Down to Earth with Zac Efron (2020) s01e08 Episode Script
Iquitos
1
Although considered repulsive
and taboo by most societies
Feet up.
human cannibalism
still remains a common practice
in a few parts of the world.
Like that. OK.
Cannibalism motives
vary from ritual to survival,
for conquest
- or even for purely gourmet reasons.
- What?
Do I have a safe word?
I do not.
OK.
Luckily, this episode
has nothing to do with cannibalism.
Wait, does does it?
It doesn't. I swear.
Yeah.
In fact, this journey
has nothing to do with meat of any kind.
Safe word is "ocelot."
We're in the heart
of the Amazon River,
heading deep into the jungle
to study plants.
This rain forest is bursting with plants
and trees
that provide nutrition, medicine
This is something you're gonna
take if you feel back pain, joint pain.
and even spiritual powers.
And Darin has never felt more at home.
Camu camu!
Woo-hoo!
- I have no idea what they're bringing.
- Big old thing of moving food.
- Maybe I'll try a little meat
- You definitely don't have to.
of some sort.
No, I have to.
- Traveled all the way out here for this.
- This is like your first kill, Zac.
Mmm.
This is Iquitos.
Let me start at the beginning.
A few years ago, I met Darin.
- Can't feel my feet or my hands.
- Proud of you, bro.
Yeah.
He's a guru of healthy living
and superfoods.
Yeah, it's great. Thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
You could say he wrote the book
on the subject. Literally.
A healthy lifestyle,
solid principles.
Darin and I are traveling around the world
to find some new perspectives
on some very old problems.
That's Mother Earth, bro.
Searching for healthy, sustainable
living solutions for the planet
Wow!
and all who live on it.
Woo-hoo!
Ignore the crazy white guy.
And, hey you gotta eat, too, right?
You don't have to eat it.
- How does it move like that?
- Oh, my God.
It's time to get Down to Earth.
Trippy.
We're on the southeastern edge
of the fires.
Copy. That's us.
And it just might skirt the back
of these homes, and I don't know if
Broken. Can you repeat?
4218 South 290 Street. 11:32.
Living in Southern California
means dealing with fires.
Even so, of course it's weighing heavy
on Darin's mind.
But he believes so strongly in this cause
that he wants to continue.
- Marker!
- So that's what we're gonna do.
We've arrived in Iquitos,
a city in Peru on the banks
of the Amazon River.
We're here to meet a good friend
of Darin's,
who's been working
over the last 20 years
to conserve wild palm trees
in South American jungles.
I'm excited for you
to meet my buddy Tarek.
He's a PhD ecologist,
he's worked in this area in the Amazon
for over 30 years.
We're gonna head down to a small village
and finally hit some medicinal plants
and show you around.
Darin's wanted to take me here
since we first met.
Iquitos is known as Peru's "Jungle City,"
and the gateway to the Amazon.
There's unlimited natural beauty here.
But there's also many dangers.
- It's, like, an hour boat ride.
- Is there crocodiles or alligators here?
- Uh No. Not here, on the Amazon.
- Piranhas?
- There's definitely piranhas. Yeah.
- Definitely piranhas.
So, swim at your own risk.
Phew.
- Tarek. Good to see you, brother.
- Darin. How's it going?
- Good to see you.
- Meet my buddy Zac.
- Nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
So we're gonna jump in the Amazon
a little bit and check out some plants.
We're gonna go up the Nanay River.
- Perfect.
- About an hour.
- We got enough for camping?
- Yeah. In case we get lost again.
What happens when you get lost?
You just camp on the side?
You just sit there and try to figure out
where you are for a while.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Yeah, 'cause when you're in a flooded area
and everything looks the same
Oh, yeah.
We've left any semblance
of civilization.
Here on the Amazon River, we're surrounded
by nature as far as the eye can see.
I can't believe this place exists.
It's just a trip.
Sixty thousand plus years
we've been using these plants.
And we are in the home
of the medicinal plants.
You're in sort of a goldmine out here.
Tarek's business
is buying fruit upriver from the locals,
bringing it to the processing plant,
and packaging it for sale in the city.
While the palm oil industry
is linked to deforestation
and an increase in greenhouse gas,
Tarek is fighting
to create a greater demand
for a lesser-known wild palm fruit
that are sustainably harvested
and provide a fair price
to the people who gather them.
We're coming up on an opportunity to pick
one of Darin's favorites from the Amazon.
These are all camu camu trees.
This is where it builds up the Vitamin C
and the natural antioxidants
because of the stress of being flooded,
defending itself
of living in this situation.
Ten of those fruits, Zac,
and you got 1,000 milligrams of C.
Whereas in processing,
you lose at least half of that.
This is it.
- There's a few.
- Whoa!
Whew!
I don't see any more.
We're rich. Beautiful.
Woo-hoo!
Camu camu!
- Woo-hoo!
- Ignore the crazy white guy.
This is like your first kill, Zac.
Mmm.
It's good.
Now try one of the green ones.
It'll be a lot more sour.
That's the highest vitamin C, is green.
- Really?
- Yeah.
'Cause it's not fully ripe yet
or something?
Yeah. And then it declines.
Whew!
- Yeah.
- That gets your attention.
Throw us a few camu.
I have a feeling
you're not gonna catch it.
Yeah.
It's too valuable.
- I'm right here. I can catch it.
- No. I don't trust your catch.
I played softball.
Get it high.
I got it.
Yeah!
That is way more sour
than I thought.
The next plant is uña de gato,
or "Cat's Claw."
It uses little hook-like horns
on its vines to climb up the tree
and thrives here in the rain forest.
OK, guys,
let's go see some uña de gato.
- We're gonna go knee-deep?
- Yeah, or thigh.
Whew!
Bye, shoes!
Whew!
Oh, that's cold and amazing.
Hey, Zac, whatever it takes, bro.
So there's no electric eels
in this section?
No, fortunately not.
No leeches?
Well, leeches would be fine.
Leeches are fine?
- Yeah, leeches would be
- Leeches suck.
- This one's foaming.
- There you go. Get it.
Uña de gato has been used
for centuries
to treat ailments like arthritis,
dysentery, fevers, inflammation,
and stomach ulcers.
And while cat's claw has a long history
of medicinal use,
there's been very little research
conducted on humans.
This small village is Mishana,
our home for the night.
Hola. Hey, guys.
- How are you? Good?
- Good.
Most of this jungle is uncharted.
But Tarek's been exploring
and mapping it for years.
And he's giving us a rundown
of where we're headed.
Whoa! Oh.
What the?
- You stepped in monkey.
- Is it?
It's like a patty.
