World's Most Dangerous Roads - Peru: Andes Precipice

[Music] kitty [Music] [Music] [Music] the condor the incas considered this bird to be a messenger from god a guide who accompanied the dead on their journey to the afterlife five centuries on the legend continues in the peruvian andes lies the kota hawasi canyon a gaping valley three and a half kilometers deep more than one driver has lost their life to this ravine but the condor was there to guide their [Music] souls [Music] a [Music] [Music] oh none of the passengers dare to look out of the window a strategy which helps them to stay calm in any case they would rather face their fears than face exhaustion only a few years ago people still traveled these 35 kilometers on foot [Music] is in the kota hawassee canyon no one forces their way through the smaller vehicles give way better not to rush this is exactly the philosophy for truck driver rosendro for him patience is key to survival a oh for centuries the devil roamed the andean mountains in the form of the conquistadors cruelly enslaving the incas they were the first to travel these mountainous paths carrying gold and silver on their backs [Music] peru may be a country abundant with precious minerals but the descendants of the inca see it differently a rich country full of poor people whose attempts to earn a living often come at a dangerous price [Music] [Music] is but in peru gold takes many forms like bird droppings one of the best fertilizers in the world harvesting it is a painful process [Music] peru is developing rapidly but at what price road building between the villages is often rushed meaning the residents have to suffer the consequences even if it makes their lives easier [Music] over the course of time peru has gradually become the country of strong men the conquistadors made no mistake when they founded the city of toyo its climate between 22 and 30 degrees all year round makes it the city of eternal spring but this is not its only asset constructed at the border of the city its coastal location allowed gold and silver mined in the andes to be quickly sent over to spain nowadays these mines continue to be exploited a good source of income for consuelo and her husband lucio this enterprising couple supply the miners with bricks soft drinks beer flour and other goods 20 tons to transport despite the perilous route lucho and consuelo leave at dusk to keep their vegetables out of the midday heat they are 373 kilometers away from the mining town of ratamas 20 hours of driving on the edge of a precipice they hope to arrive late afternoon on saturday the best time to sell their 500 cases of beer [Music] the couple will never be millionaires but their business allows them to send their two children to school fifteen-year-old liznet is always sad to watch them leave [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] lucho is the designated driver he doesn't plan on making any stops but 20 hours behind the wheel would be impossible without the help of a stimulant passed down from the incase lucho isn't just battling against the road at certain points like on this hill leading up to a 3500 meter high pass his truck crawls along at 20 kilometers an hour he could relax but instead he's doubly vigilant [Music] foreign foreign [Music] having reached the top of the passage and with danger averted lucho puts his foot down he accelerates and begins to take risks [Music] but his need for speed causes him to forget one small detail his truck is weighed down with 20 tons of goods [Music] and so the precious minutes gained on the way down are lost but bigger troubles await lucho he and his wife have fallen asleep now they have overslept by an hour an hour that they must now make up for at the crack of dawn no time for a coffee they set off as quickly as they can [Music] is [Applause] [Music] focus is essential on these roads there is no room for error if you fall there is no coming back although some drivers have a stroke of luck this truck fell more than 30 meters after landing in the bushes its driver escaped unscathed foreign [Applause] [Applause] is if they manage to retrieve the truck their next mission is a matter of more than just cleaning up the canyon with an average salary of 370 euros in peru replacing a vehicle is not a feasible option indeed lucho is now having to pay the price for having bought a set of second-hand tyres [Music] business is not looking good for lucho and consuelo especially as the most dangerous part of the journey is yet to come the maranon river canyon [Music] driving through the andes requires good sense and self-control these roads claim the lives of dozens of people every year rosendro is a winemaker his vineyard is at the other end of the kota hawasi canyon it is a 35 kilometer journey along the region's most dangerous path [Music] rosandro is one of the few locals who owns a car the bus only comes twice a day so he willingly volunteers as a taxi driver [Music] while he's driving rosendro takes no chances but despite the chasm below he's confident in his driving abilities and his trusty 20 year old truck normal car the pickup truck is approaching 40 kilometers [Music] okay [Music] a fair dream but an unlikely one the road is just eight years old the diggers are not ready to come back still this is already a step forward for rosendrop before it took him two days to get to his vineyard on the back of a mule the biggest problem is the cliff face as the rock crumbles easily today fernando [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is canyon is worthy of its nickname the devil's mouth [Music] foreign [Music] many years ago the conquistadors arrived in this region and cultivating grapevines rosendro continues to tend his plants using 16th century techniques at harvesting time he still presses the grapes with his feet without the use of any machines rosendro produces five thousand liters of wine each year making ends meet in peru requires hard work and a strong will conditions are often bleak so imagine what it is like when the only way to make a living lies in the middle of the desert [Music] this man's work takes him as far as the parakas desert this vast expanse borders the pacific ocean not with a beautiful beach but with a hard cliff edge if he wants to earn some peruvian soles chicoka will have to climb down it hmm a 60 meter descent without any safety measures well apart from a short warm-up [Music] is is perhaps the only fisherman mountaineer in the world [Music] [Music] so why take such risks in fact this place is a natural reserve teaming with fish net fishing is forbidden only fishing rods are tolerated consequently jacoka has almost no competition on average the fisherman catches close to 20 kilograms of fish a day but today he catches none the strong waves along with his sea lion friends seem to have scared off some of the fish so day is not wasted however he also sells seaweed at