in the hope of finding a few specks of gold blinded to danger in their frantic search for gold some risk being swallowed by the very earth they're exploiting I've been digging for six days six days of hard work so far we haven't found much gold but we're hopeful it's there somewhere because we've already seen some flakes the scenes around them shake user Anna Marie goes dream of riches my first impression is that there's a lot of suffering out here an impression that soon confirmed as they're repeatedly told there's nothing left for them I'm sorry to have come all this way there's hardly anything here we managed to find some work but it's just two grams of gold today and pay barely enough to get by I'm still hopeful I've got my faith God grants us our health we'll make it to survive in this jungle you need to be well off food is twice as expensive here as in town and almost $4 this meal might be the last they can afford in the restaurant of video endlessly repeats the news reports that sparked the gold rush across Brazil [Applause] name the self marigo and user were among those hypnotized by the pictures of bucketfuls of gold and the false promise of a new Eldorado it's a crime what they did it's dishonest it's misleading those reports one guy out here told me he'd sold his house and left his family because he was sure he'd find plenty of gold you've just arrived what do you think we've just got here we really need to find work because we've nothing left not even to buy food I've been out here for two weeks now I still haven't found any work I've asked around everywhere but there's nothing no one's offering work got enough money to go back we're gonna have to scrape a living just to leave scraping together enough just to leave is something Maria knows all about she survives by selling alcohol to the gold hunters Cassius buy my casa help me out brother don't have any money to buy anything [Music] it took Maria just a couple of days to realize the goldmine story was a fake I pawned my wedding ring for about $35 to pay for the journey out here by boat $35 killing myself trying to earn that much to get my ring back and buy a ticket home Maria was just one of the thousands of people who'd been duped into believing that get-rich-quick because of the TV reports now she says it's only the TV that can shatter the illusion it created that of a river gushing gold everyone in Brazil thinks there's gold here in fact there's hardly any I haven't seen a single crime ever since I got here and yet there are some who more than managed to make ends meet most are at the far top end of the known gold deposits it's an area the prospectors have dubbed la grotta Rica the rich seem it's where the most gold has been found twelve people share the production rights they've created a cooperative whose authority no one dares challenge Luciana is one of the 12 owners a nanny back home in town looks after her three children she's become a respected businesswoman we dug up this part of the mountain and we put all the earth and that's where the gold is the next step you have to turn the earth mixing it really well to make the kind of liquidy paste which is important before Washington dissolving the earth and the river that happens in this machine the gold remains here in the sieve and also at the bottom down there because it's heavier than the earth that washes away this method means leshawna's workers never see even the tiniest speck of gold that remains hidden from view in the sieve the only way to recover the tiny pellets of gold is to stop the machine and dismantle part of the equipment a privilege shared only by the owners dushana is unwilling to say exactly how much money she makes I can't give you exact figures of what I earn it depends you never know how much gold you'll find sometimes it's 10 grams other times 20 30 40 grams Luciana has been indiscreet my mother owner brings her back in line hi neighbor I'd like to know all about it but you have to be very careful what you tell them this is what you should say there's hardly any gold here now we make just enough to be able to eat we're hoping for better times in the future how many grams did you get today I don't know yet I haven't done the maths and I'll tell them you only find one gram a day that's what you make but Bashara has admitted to finding between 10 and 40 grams a day a neighbor earns the identical size in land but when asked admits to only very small amounts of gold on average about half a gram I'd say half a gram yeah I'm just point 5.5 of a gram of day we get buckets full of gold here don't say that some places we do listen the truth is were all pretty poor up here we're trying to earn enough to feed our families we've got families kids wives and that's about as much as the owners will say it's obvious some make a decent living while the vast majority can only dream of riches for those who do find the odd gram the night gives rise to some terrible temptations in the camps bars a good day's work can disappear in just an hour [Music] improvised casinos are set up and