Trippy, dude, rain forest.
- Whoa.
- You can do it, Zacky!
Come on, Zacky!
Come on, Zac!
Hey, guys, watch the roots, here.
It's kind of a little trap.
I feel like Jumanji.
"In the jungle you must wait
till someone rolls a five or eight."
This is the chuchuhuasi tree.
For hundreds of years,
locals have used the pulp
scraped from under the bark
because it boasts,
among other benefits,
relief from arthritis pain
and from back pain.
There we go.
There's our Ziploc bag.
Look at that.
See the different phases?
He stopped because he was going deeper.
That super red,
that's where the medicine is.
And it's got these interesting compounds
that help reduce inflammation,
but then also stop
the conduction of pain at the same time.
Chew it a little bit.
It's really bitter.
That's the tannins you taste.
Super sharp.
Mmm.
That's medicine.
- Tastes super medicinal.
- Feel that power? That's a bark.
Some serious power in that.
Whoa.
So next stop, Zacarino,
Wasai blood-builder.
- Where?
- Wasai.
- Here. So it's the same genus as acai.
- Wasai?
Whoa, gnarly mosquitoes.
This is where you find snakes too.
They love to live in there.
You gotta boil this a lot
and then, at the end,
they take a red hot piece of iron,
they throw it in the boiling water,
and it extracts
the rest of the medicine out.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Smells like dirt.
I've heard of some
of these plants before.
But I'm amazed at what this rain forest
has to offer.
He really is at home here.
So sangre de grado.
Sangre o-gado.
San-jay de grado.
Sangre de grado.
I feel like you make
"L"s where your "R"s need to be.
This I'm excited to show you.
So, watch this.
Whoa!
See that that bleeding?
So, this is a super resin.
Cuts, burns, scrapes
- Lesions.
- You don't eat it?
No. Well, you can eat it.
Wow, I wish I had this
when I typically have lesions.
I never know what to put on my lesions.
Yeah.
Look at these little ant protectors.
Yeah, they don't want you messing
with their tree.
The molecule's so complex that
they have to harvest it from the plant.
They can't synthesize it.
You use this on your face?
Yeah, absolutely. It interacts
with the collagen of the skin
and helps to heal and recreate
the collagen in the skin again.
So neat this is out here.
I don't know
why it isn't more used.
Ow,. I just got bit.
Fire ants.
Fire ants. Ah!
They're biting me
through my pants.
We've ducked into this shelter
to meet Doña Lisia
as she prepares bataua milk,
made from palm fruits.
When I first tried this,
I climbed this tree,
they told me
I could bring that fruit down.
I came back, delivered it,
they made this drink,
and I just couldn't believe
we were drinking this out in the forest.
- Ho-ho!
- It was just amazing.
- That's a duck.
- Yeah. Some bataua, duck?
- How do you say it?
- Bataua.
Bataua.
It's fun to say.
It's interesting that human milk
has a lot less protein than cow's milk.
And so this is actually, nutritionally,
is very similar to human milk.
So instead of us eating cow's milk
that doesn't really
- Can't digest it.
- equate
to our digestive system,
the ratios are off.
Man, I'm excited for this.
And where was this gathered at?
In the forest.
Someone climbed yesterday.
It's really good.
Milky
forest power, right there.
Tarek has a way to make it better:
add coffee.
- Oh, man.
- God, that's good.
- Oh, wow.
- Let me get a taste.
That's so money.
- Man, you That's unreal.
- Come on. Wow!
It tastes It's better than almond milk,
it's better than
- Yeah. Any milk.
- That's what I think.
There's definitely a flavor profile.
- It's, like, nutty.
- Yeah.
Traditional tree-climbing
is extremely dangerous.
Without a safe way to climb tall palms,
some locals have resorted
to simply chopping them down
in order to harvest the fruit.
In an effort to reduce
destructive harvesting,
Tarek invented a harness device
that allows the person
to safely climb the tree
and easily gather the precious fruit
at the top,
all while leaving the tree unharmed.
Doña Lisia took
one of our first courses here.
And she climbed.
- Oh, really? Wow.
- So, you guys,
the bar is high.
Doña Lisia was climbing up and down.
Mmm.
Gracias.
You're gonna be
right on the palm.
But where's the safety rope?
- Seriously, is there a safety rope?
- The safety rope
that was a special-order item.
Yeah, this is
a one-size-fits-all harness.
Money.
- You nice and snug in there?
- Pretty snug, yeah.
'Cause that's really important.
- OK? Auto-lock the carabiner.
- Auto-lock.
This guy's got a funny smile on his face.
Yeah, I see you.
You see him? He's like, "Oh, man."
He's like, "Tarek's doing it again."
OK, just for a second,
stand up straight.
Yeah, see what I mean?
Whoa-ho-ho!
- Yeah, pull that under you. There you go.
- Oh, man!
There you go.
- You're on the bottom one, right?
- Oh, man.
- I'm on the bottom.
- Or on the top?
Oh, man.
I got, like, two inches off that.
You went up more than
you thought you did on that one.
Yeah, go a little bit higher.
Move this one up and just kind of
loosen it from here.
There you go.
OK, now, you can lean back.
- Like this?
- Yeah.
All right. How far, like, three more?
See you guys in an hour.
Oh Whoa, that was
Zac, is it high up there?
I can't hear you.
What?
- We got it.
- Yeah.
After a while,
I started to catch on.
Get all your weight off.
Lift your knee.
Yeah,
you're really getting the hang of it.
Yeah!
Woo!
- Very impressive.
- Coming down's gonna be
a lot easier.
Thanks for coming to the Amazon.
Big effort.
Thanks for showing us around.
- That was a pretty unreal day.
- All right.
All right, man. And we'll see you soon.
- See you.
- See you, brother.
Today, we're going to explore
another ancient tradition here.
Ayahuasca is quite possibly
the most notorious
and misunderstood plant
in the Amazon jungle.
A cooked mixture of the vines
and leaves creates a powerful,
vision-inducing hallucinogenic
that takes you on a journey,
which can last up to ten to 12 hours.
With a proper facility
and when administered by a trained shaman,
guests can experience
biographical memories from the past
and have a true spiritual awakening
into the future.
- Zac.
- Nice to meet you.
Hey, pleasure.
This is the founder
of the Ayahuasca Foundation,
Carlos.
What made you come here and start
this center right next to this village?
Uh I was in a bad way.
I was a heroin addict,
I was pretty much spiraling down.
I woke up one night,
in my car, under water, having driven
Blacked out behind the wheel
and driven it into a river.
And that was kind of my wake-up moment,
where I was, like,
"I gotta do something, or I could die."
