Where Desert Meets Sea - Peru's Pacific Coast | Free Documentary Nature

a desert on the pacific over 2000 kilometers long the coast is alive here the most colorful taxis have the most passengers here lies the driest capital of the world directly by the sea and the most remote restaurants are the most visited [Music] and surfing has been going on for over a thousand years on the coast of peru [Music] totora is the name of the plant harvested on the beach of juanchaco in northern peru the three meter long stems are the most important raw materials for carlos and jorge segura azola their great-grandparents already cut tortorra in the waterholes on the beach we just have to wait until the stems are one year old and we build our caballitos from them like our ancestors they call their boats rate horses in juan chaco live fishermen who have to build a new boat every month from these stands a millennium old tradition jorge and carlos also regularly harvest tortora and laid them out to dry on the hot desert sand the green bundles weighing 50 kilos becomes straw featherweight and floatable the cover for the razor sharp sickle is also woven from reed in a plastic case thus the cutting edge remains sharp it takes two weeks then the green reed is golden totora straw [Music] the coast is a desert about 2 400 kilometers long an ancient path leads through the middle of the desert which the incas are set to have laid out today the panamericana is the only direct connection between north and south peru lies in the tropics but a cold ocean current often brings fork to the coast nevertheless it hardly ever rains 300 kilometers south of the capital lima the peninsula paracas rises into the pacific ocean a national park almost deserted a few kilometers further north the port city of pisco famous for the schnapps of the same name which is distilled here in pisco tricycles dominate the cityscape moto taxis motors for short everything is transported with them and they are cult among the youth because they can already drive them aged 16 with a special permit and can earn their first own money that way the more striking the vehicle the better it works [Music] [Music] particularly striking with decorative wheels rear apron and 400 watt stereo jean-pierre ramirez better known as jumpy [Music] i always detach everything i can get so that my mortal is the most beautiful very important the coloring red pure red and the best combination is red black white the one who pimped up his motor the most wins the competition for customers of course there's competition when i see that the other one has something new i immediately think okay that suddenly looks much better than yours i should have that too and then it starts i buy bye bye jampi wants to retrofit again the meeting point of the motor taxi scene is in a side street rocco is the name of the dealer for attachments of all kinds a specialist workshop with quick service i want those big mirrors like with a coach such huge things they come in front i can see better with them that will be great but the big mirrors aren't in stock right now can you get the mirrors tomorrow give me the smiley [Music] see you later [Music] if all everybody well jampi will have his super mirrors tomorrow morning as the only one in all of pisco [Music] it's lonely on the paracas peninsula only a dusty track leads from pisco here 40 kilometers nevertheless someone runs a tiny little restaurant in this wasteland [Music] the restaurateur is on the water with his staff right now something has to be added to the menu there are supplies right on the doorstep luis zapata is an innkeeper with his own scallop farm he is plagued with a bad harvest the visibility underwater is usually never good here because there is a lot of plankton and plankton is food that's why i have my muscle farm here but if the sea is as clear as it is now there are hardly any nutrients in it the water has cooled down a lot this year very little plankton it's just getting better again the water is getting a little cloudy luckily it's friday and lewis hopes that many guests will come to his outpost in the desert joel the diver has to go down and get some fresh muscles with robust technology brand self-made i just need some pressure on the hose i bite on it then it doesn't slip out of my mouth when i need more air i don't bite so hard that's how it works 30 kilos of lead on the diving belt pull joelle to the bottom of the bay up in the boat assistant martin always stays alert the compressor is 40 years old i mustn't let the engine and the dive out of my sight the muscle beds lie at a depth of six meters louis zapata has a state license for one and a half hectares of seabed tens of thousands of scallops grow here practically all by themselves no no no it's all a little more complicated than that there are so many disruptive factors water temperature predators and then the market it goes up and down diseases and worms can spread octopuses and crabs crack the mussels a risky business [Applause] that looks pretty good let's open one or two and look inside luis accepts only the best quality his customers are spoiled it's pretty big must be a two-year-old i didn't party any of them [Music] it took lewis a very long time to convince his wife to go with him to the desert she didn't want to leave lima being a sailor was my dream now i'm a husband but husband and sailor are basically the same no matter if marino or marido hopefully the first guests for lunch will arrive soon how many louis never knows therefore as a precaution he first harvested only half a bucket of scallops the supply is right on the doorstep anyway even before the spanish conquistadores landed on the peruvian coast and subdued the incas the chimu people ruled here their metropolis by the sea was the city chanchan 700 years ago the most important settlement of south america with houses temples and pyramids made of clay today it's a landscape of ruins chanchan was taken by the incas the chimu culture perished [Music] foreign [Music] the matcha culture is much older two descendants of this people work on the totora drying place of juan chaco carlos and jorge collect the dry to torah reed for their boats these which we call the