one roll of the dice will decide whether you keep your page or not as always it's the bank that stands to win the most and for those who can afford them there even a few girls available in this ambience one name is repeated more than most as a capita literally Joe the devil it's a name to be respected if not feared because Joe the devil is the local godfather he lays claim to being the sole owner of the entire gold-mining operation he may look harmless but make no mistake the man means business each prospector has to pay him 8% an unwritten rule he knows how to enforce those who know the rules around here know the bosses cut is not up for discussion but unfortunately in the early days of the gold rush there were a few who caused me some problems nowadays there are no more problems and everyone pays their cut without fuss and Joe the devil talks freely at our business I've made about four kilos of gold so far but if you believe what some say it should be a lot more what I read in the press makes me very upset sometimes they claim I get such and such amount of gold it's rubbish I have to admit I'm doing all right being able to buy a small house for my family something which wouldn't have been possible before [Music] the four kilos of gold of the devil admits to making is nevertheless worth nearly $80,000 for use in America that amount of money is virtually inconceivable their last banknotes spent they found no one willing to hire them and have made their way back to the riverbank at the lower end of the shantytown we had the money we'd have left by now but we don't so there's not much we can do it's a nightmare everything we dreamt about hoped for it's just in taxes hard up before now it's even worse amid ego and news they aren't even close to going back home like many others before them it will probably take some weeks to earn enough to escape the jungle back on the touch of pure river and the young canoeists the short distance from Jesse's house a group of beggar's has shown up most of them are kids many a less than five years old they're too small to get onboard the passing ships so to attract their attention they shout let's for the kids down there look how small they are in the canoe [Music] it's for the the little canoes over there it's clothes you'll throwing them down some food now just clothes but sometimes we give them food or clothes I prepare the sacks of the kids before [Music] [Applause] further down the young river traders are as numerous as ever [Music] okay give me some shrimps about a dozen canoes have fastened themselves to the ferry but oddly jesse is absent it's unlike him to miss the opportunity to make a few rounds something's changed on the river the ferry is still allow the kids to climb aboard but the crew men on the merchant ships and barges have become less accommodating these kids will soon find out for themselves on the barge they're not welcome no chance of selling anything here and for some of the crew the kids don't cast off quickly enough one man even threatens to cut the ropes that tether the canoes are you chicken you see how he cut the rope he was scared of us that guy up there no it happens a lot they don't want us to tie up alongside it's dangerous but we do it anyway we're not scared of them they might insult us but we answer them right back I feel like smashing her with my papal that's scared of thieves they think we're gonna loot their barge sometimes they even pull guns on us just to scare us and we tell them all right go ahead shoot and then we wave our machetes at them and they back off they're scared the cruise however have good reason to be cautious over recent months incidents of piracy have increased on the river bandits who hold up the merchant boats at gunpoint during the night used the same type of canoes as the kids on the barges everyone is on edge no one's allowed on board at nighttime nighttime on this river is dangerous there have been a lot of holdups so we can't be sure using the small canoes these days I've had friends who've been robbed on that boats right here on this stretch of the river some people have even been killed God is our only protection we're scared but we've got to work on the banks of the taja Peru Jesse's family is in mourning the youngster was shot and killed a few weeks earlier by the captain of a river barge for Jesse had turned to crime and become a pirate himself he was killed trying to hold up a barge at gunpoint say Claudia one of Jesse's older brothers also took part in the robbery attempt but could do nothing to save his brother he was fastening his canoe to the side of the barge then he climbed on board and someone shot him first I thought I was joking about being shot that he'd been shot the bullet hit him in the throat I couldn't see the wound because he had his hands over his reduc he ran and jumped into the water when he surfaced the guy on the boat shot him a game in the back [Music] [Music] his family knew that Jesse had become a criminal Benedicta his mother always felt that things would end badly God had warned us