And, um luckily I came down,
drank Ayahuasca
five times with a shaman
and never did heroin again.
But not only that, like,
realized the roots of why
I wanted to do heroin.
You know,
what the traumas in my life had been
and was able to bring them
to the surface and resolve them.
And it was just, like, incredible.
The shaman said, you know,
you have the potential to be a healer,
and this is your path.
And, if you want, you can come down
and live with me and I'll teach you.
And, my experiences after that
were so profound, like
it sounds crazy,
but I had spirits saying,
like, "Yes. This is what you should do."
And so I just said,
"I'm gonna do it."
Epic!
- I'm glad you're here, man. Thank you.
- Thanks.
How long ago was that?
That was 15 years ago.
Two thousand January, 2004.
I moved down,
I lived with the shaman in his house,
in this, like, dirt floor hut
with him and his family
- Whoa.
- for four years.
No running water.
And I just learned the tradition.
Ayahuasca tourism is a huge thing.
People come from all over the world
to get special rain forest treatments
from camps in the Amazon jungle,
like this one.
This is the ceremony space.
It's called a maloka.
That's beautiful.
It's such a blessing to have found
this place and to work with these guys.
The people that we work with
are just incredible.
Not everyone comes here
for the Ayahuasca ceremony.
There are other plant-based,
non-psychoactive treatments
that can be administered also.
Ayahuasca gets so much attention,
but you can't just heal everything
with Ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca is an important component.
You could say it's the emotional-
psychological-spiritual component,
but there is physical reality to sickness.
- For sure.
- And that needs treatment too.
And so what I'd like to show you guys
is some of the treatments that we use,
and they're very powerful treatments.
And those plants are just as important
in the tradition.
That's why I wanna show you
some of them
and maybe you can experience
some yourself.
- Awesome, how do we do that?
- Let's go down here.
This is what we call our "cooking hut."
Or our "vapor bath hut."
- Looks like a medieval
- Yeah, right? The stocks.
Well, we've got a pot
that's got seven plants boiling in there.
And all of those plants have
a specific property.
Who showed you the specific combo?
Was it the shaman?
- Yes. Yeah. Right.
- Cool.
This is, like, a general healing.
So you put these seven plants in,
some of them for protection,
some of them increase your circulation,
some of them purify your blood,
some of them open your spirit,
like the Ayahuasca leaves.
So by combining them all
you get this full package.
- They're rolling right now.
- Yep, they're rolling.
So we've got them boiling,
so that they get a really good steam
- Wow.
- And then,
you guys are gonna sit in that steam
as long as you can,
and then the shaman will come
and do a little treatment that
To close in the healing.
- You up for it?
- Yeah, are we just jumping in?
Yeah, let me get the shaman.
All treatments are administered
by a curandero, or guide.
The ceremonies and procedures
are passed down
from generation to generation,
through shaman like him.
This is Don Miguel.
And I got something super cool
for you lined up outside.
- Nice.
- Smoke bath.
Cool. Let's do it.
Smoke bath. Smoke me out.
The first step is a shower to cleanse
the body and open the pores.
- Feet up?
- Yeah.
Like that? OK.
- See you in an hour, Zac.
- What?
Do I have a safe word?
The safe word is "ocelot."
How long am I supposed to be
under this thing?
This is called Palo Santo.
It's the wood of a tree.
We burn it, make it into a smoke,
and you're gonna take a bath with it.
Oh, yeah.
Sort of warm on the niblets.
The last step is a smoke bath,
from a sacred tobacco,
to cleanse the spirit.
It's powerful stuff, right?
- Big time.
- Yeah.
Especially when you feel you have
a dark cloud over you or something.
This helps to relieve that.
Um
How was the vapor bath?
- Yeah, really cool.
- Yeah, cool.
Awesome.
So this is a Kushma.
This is what the curandero wears
in ceremonies
That was
an unforgettable experience.
From the superfoods with Tarek
to the spiritual healing plants
with Carlos,
I feel like
I've just scratched the surface
of why this amazing jungle
needs to be protected.
Now it's time to head downriver
and back to the bustling city of Iquitos.
Hi, Darin. This is Mom calling.
I just saw on the news
We had to evacuate.
Our whole neighborhood is destroyed.
Darin, it's Tony. Uh Please call me.
Hey. It's, uh Eliza.
I'm so sorry that this has happened.
I'm really, um
I can't stop thinking about
you and, um
what you must be feeling.
This is so sad.
Just know I'm here
and I am just thinking of you.
I talked to my ex-wife.
- Really? What'd she say?
- Yeah.
- Said she's just supporting and
- Good.
I mean, she lived with me on the place,
so she was heartbroken too. So
That's hard luck, man.
Got a message from Laird
and it's like, he shot some pictures
and, like, it's just black.
Who could've imagined
our last destination
would be overshadowed by such tragic news?
As Darin put it,
at least it was just stuff.
His dog was kenneled
and nobody he knew was hurt.
I can't imagine
what Darin's feeling right now.
We offered to cancel the rest of the shoot
and head home early.
But Darin insisted there's nothing
we could do to change the situation,
so we're pressing forward.
- Well
- Best way to travel: tuk-tuk.
Tuk-tuk.
They call it in India "rickshaw."
- We're not in India, Darin.
- We're not.
- No.
- Where are we?
We're in a tuk-tuk.
Sometimes the best thing you can do
for a friend is just sit and listen.
Everything I have is with me right now,
in suitcases and.
Surreal.
And in some weird way,
I'm glad I'm on this mission
and I'm glad I'm doing this
because it's purposeful
and it's not so helpless,
of just seeing your house burn.
And, you know,
the thing that pisses me off,
now that I've been sitting with it
a little bit?
How it's in our face
that the planet is changing.
It's in our face
and it's burning our houses down.
It's not about having an argument
about global warming necessarily,
but the truth of the matter is,
our planet's different.
We're on the river today,
these guys who are living on the Amazon,
literally are saying,
"In the last few years,
so many things are radically different."
- Our planet being affected by us
- Yeah.
living an unsustainable way
is affecting people's lives.
And now, it's directly affected mine.
It's just.
It's just, uh brutal,
and I don't even know how to process it.
You know what I need?
I need a distraction.
Yeah. Yeah.
Darin chose this restaurant
because his friend Tarek
supplies much of the produce.
Including Darin's favorite:
camu camu juice.
- Beautiful.
- It has a lot of C vitamins.
- Cheers.
- Cheers, brother.
- To new beginnings, apparently.
- Thank you.
- It's still pretty good.
- It's so good.
Oh, this looks amazing.
- This is ceviche.