daughter the long bundle we call mother both bundles together form the boathole the brothers ordered a moto taxi to transport the tortora packages to anchako their home village it is only three kilometers away on the beach [Music] juan chaco is famous for its cabalitos de totora the traditional boats on the beach there is even a monument for the reed horses it is said that there on the peruvian coast surfing was invented by the mochis more than a thousand years ago [Music] and up on the malecon the promenade you can buy mini cabalitos as souvenirs like every fishing family in juan chaco carlos and jorge have at least two cabalitos in operation and they built new ones every month because the boats only last four weeks then they start to rot every cabalito is tailor-made for its owner from the floor to the armpit that's the measure of all things the whole vehicle is four times as long everything as it used to be almost everything used only to torah at that time but because there are less and less of them we also use polystyrene in just two hours four bundles of reed nylon cord and a few pieces of polystyrene form a sleek little boat in the middle of the street the alley in front of their house is their boat yard we always do this here on the street we can't do it by the sea there is high water and it's very hot on the beach too much sun the daughter comes into the belly of the mother that's how it works only the curved bow is missing then the reed bundle becomes a reed holes [Music] the paracas peninsula 700 kilometers further south this desert used to be the bottom of the sea only during the last ice age the peninsula emerged from the pacific more than fifteen thousand years ago [Music] for fifteen years there has been luis apatas restaurant in timar named after the sun god of the incas places like this are rare and nobody would dare to do anything here like me my principle as an entrepreneur is if everyone goes that way then i have to go this way i like swimming against the current the rush of guests at sea and on land proves lou is right his remote intima muscle snack is no longer an insider tip the news of his good cuisine has already spread to the capital lima [Music] once again luis is hardly able to keep up with the operative production there is pisco sour the peruvian national drink with egg white lime and sugar us here pisco and the potato those are peru's gifts to the rest of the world the pisco sour and the potato papa always try it first of course [Music] [Music] [Music] peruvian cuisine is famous all over the world these days especially for its fresh ingredients [Music] the icon of every menu is ceviche fresh fish and seafood marinated only briefly in lime juice onions and salt and of course scallops [Music] we prepare the scallops with parmesan cheese then they taste really good or we flambe them for a short time which really underlines the taste the boss can only breathe a sigh of relief when the store is really running smoothly the bar is my favorite spot of course watching people to talk and have a drink every now and then a beer at the bar [Music] jampi the moto taxi driver in pisco can hardly wait to finally have new attachment parts for his moto assembled hello how are you do you have my bus mirrors sure that's 30 solas where did you find them they come from lima looks much better the competition can only watch jealously as jumpy pimps his motto to the unofficial number one two new interior mirrors are also available as a loyalty bonus from the dealer the more the merrier [Music] the money doesn't matter because i think it's cool maybe it's crazy but you can really look back now and it looks much better than before [Music] is heading for the main road the cafeteria his moto taxi should now be the absolute eye-catcher in piscos traffic and attract customers accordingly [Music] [Music] [Music] it works one passenger after another jumps into his moto taxi usually it only goes around the next corner his standard rate is two soles 50 euro cents [Music] he was in action all morning jampi deserves a little break he likes to spend it on the backseat of his motto it's much more comfortable there than on the hard drive seat in front and he can let his thoughts wander to the future [Music] whole fleet all nicely tuned in juan chaco at carlos and jorge in their shipyard on the front door the reed horse takes shape extreme care is called for the reed must remain completely straight and must not bend otherwise the boat will become unstable the stems must therefore be parallel now the finish the characteristic horse neck this shape is very important because the bow must cut perfectly through the waves we have to go through the surf every time we go out another cabalito de totora is ready after only two hours in the shipyard environmentally friendly and inexpensive such a reed horse is actually considered a relatively safe watercraft the only problem is most fishermen of juanchako can't swim not even carlos and jorge just like their father whose fate they always have in mind our father had an accident he drowned when he tried to recover a friend's neck he wasn't even 50 years old when it happened it was bad i always spent a lot of time with my father i was even fishing with him yes really terrible i was little then went to school my father was the calm anchor of the family we were infinitely sad since the death of his father carlos has been afraid of the sea every time it takes a lot of effort to go out himself but now he wants to do something about it [Music] for a city in the tropics the climate in lima is quite cool this is due to the peru current which comes from antarctica that's why peru's capital is mostly covered in dense sea fog from april to october 10 million people live in lima a mega city by the sea the coastal cliffs are 160 meters high ideal for paragliders one of the fathers of the paragliding and hang gliding scene in lima is juan ortiz called juanito he has been in the business for over 30 years a professional in pacific the sea wind from the pacific blows here against the steep coast on impact it becomes a strong upwind from which we benefit we can fly along the whole coast without an engine of course we can do even better