the market but yet again a meager harvest at 66 years old this exercise is becoming increasingly difficult spends weeks at a time in the desert he does not have the means to waste petrol driving 35 kilometers home every night so [Music] is due to the overheated brakes and a flat tyre lucho and consuelo have now lost nearly half a day retamas the city of gold miners is still another 60 kilometers away the couple are expecting to sell 500 crates of beer over the weekend but the journey has not gone off to a good start even if he were to speed up lucho faces a major problem [Music] he's about to take on the most dangerous part of the mountain a winding road full of dust that flies up into the air often blocking the driver's view [Music] [Applause] okay [Applause] foreign [Music] lucho slows down it's just as well as it takes him a couple of attempts to get around these hairpin bends [Music] [Music] so by the time they arrive in retirement lucho and consuelo have been on the road for 26 hours 26 hours of danger and exhaustion for nothing the night is well underway in the streets of rettamas are almost empty it will take them four days to sell their 500 crates of beer two days longer than planned far away from their daughter at night the streets of the city of gold look just like mining tunnels by day the image of ratomas is less enchanting a construction site cluttered with huts topped with tin roofs the town lives purely for its gold mines for centuries miners have been picking the andes to pieces carlos struck gold 14 years ago at the time he was slaving away in the coffee and cocoa plantations earning almost nothing [Music] nowadays he continues to work hard but the pay is better almost 600 a month twice the minimum wage in peru he decided to get his brother involved in the venture and more recently his son and nephew the small family works in a mine abandoned by the industrialists who originally exploited it as it was not producing enough profit each working day is a risk as the mind crumbles around themselves [Music] to communicate with the outside world 70 meters above them the workers use an ingenious system taken straight from their childhood games hello during the time of its industrial exploitation the mine produced hundreds of kilograms of precious metals nowadays the family mines just one and a half kilograms per year extracting the gold with a pickaxe would take too much time so the men use explosives [Music] all right [Music] the dynamite releases toxic gases during the explosion and there is so much dust that the air is unbreathable one hour later carlos and his family extract around five tons of minerals every month in order to produce 125 grams of gold it's not a huge amount but it's enough to get by know that's it every year in peru almost 171 tons of gold and 4000 tons of silver are mined the country is rich in many other minerals as well as oil and gas this tremendous source of income maintains a strong economy and poverty has decreased by 50 percent in 10 years but despite all this infrastructure is still developing going to the town to stock up on supplies is always a source of concern for elite area [Music] his village is at the edge of the amazon rainforest an 80 kilometer journey along a path that's barely wider than the vehicle itself [Music] [Music] foreign this stretch is only a few months old although it's extremely dangerous it has changed the lives of all those living in the mountains [Music] foreign the road is not yet completely finished there are 10 kilometers left to build but the machines can only work at a rate of four kilometers per year and that's not including landslides and other road collapses hello travels the rest of his journey on foot his village is a two-hour walk away construction is always a dangerous operation on the roads in these mountains building this road has already cost one worker his life me [Music] foreign [Music] me [Music] foreign at 66 years old el oitario's not lacking in energy full steam ahead for the two-hour journey home [Applause] [Music] for a long time to come this journey will remain the only way to access his village he'd not expected that the new road would reach here but its proximity is enough to ensure that these residents are no longer isolated [Music] life is improving in the andes little by little the mountain men have developed a certain resilience to these rustic conditions [Music] they are practically the only people who are able to endure one of the most grueling jobs in the world this work takes place on the islands surrounding the peruvian coast such as asia island those who come from the city don't last long says edwina [Music] these extreme workers earn double the minimum wage but at what price [Music] the working day begins at 5am this digital fingerprint reader is the only modern day concession the rest of the time the men use centuries-old equipment [Applause] foreign they are all here to harvest guano that is to say bird droppings it's one of the best natural fertilizers in the world pelicans gannets cormorants millions of birds flock to the peruvian islands it takes between 10 and 15 years to dig out a two meter thick layer of dung the harvesting is done by hand as machines are forbidden for good reason they would scare off the birds and damage their natural environment they would be very useful for the workers however working conditions are terrible the smell of the decaying bird droppings is almost unbearable [Music] foreign sifting is a real ordeal the dust is constant but there is a fair system in place nobody escapes this task [Music] is [Applause] is [Music] the men harvest 50 tons of guano a day yes and no wonder each bag weighs approximately 50 kilograms these men might be more able to cope but at what cost the island is swarming with ticks carried over by the birds the ministry of agriculture in charge of the guano picking does provide workers with masks but nobody wears them foreign [Applause] the only advantage for these workers is that they're able to save on expenses they are fed and housed but conditions are extremely tough there's no fresh water on the island a tanker comes weekly to deliver it the precious liquid is rationed only eight liters a day to wash and do laundry the trick is to put your clothes on the floor as you shower once the working day is over entertainment on the island is few and far between is [Music] la vida [Music] ever since the spanish departure in 1824 peru has suffered through several dictatorships and a maoist guerrilla group that left tens of thousands of people victims in its wake [Music] but today thanks to the strength of its countrymen the country is beginning to take flight so [Music] you

Channel: Show Me the World

Views: 148,821

Keywords: documentary, roads, National Geographic, waterways, travel

Id: vcc-NkHoPes

Length: 51min 10sec (3070 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 27 2020