- Oh.
But this ceviche is made
with palm heart.
Yes, there's a little
And the juice is made of camu camu.
- Beautiful.
- This has lemon, onion, and corn.
- All right.
- Bon appétit.
- Whoa. Beautiful.
- Yeah.
Muy bien.
To see these chefs
integrating this rain forest,
wonderful fruit that we just saw
and we're eating it in this beautiful
presentation, is pretty amazing.
Delicious.
There's something special
on the menu,
and everybody wants me to try it.
Are we Are we eating, uh grubs?
I think at some point, maybe.
- Excuse me?
- There are grubs.
- This is to share.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is our suri.
Oh Aye, aye, aye, aye.
I love the suri.
- You love it?
- I don't.
- Yeah, it's delicious.
- It's delicious, right?
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna do it.
You have to try this.
What do they turn into
- If they were to not be cooked?
- These are like beetles.
Beetles.
This is suri
or "grubs," that are very popular in Peru.
You don't have to eat it.
I've already made the choice,
I'm just lingering.
I hope it has sauce on it.
It's all you, dude.
It's sticky.
Yeah, it's s slimy worm guts.
Yeah.
Excuse me, this is the suri.
- Oh, come on.
- Look at that.
- What the hell?
- How does it move like that.
It's greasy, like butter.
Oh, yeah, it's like butter
just moving around.
Oh! Oh!
Stay on there, little guy.
- Do some people eat it alive?
- Yeah.
Really? It's like a delicacy?
- Put him to rest.
- Do I have to eat them all?
- No.
- Excuse me.
- Jackie! Jackie!
- Yeah! Jackie!
- Go! Go!
- I want that little one, though.
Oh, my God.
She went for the tail.
- Mike, do you want heads or tails?
- I definitely need water now.
Oh, it actually tastes pretty good.
- It tastes like teriyaki.
- It's a little smoky.
It's the mental block of the texture.
Can I have some of that?
- The head is crispy.
- Tastes like teriyaki.
- It's way more juicy than I thought.
- Yeah.
It's all vegetables, man.
- They live in trees.
- You keep telling yourself that
Nah, they're, like, 100% vegetable.
as they're squirming around
in your stomach.
Something did pinch in my stomach,
and I'm wondering if it was the pincer.
Yeah, it was the last little ditch effort.
He's like, "I'm gonna get this guy."
We're gonna think he's dead
He's very happy. He's eaten a lot of them.
- I'll take that. Thank you.
- Ah, perfect.
Thanks, darling.
- Hola.
- Hey. Hola.
This is the Amazon Rescue Center,
a preserve dedicated to healing,
rehabilitating, and re-homing
creatures from the Amazon rain forest.
Their main focus of rescue is manatees.
- So we have two manatees here.
- Wow!
You can see it.
They have a good sense
It looks like a dog.
The manatees are
very important animals for the nature
- because they are eating these plants.
- What is that? What is it that they eat?
It's a water plant. It's called guama.
In places where they killed
too much of the animals,
the rivers are full of this plant.
There are too much right now.
These dedicated people
are working hard to return the balance
and educate the public.
We have given some gloves.
You need to hold his chin up
and feed with your right hand,
your strong hand.
And is that cow's milk?
- Um It's goat's milk
- Oh, OK.
because they're intolerant of lactose.
Oh, you're lactose intolerant?
Me too, buddy.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
So, humans are
their number one threat?
- Humans are their number one threat.
- Wow.
Manatees aren't the only animals
being held here at the Rescue Center.
There are many creatures that are harmed
and displaced due to mankind.
- Whoa! Look at that!
- Look at that thing.
- That's prehistoric.
- It's like a prehistorical turtle.
That's the weirdest turtle I've ever seen.
Yeah, they're also from the black market,
which they were selling illegally.
And the police brung him to us.
In three months, we set 50 of them free.
- Wow, 50?
- Amazing.
Fifty of them, yeah.
What's this little guy,
poking his head up?
- Oh-ho-ho-ho. Look at that.
- What's up?
We have three otters here.
They're enemies with the fishermen
because they're very intelligent.
They like to hunt this species
for their fur.
They kill their mothers
and they hold the little ones like pets.
Oh, man.
- Are they endangered because of that?
- Uh Yes.
It must be rewarding to work here.
And frustrating,
as they constantly battle
against the ravages of poaching,
deforestation,
and all of the other man-made problems
that are destroying the rain forest.
It's so important that the people
around the world
know that,
in the Amazon, exist this species.
The manatee, it's important to take care.
- Absolutely.
- Very valuable part of the ecosystem.
- Yeah.
- You guys are doing amazing work.
This is really amazing. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for visiting us
and to tell our story.
- Thanks so much.
- Thank you.
- See you guys. Chao.
- Chao.
All right. See you.
Gracias. Thank you.
This entire project has been
an amazing journey.
Unfortunately, it's come to an end.
Heading to the airport
for our flight home
we're finally able to process
the incredibly eye-opening experience.
This journey we're on,
I'm really excited that we've done this
and I'm also
just, deeply
heart-wrenchingly impacted by
everything we've seen.
It's almost maddening.
The more you learn,
the more you realize how
vulnerable
this planet is.
And every step we take,
we should be conscious of.
- Yeah.
- You know?
We don't understand our massive impact
on the world.
Hell, we were in Puerto Rico, dude.
They're no different than I am now.
These people just got
their whacked out.
We're all just as exposed to
anything happening at any moment.
Now, me personally losing my house,
I'm gonna go down swinging,
trying to move the needle on this planet
to help the human family
and to help Mother Earth
that clearly is showing us
what the is wrong.
I agree.
It's crazy to think about
how all of this started.
I reached out to Darin
because I appreciated what he had to say.
I had no idea how far
that curiosity would take me.
You have all these people that follow you.
And you said very clearly to me,
which impacted me straight in my heart,
and it was, like,
"I wanna use it for something good."
That was the moment I was like,
"Oh, man,
like, we can actually do something,"
'cause it's, like
it's just so
It's so intense.
And we see all this,
I mean, you look around and
so many people don't have much and..
And it's it's just gutting.
When people actually open their eyes
and see the world beyond the United States
and beyond their little communities
I'm just
I don't know why, it's
I feel you, man.
I've taken so many trips, you know,
and I just go and experience culture
and I don't
take pictures or anything,
but, like,
there is something that you learn
that's a product of seeing
and meeting people,
that you could explain if you did bring
a camera and did film something,
there would be a story to tell.
So it's nice to have
Shout-out to our crew. Everybody here
- Oh, my God.
- So amazing,
like, going into the trenches with us.