with an engine is often booked by lima's radio and television stations today by panamericana tv for the traffic news i'm known in lima as the flying reporter i've been doing this for a long time since the 90s it developed slowly and little by little the technique got better and better i've even been live on air for some time now during his flight juan ortiz is connected to the television station via his mobile phone he sends pictures and comments directly to the studio [Music] now we are talking to juan ortiz our flying reporter good day to the studio good day to peru i'm flying along the coast road once again there is a lot of traffic on the way as is always the case in lima [Music] underneath me a lane is fully closed a truck has broken down there is a long tail back further on towards san isidro everything is clear again [Music] a report from juan ortiz panamericana tv bruno alvarado lives down there in the labyrinth of the 10 million metropolis in the comas district bruno is a professional musician and is booked out every weekend his brass band is once again booked for a procession bruno plays sousaphone a kind of giant tuber october is procession time as well as september november or december most inhabitants of lima are pious catholics today we play on the most important procession for the lord of miracles but here in lima there are many more saint rosa of lima saint martin of torres saint francis of assis or the senior del mar in kalau at 11 o'clock the procession for the senor de los milagros the lord of miracles will begin [Music] not only the faith in the lord is great in peru also old folk faith is widespread in witches and healers in brujas and quranderas carlos the red horse fisherman from juan chaco has taken heart because of his fear of the sea and visits ibruya a witch i would like a treatment please right now very good come in what do you want an exorcism of fear then lie down so that i can use my means take off your clothes first except for the underwear you're a fisherman aren't you we will have to do something about that but it costs how much the price is 50 solas symbolic for each treatment for your age i would normally get 100 solas but because you're a native i only take fifty tonight i will light them up for the little souls in there if all is well they will burn completely if not they'll go out before they go to a doctor many in peru first go to the witch for discomfort anxiety for horoscopes and prophecies for rashes asthma and bad dreams now the witch is getting to grips with carlos fear of the sea with candles an old red roll and healing oil [Music] exorcism of fear with herbs from the peruvian mountains sit upright sometimes i get tired and have to sleep a what you have is very serious that's why we have to keep going [Music] in lima the procession for the lord of miracles has been going on for some time at a snail's pace and in zigzag cores it goes through the whole district of comas roads are closed shops are closed for hours bruno and his colleagues play new hymns again and again [Music] it's really pretty tiring playing itself doesn't make you tired but the walking is a great strain the feet hurt my colleagues also feel the same way eight to ten hours on our feet today for example i play from 11 o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening then i take a short rest and then it goes on from nine o'clock to one o'clock in the morning the most pious peruvians live in the poorest neighborhoods many houses are decorated the procession stops there for bruno everything is routine this is how he finances his music studies he wants to become a teacher [Applause] i don't count the processions surely 200 or more i don't know when you play as often as i do you just don't know anymore maybe 50 a year [Applause] [Music] is [Music] peru is repeatedly hit by natural disasters earthquakes tsunamis mudslides this nourishes the belief in higher powers [Music] bruno's band plays until six in the evening then a new procession starts somewhere in another part of lima until the sun will rise again [Music] [Music] [Music] in huanchako the weather forecast drives the fishermen to the beach this morning heavy seas are forecast somewhere out there over the pacific the storm rages now they all go out to safe their gill nets which were hanging in the water overnight [Music] carlos is late at first he didn't want to get out but now he has to he's rather queasy again if the sea is really wild it's damn dangerous to sail out i only dare to do that when the sea is calm otherwise it takes too much effort his brother jorge is already far out with the others where most of the nets are where carlos still doesn't dare to go his net is close to the coast the beach is always in sight carlos paddles against his fear he will probably need a few more treatment appointments with the witch up in the village until he has his fear of the sea under control the beach promenade of pisco is a popular meeting place for the city's moto taxi drivers jampie and his buddy marco are also often drawn here in the evening for a beer among colleagues hey man how are you doing good look i got new mirrors today super with four screws let's have a drink the old one was much too weak sets a new trend with his mirrors but his buddy joche can score acoustically with an extra subwoofer [Music] that's our style with the motors even if the police would forbid us to do so we'd start all over again if the police stop us and we're supposed to take something down we'll do it but only for an hour then we put it back again and look at my lights here i can switch from slow to fast and these two here in front do they work too of course i just have to turn them on a moped light show on the beach at sunset a perfect evening after work on the coast of the inca in peru you

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

Views: 844,933

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, South America, Peru, Inca Coast, Peru Surfing, Peru's Pacific Coast, Sechura Desert, Peru Documentary, Wildlife, Wildlife Documentary, Latin America, Nat Geo, National Geographic

Id: a8MJN4wZkdk

Length: 43min 38sec (2618 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 22 2022