this would happen to our family it was a prophecy and I trust in the word of our Lord so I'm resigned to it thanks to God I have the strength working on me aboard only sometimes I stand in the doorway and look at the barges that go by and then I pray to Jesus to protect the little children that tie up alongside the boats may God prevent what happened to my boy from happening to the other children everyone on the river is marked by Jesse's death the youngsters have made a habit of visiting Jesse's grave in the Riverside Cemetery [Music] musial 13 was Jesse's favorite nephew he's taken over now along with his brother Ciel and his cousin cloud yo both aged 12 he was always good to us he used to give us a few coins whenever he could he taught me how to tie up alongside the boats I used to go in the canoe with him and he taught me how to attach the ropes on the tyres I loved the hulls of the ships and I slowly learned how to do it he taught me as well is to buy stuff for me clothes that sort of thing he was my favorite uncle despite the incident life and trade on the river must go on for the children of the real there's no alternative the best selling item is the Inga's a jungle fruit that's only found around this stretch of the river and which is much in demand with the passengers on the ferries music loud uncl know where to find them that's a dangerous harvest the fruit is found only at the top of some trees offer more than 30 meters above ground for Inga's sell for 1 rial barely 25 cents it sells really well because the people of the boats love them they cost us nothing we just have to climb up and condition it's one of the gifts from God there for us to pick and sell and for the animals like monkeys to eat the manaus fairy is on time [Music] the kids have to rush because the boat is fast with each passing minute they are swept further and further from home [Music] [Music] now you're strong you are oh this is much better than what you find in the shops these are the real things in half an hour the kids have made barely four dollars only seven rounds not eight my brother's made some money too the kids have followed the ferry for 15 kilometers down river to avoid having to paddle all the way back Mizell than the others hitch a ride alongside a barge heading upriver the crew knows the kids and they're free to ride along on the impromptu water taxi which saves them four hours of paddling [Music] [Music] with court enamored Dillo the armadillo is a welcome surprise Musial hadn't spotted one for more than a year it must weigh about 10 kilos when it's boiled all this dark pop and the shell will come off it'll go in the pot and when it's ready we'll eat it it's a rare treat for the kids it was meat of any sort is luxury in these parts they enjoyed the hunt they managed to kill an armadillo it's more than enough for the whole family even though there's 11 of us there's a lot of meat on an animal like that we'll give some to our cousins they'll still be enough left over the next day there'll be plenty to go round over excited by the hunt the kids have no intention of going to sleep yet [Music] what I hope for for my kids well that one day they'll have a better life and no longer have to work for boats you spend all them all the day on the river and I'm worried sick about them I really want them to have a better life from this [Music] I don't want to rock the barges become a pirate no point when I grow up I want to work in the timber industry there there's decent pay every month and it's honest work you can be so free ramasamy I found me yes you mean when I've got my own family I want to be a footballer just like see damn and score lots of goals I'll be the best and be able to help my family out metered I want to work when I'm big work on a boat I'll be captain I'll get married [Music] you you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 2,066,299

Rating: 4.8071933 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, deadliest roads brazil, dangerous roads brazil, most dangerous roads brazil, dangerous brazil, dicing with death brazil, deadliest journeys brazil

Id: NW8yWSAvZHk

Length: 51min 49sec (3109 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/TesseractToo]

This is a great series. I haven't seen this one yet but I will now. It just shows how cushy we have it in developed nations with our paved roads and access to clean drinking water on tap.

There was a good one about Madagascar where they were saying they intentionally leave the roads practically unusable because if they didn't all the rosewood trees would go extinct from logging for expensive hardwoods and they are almost all gone as it is.

[u/brownnothing]

Thanks for the recommendation. I hadn’t heard of this series before and accidentally started the Tajikistan one instead of this one, but I’ll be watching the Brazil one next.

[u/ImpishFinch]

51 hours??

[u/welshmonstarbach]

one of the best documentaries to have ever been made about brazil.

[u/UmbrellaUser69]

Wow, those dudes who got trapped at that gold mine... that broke my heart.