- Getting dirty, getting sick, coughing
- Yeah, fighting through it.
Scratching,
fighting through jungles,
sweating their off,
having no sleep.
Like, these guys and girls are awesome.
- Heroes.
- They've become family and
Yeah, we were pretty lucky on this trip.
The more we learn
and the more stuff we see,
the more questions are asked.
And I feel like there's endless doorways
that have shown themselves to us.
It seems like the more we, kind of,
excavate, the more comes out to play.
I am so fired up to, like,
take it way beyond what we've even done.
Absolutely.
Well, it'll be great to see
the needle move in some capacity.
Or, at least, foster some attention.
We out here. It's crazy. We're all here.
- Yeah.
- And we gotta take care of this place.
We gotta live happy, be healthy,
take care of the planet.
This has been the adventure
of a lifetime.
I can't help but take these experiences
with me everywhere I go, from here on out.
I can't look at a bottle of water
or flip on the light switch
like I used to.
When I see a concrete wall,
I want it to be a green wall.
When I see an empty roof,
I wanna cover it with solar panels.
I suddenly stop
and want to know everything I can
about every bite of food I'm going to eat.
What is it, really?
Where did it come from?
Who grew it?
Are they treated well?
Are they happy?
It's overwhelming.
But I have to do it.
Our time here is short.
Even if we live to be 100 years old,
it all goes by so fast.
I want to make a difference
in whatever time I have.
It's a nice world we've got here.
Let's make it last.
Oh, my God.
Ughhh Argh!
Oh, my God.
Although considered repulsive
and taboo by most societies
Feet up.
human cannibalism
still remains a common practice
in a few parts of the world.
Like that. OK.
Cannibalism motives
vary from ritual to survival,
for conquest
- or even for purely gourmet reasons.
- What?
Do I have a safe word?
I do not.
OK.
Luckily, this episode
has nothing to do with cannibalism.
Wait, does does it?
It doesn't. I swear.
Yeah.
In fact, this journey
has nothing to do with meat of any kind.
Safe word is "ocelot."
We're in the heart
of the Amazon River,
heading deep into the jungle
to study plants.
This rain forest is bursting with plants
and trees
that provide nutrition, medicine
This is something you're gonna
take if you feel back pain, joint pain.
and even spiritual powers.
And Darin has never felt more at home.
Camu camu!
Woo-hoo!
- I have no idea what they're bringing.
- Big old thing of moving food.
- Maybe I'll try a little meat
- You definitely don't have to.
of some sort.
No, I have to.
- Traveled all the way out here for this.
- This is like your first kill, Zac.
Mmm.
This is Iquitos.
Let me start at the beginning.
A few years ago, I met Darin.
- Can't feel my feet or my hands.
- Proud of you, bro.
Yeah.
He's a guru of healthy living
and superfoods.
Yeah, it's great. Thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
You could say he wrote the book
on the subject. Literally.
A healthy lifestyle,
solid principles.
Darin and I are traveling around the world
to find some new perspectives
on some very old problems.
That's Mother Earth, bro.
Searching for healthy, sustainable
living solutions for the planet
Wow!
and all who live on it.
Woo-hoo!
Ignore the crazy white guy.
And, hey you gotta eat, too, right?
You don't have to eat it.
- How does it move like that?
- Oh, my God.
It's time to get Down to Earth.
Trippy.
We're on the southeastern edge
of the fires.
Copy. That's us.
And it just might skirt the back
of these homes, and I don't know if
Broken. Can you repeat?
4218 South 290 Street. 11:32.
Living in Southern California
means dealing with fires.
Even so, of course it's weighing heavy
on Darin's mind.
But he believes so strongly in this cause
that he wants to continue.
- Marker!
- So that's what we're gonna do.
We've arrived in Iquitos,
a city in Peru on the banks
of the Amazon River.
We're here to meet a good friend
of Darin's,
who's been working
over the last 20 years
to conserve wild palm trees
in South American jungles.
I'm excited for you
to meet my buddy Tarek.
He's a PhD ecologist,
he's worked in this area in the Amazon
for over 30 years.
We're gonna head down to a small village
and finally hit some medicinal plants
and show you around.
Darin's wanted to take me here
since we first met.
Iquitos is known as Peru's "Jungle City,"
and the gateway to the Amazon.
There's unlimited natural beauty here.
But there's also many dangers.
- It's, like, an hour boat ride.
- Is there crocodiles or alligators here?
- Uh No. Not here, on the Amazon.
- Piranhas?
- There's definitely piranhas. Yeah.
- Definitely piranhas.
So, swim at your own risk.
Phew.
- Tarek. Good to see you, brother.
- Darin. How's it going?
- Good to see you.
- Meet my buddy Zac.
- Nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
So we're gonna jump in the Amazon
a little bit and check out some plants.
We're gonna go up the Nanay River.
- Perfect.
- About an hour.
- We got enough for camping?
- Yeah. In case we get lost again.
What happens when you get lost?
You just camp on the side?
You just sit there and try to figure out
where you are for a while.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Yeah, 'cause when you're in a flooded area
and everything looks the same
Oh, yeah.
We've left any semblance
of civilization.
Here on the Amazon River, we're surrounded
by nature as far as the eye can see.
I can't believe this place exists.
It's just a trip.
Sixty thousand plus years
we've been using these plants.
And we are in the home
of the medicinal plants.
You're in sort of a goldmine out here.
Tarek's business
is buying fruit upriver from the locals,
bringing it to the processing plant,
and packaging it for sale in the city.
While the palm oil industry
is linked to deforestation
and an increase in greenhouse gas,
Tarek is fighting
to create a greater demand
for a lesser-known wild palm fruit
that are sustainably harvested
and provide a fair price
to the people who gather them.
We're coming up on an opportunity to pick
one of Darin's favorites from the Amazon.
These are all camu camu trees.
This is where it builds up the Vitamin C
and the natural antioxidants
because of the stress of being flooded,
defending itself
of living in this situation.
Ten of those fruits, Zac,
and you got 1,000 milligrams of C.
Whereas in processing,
you lose at least half of that.
This is it.
- There's a few.
- Whoa!
Whew!
I don't see any more.
We're rich. Beautiful.
Woo-hoo!
Camu camu!
- Woo-hoo!
- Ignore the crazy white guy.
This is like your first kill, Zac.
Mmm.
It's good.
Now try one of the green ones.
It'll be a lot more sour.
That's the highest vitamin C, is green.
- Really?
- Yeah.
'Cause it's not fully ripe yet
or something?
Yeah. And then it declines.
Whew!
- Yeah.
- That gets your attention.
Throw us a few camu.
I have a feeling
you're not gonna catch it.
Yeah.
It's too valuable.
- I'm right here. I can catch it.
- No. I don't trust your catch.
I played softball.
Get it high.
I got it.
Yeah!
That is way more sour
than I thought.
The next plant is uña de gato,
or "Cat's Claw."
It uses little hook-like horns
on its vines to climb up the tree
and thrives here in the rain forest.
OK, guys,
let's go see some uña de gato.
- We're gonna go knee-deep?
- Yeah, or thigh.
Whew!
Bye, shoes!
Whew!
Oh, that's cold and amazing.
Hey, Zac, whatever it takes, bro.
So there's no electric eels
in this section?
No, fortunately not.
No leeches?
Well, leeches would be fine.
Leeches are fine?
- Yeah, leeches would be
- Leeches suck.
- This one's foaming.
- There you go. Get it.
Uña de gato has been used
for centuries
to treat ailments like arthritis,
dysentery, fevers, inflammation,
and stomach ulcers.
And while cat's claw has a long history
of medicinal use,
there's been very little research
conducted on humans.
This small village is Mishana,
our home for the night.
Hola. Hey, guys.
- How are you? Good?
- Good.
Most of this jungle is uncharted.
But Tarek's been exploring
and mapping it for years.
And he's giving us a rundown
of where we're headed.
Whoa! Oh.
What the?
- You stepped in monkey.
- Is it?
It's like a patty.
Trippy, dude, rain forest.
- Whoa.
- You can do it, Zacky!
Come on, Zacky!
Come on, Zac!
Hey, guys, watch the roots, here.
It's kind of a little trap.
I feel like Jumanji.
"In the jungle you must wait
till someone rolls a five or eight."
This is the chuchuhuasi tree.
For hundreds of years,
locals have used the pulp
scraped from under the bark
because it boasts,
among other benefits,
relief from arthritis pain
and from back pain.
There we go.
There's our Ziploc bag.
Look at that.
See the different phases?
He stopped because he was going deeper.
That super red,
that's where the medicine is.
And it's got these interesting compounds
that help reduce inflammation,
but then also stop
the conduction of pain at the same time.
Chew it a little bit.
It's really bitter.
That's the tannins you taste.
Super sharp.
Mmm.
That's medicine.
- Tastes super medicinal.
- Feel that power? That's a bark.
Some serious power in that.
Whoa.
So next stop, Zacarino,
Wasai blood-builder.
- Where?
- Wasai.
- Here. So it's the same genus as acai.
- Wasai?
Whoa, gnarly mosquitoes.
This is where you find snakes too.
They love to live in there.
You gotta boil this a lot
and then, at the end,
they take a red hot piece of iron,
they throw it in the boiling water,
and it extracts
the rest of the medicine out.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Smells like dirt.
I've heard of some
of these plants before.
But I'm amazed at what this rain forest
has to offer.
He really is at home here.
So sangre de grado.
Sangre o-gado.
San-jay de grado.
Sangre de grado.
I feel like you make
"L"s where your "R"s need to be.
This I'm excited to show you.
So, watch this.
Whoa!
See that that bleeding?
So, this is a super resin.
Cuts, burns, scrapes
- Lesions.
- You don't eat it?
No. Well, you can eat it.
Wow, I wish I had this
when I typically have lesions.
I never know what to put on my lesions.
Yeah.
Look at these little ant protectors.
Yeah, they don't want you messing
with their tree.
The molecule's so complex that
they have to harvest it from the plant.
They can't synthesize it.
You use this on your face?
Yeah, absolutely. It interacts
with the collagen of the skin
and helps to heal and recreate
the collagen in the skin again.
So neat this is out here.
I don't know
why it isn't more used.
Ow,. I just got bit.
Fire ants.
Fire ants. Ah!
They're biting me
through my pants.
We've ducked into this shelter
to meet Doña Lisia
as she prepares bataua milk,
made from palm fruits.
When I first tried this,
I climbed this tree,
they told me
I could bring that fruit down.
I came back, delivered it,
they made this drink,
and I just couldn't believe
we were drinking this out in the forest.
- Ho-ho!
- It was just amazing.
- That's a duck.
- Yeah. Some bataua, duck?
- How do you say it?
- Bataua.
Bataua.
It's fun to say.
It's interesting that human milk
has a lot less protein than cow's milk.
And so this is actually, nutritionally,
is very similar to human milk.
So instead of us eating cow's milk
that doesn't really
- Can't digest it.
- equate
to our digestive system,
the ratios are off.
Man, I'm excited for this.
And where was this gathered at?
In the forest.
Someone climbed yesterday.
It's really good.
Milky
forest power, right there.
Tarek has a way to make it better:
add coffee.
- Oh, man.
- God, that's good.
- Oh, wow.
- Let me get a taste.
That's so money.
- Man, you That's unreal.
- Come on. Wow!
It tastes It's better than almond milk,
it's better than
- Yeah. Any milk.
- That's what I think.
There's definitely a flavor profile.
- It's, like, nutty.
- Yeah.
Traditional tree-climbing
is extremely dangerous.
Without a safe way to climb tall palms,
some locals have resorted
to simply chopping them down
in order to harvest the fruit.
In an effort to reduce
destructive harvesting,
Tarek invented a harness device
that allows the person
to safely climb the tree
and easily gather the precious fruit
at the top,
all while leaving the tree unharmed.
Doña Lisia took
one of our first courses here.
And she climbed.
- Oh, really? Wow.
- So, you guys,
the bar is high.
Doña Lisia was climbing up and down.
Mmm.
Gracias.
You're gonna be
right on the palm.
But where's the safety rope?
- Seriously, is there a safety rope?
- The safety rope
that was a special-order item.
Yeah, this is
a one-size-fits-all harness.
Money.
- You nice and snug in there?
- Pretty snug, yeah.
'Cause that's really important.
- OK? Auto-lock the carabiner.
- Auto-lock.
This guy's got a funny smile on his face.
Yeah, I see you.
You see him? He's like, "Oh, man."
He's like, "Tarek's doing it again."
OK, just for a second,
stand up straight.
Yeah, see what I mean?
Whoa-ho-ho!
- Yeah, pull that under you. There you go.
- Oh, man!
There you go.
- You're on the bottom one, right?
- Oh, man.
- I'm on the bottom.
- Or on the top?
Oh, man.
I got, like, two inches off that.
You went up more than
you thought you did on that one.
Yeah, go a little bit higher.
Move this one up and just kind of
loosen it from here.
There you go.
OK, now, you can lean back.
- Like this?
- Yeah.
All right. How far, like, three more?
See you guys in an hour.
Oh Whoa, that was
Zac, is it high up there?
I can't hear you.
What?
- We got it.
- Yeah.
After a while,
I started to catch on.
Get all your weight off.
Lift your knee.
Yeah,
you're really getting the hang of it.
Yeah!
Woo!
- Very impressive.
- Coming down's gonna be
a lot easier.
Thanks for coming to the Amazon.
Big effort.
Thanks for showing us around.
- That was a pretty unreal day.
- All right.
All right, man. And we'll see you soon.
- See you.
- See you, brother.
Today, we're going to explore
another ancient tradition here.
Ayahuasca is quite possibly
the most notorious
and misunderstood plant
in the Amazon jungle.
A cooked mixture of the vines
and leaves creates a powerful,
vision-inducing hallucinogenic
that takes you on a journey,
which can last up to ten to 12 hours.
With a proper facility
and when administered by a trained shaman,
guests can experience
biographical memories from the past
and have a true spiritual awakening
into the future.
- Zac.
- Nice to meet you.
Hey, pleasure.
This is the founder
of the Ayahuasca Foundation,
Carlos.
What made you come here and start
this center right next to this village?
Uh I was in a bad way.
I was a heroin addict,
I was pretty much spiraling down.
I woke up one night,
in my car, under water, having driven
Blacked out behind the wheel
and driven it into a river.
And that was kind of my wake-up moment,
where I was, like,
"I gotta do something, or I could die."
And, um luckily I came down,
drank Ayahuasca
five times with a shaman
and never did heroin again.
But not only that, like,
realized the roots of why
I wanted to do heroin.
You know,
what the traumas in my life had been
and was able to bring them
to the surface and resolve them.
And it was just, like, incredible.
The shaman said, you know,
you have the potential to be a healer,
and this is your path.
And, if you want, you can come down
and live with me and I'll teach you.
And, my experiences after that
were so profound, like
it sounds crazy,
but I had spirits saying,
like, "Yes. This is what you should do."
And so I just said,
"I'm gonna do it."
Epic!
- I'm glad you're here, man. Thank you.
- Thanks.
How long ago was that?
That was 15 years ago.
Two thousand January, 2004.
I moved down,
I lived with the shaman in his house,
in this, like, dirt floor hut
with him and his family
- Whoa.
- for four years.
No running water.
And I just learned the tradition.
Ayahuasca tourism is a huge thing.
People come from all over the world
to get special rain forest treatments
from camps in the Amazon jungle,
like this one.
This is the ceremony space.
It's called a maloka.
That's beautiful.
It's such a blessing to have found
this place and to work with these guys.
The people that we work with
are just incredible.
Not everyone comes here
for the Ayahuasca ceremony.
There are other plant-based,
non-psychoactive treatments
that can be administered also.
Ayahuasca gets so much attention,
but you can't just heal everything
with Ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca is an important component.
You could say it's the emotional-
psychological-spiritual component,
but there is physical reality to sickness.
- For sure.
- And that needs treatment too.
And so what I'd like to show you guys
is some of the treatments that we use,
and they're very powerful treatments.
And those plants are just as important
in the tradition.
That's why I wanna show you
some of them
and maybe you can experience
some yourself.
- Awesome, how do we do that?
- Let's go down here.
This is what we call our "cooking hut."
Or our "vapor bath hut."
- Looks like a medieval
- Yeah, right? The stocks.
Well, we've got a pot
that's got seven plants boiling in there.
And all of those plants have
a specific property.
Who showed you the specific combo?
Was it the shaman?
- Yes. Yeah. Right.
- Cool.
This is, like, a general healing.
So you put these seven plants in,
some of them for protection,
some of them increase your circulation,
some of them purify your blood,
some of them open your spirit,
like the Ayahuasca leaves.
So by combining them all
you get this full package.
- They're rolling right now.
- Yep, they're rolling.
So we've got them boiling,
so that they get a really good steam
- Wow.
- And then,
you guys are gonna sit in that steam
as long as you can,
and then the shaman will come
and do a little treatment that
To close in the healing.
- You up for it?
- Yeah, are we just jumping in?
Yeah, let me get the shaman.
All treatments are administered
by a curandero, or guide.
The ceremonies and procedures
are passed down
from generation to generation,
through shaman like him.
This is Don Miguel.
And I got something super cool
for you lined up outside.
- Nice.
- Smoke bath.
Cool. Let's do it.
Smoke bath. Smoke me out.
The first step is a shower to cleanse
the body and open the pores.
- Feet up?
- Yeah.
Like that? OK.
- See you in an hour, Zac.
- What?
Do I have a safe word?
The safe word is "ocelot."
How long am I supposed to be
under this thing?
This is called Palo Santo.
It's the wood of a tree.
We burn it, make it into a smoke,
and you're gonna take a bath with it.
Oh, yeah.
Sort of warm on the niblets.
The last step is a smoke bath,
from a sacred tobacco,
to cleanse the spirit.
It's powerful stuff, right?
- Big time.
- Yeah.
Especially when you feel you have
a dark cloud over you or something.
This helps to relieve that.
Um
How was the vapor bath?
- Yeah, really cool.
- Yeah, cool.
Awesome.
So this is a Kushma.
This is what the curandero wears
in ceremonies
That was
an unforgettable experience.
From the superfoods with Tarek
to the spiritual healing plants
with Carlos,
I feel like
I've just scratched the surface
of why this amazing jungle
needs to be protected.
Now it's time to head downriver
and back to the bustling city of Iquitos.
Hi, Darin. This is Mom calling.
I just saw on the news
We had to evacuate.
Our whole neighborhood is destroyed.
Darin, it's Tony. Uh Please call me.
Hey. It's, uh Eliza.
I'm so sorry that this has happened.
I'm really, um
I can't stop thinking about
you and, um
what you must be feeling.
This is so sad.
Just know I'm here
and I am just thinking of you.
I talked to my ex-wife.
- Really? What'd she say?
- Yeah.
- Said she's just supporting and
- Good.
I mean, she lived with me on the place,
so she was heartbroken too. So
That's hard luck, man.
Got a message from Laird
and it's like, he shot some pictures
and, like, it's just black.
Who could've imagined
our last destination
would be overshadowed by such tragic news?
As Darin put it,
at least it was just stuff.
His dog was kenneled
and nobody he knew was hurt.
I can't imagine
what Darin's feeling right now.
We offered to cancel the rest of the shoot
and head home early.
But Darin insisted there's nothing
we could do to change the situation,
so we're pressing forward.
- Well
- Best way to travel: tuk-tuk.
Tuk-tuk.
They call it in India "rickshaw."
- We're not in India, Darin.
- We're not.
- No.
- Where are we?
We're in a tuk-tuk.
Sometimes the best thing you can do
for a friend is just sit and listen.
Everything I have is with me right now,
in suitcases and.
Surreal.
And in some weird way,
I'm glad I'm on this mission
and I'm glad I'm doing this
because it's purposeful
and it's not so helpless,
of just seeing your house burn.
And, you know,
the thing that pisses me off,
now that I've been sitting with it
a little bit?
How it's in our face
that the planet is changing.
It's in our face
and it's burning our houses down.
It's not about having an argument
about global warming necessarily,
but the truth of the matter is,
our planet's different.
We're on the river today,
these guys who are living on the Amazon,
literally are saying,
"In the last few years,
so many things are radically different."
- Our planet being affected by us
- Yeah.
living an unsustainable way
is affecting people's lives.
And now, it's directly affected mine.
It's just.
It's just, uh brutal,
and I don't even know how to process it.
You know what I need?
I need a distraction.
Yeah. Yeah.
Darin chose this restaurant
because his friend Tarek
supplies much of the produce.
Including Darin's favorite:
camu camu juice.
- Beautiful.
- It has a lot of C vitamins.
- Cheers.
- Cheers, brother.
- To new beginnings, apparently.
- Thank you.
- It's still pretty good.
- It's so good.
Oh, this looks amazing.
- This is ceviche.
- Oh.
But this ceviche is made
with palm heart.
Yes, there's a little
And the juice is made of camu camu.
- Beautiful.
- This has lemon, onion, and corn.
- All right.
- Bon appétit.
- Whoa. Beautiful.
- Yeah.
Muy bien.
To see these chefs
integrating this rain forest,
wonderful fruit that we just saw
and we're eating it in this beautiful
presentation, is pretty amazing.
Delicious.
There's something special
on the menu,
and everybody wants me to try it.
Are we Are we eating, uh grubs?
I think at some point, maybe.
- Excuse me?
- There are grubs.
- This is to share.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is our suri.
Oh Aye, aye, aye, aye.
I love the suri.
- You love it?
- I don't.
- Yeah, it's delicious.
- It's delicious, right?
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna do it.
You have to try this.
What do they turn into
- If they were to not be cooked?
- These are like beetles.
Beetles.
This is suri
or "grubs," that are very popular in Peru.
You don't have to eat it.
I've already made the choice,
I'm just lingering.
I hope it has sauce on it.
It's all you, dude.
It's sticky.
Yeah, it's s slimy worm guts.
Yeah.
Excuse me, this is the suri.
- Oh, come on.
- Look at that.
- What the hell?
- How does it move like that.
It's greasy, like butter.
Oh, yeah, it's like butter
just moving around.
Oh! Oh!
Stay on there, little guy.
- Do some people eat it alive?
- Yeah.
Really? It's like a delicacy?
- Put him to rest.
- Do I have to eat them all?
- No.
- Excuse me.
- Jackie! Jackie!
- Yeah! Jackie!
- Go! Go!
- I want that little one, though.
Oh, my God.
She went for the tail.
- Mike, do you want heads or tails?
- I definitely need water now.
Oh, it actually tastes pretty good.
- It tastes like teriyaki.
- It's a little smoky.
It's the mental block of the texture.
Can I have some of that?
- The head is crispy.
- Tastes like teriyaki.
- It's way more juicy than I thought.
- Yeah.
It's all vegetables, man.
- They live in trees.
- You keep telling yourself that
Nah, they're, like, 100% vegetable.
as they're squirming around
in your stomach.
Something did pinch in my stomach,
and I'm wondering if it was the pincer.
Yeah, it was the last little ditch effort.
He's like, "I'm gonna get this guy."
We're gonna think he's dead
He's very happy. He's eaten a lot of them.
- I'll take that. Thank you.
- Ah, perfect.
Thanks, darling.
- Hola.
- Hey. Hola.
This is the Amazon Rescue Center,
a preserve dedicated to healing,
rehabilitating, and re-homing
creatures from the Amazon rain forest.
Their main focus of rescue is manatees.
- So we have two manatees here.
- Wow!
You can see it.
They have a good sense
It looks like a dog.
The manatees are
very important animals for the nature
- because they are eating these plants.
- What is that? What is it that they eat?
It's a water plant. It's called guama.
In places where they killed
too much of the animals,
the rivers are full of this plant.
There are too much right now.
These dedicated people
are working hard to return the balance
and educate the public.
We have given some gloves.
You need to hold his chin up
and feed with your right hand,
your strong hand.
And is that cow's milk?
- Um It's goat's milk
- Oh, OK.
because they're intolerant of lactose.
Oh, you're lactose intolerant?
Me too, buddy.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
So, humans are
their number one threat?
- Humans are their number one threat.
- Wow.
Manatees aren't the only animals
being held here at the Rescue Center.
There are many creatures that are harmed
and displaced due to mankind.
- Whoa! Look at that!
- Look at that thing.
- That's prehistoric.
- It's like a prehistorical turtle.
That's the weirdest turtle I've ever seen.
Yeah, they're also from the black market,
which they were selling illegally.
And the police brung him to us.
In three months, we set 50 of them free.
- Wow, 50?
- Amazing.
Fifty of them, yeah.
What's this little guy,
poking his head up?
- Oh-ho-ho-ho. Look at that.
- What's up?
We have three otters here.
They're enemies with the fishermen
because they're very intelligent.
They like to hunt this species
for their fur.
They kill their mothers
and they hold the little ones like pets.
Oh, man.
- Are they endangered because of that?
- Uh Yes.
It must be rewarding to work here.
And frustrating,
as they constantly battle
against the ravages of poaching,
deforestation,
and all of the other man-made problems
that are destroying the rain forest.
It's so important that the people
around the world
know that,
in the Amazon, exist this species.
The manatee, it's important to take care.
- Absolutely.
- Very valuable part of the ecosystem.
- Yeah.
- You guys are doing amazing work.
This is really amazing. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for visiting us
and to tell our story.
- Thanks so much.
- Thank you.
- See you guys. Chao.
- Chao.
All right. See you.
Gracias. Thank you.
This entire project has been
an amazing journey.
Unfortunately, it's come to an end.
Heading to the airport
for our flight home
we're finally able to process
the incredibly eye-opening experience.
This journey we're on,
I'm really excited that we've done this
and I'm also
just, deeply
heart-wrenchingly impacted by
everything we've seen.
It's almost maddening.
The more you learn,
the more you realize how
vulnerable
this planet is.
And every step we take,
we should be conscious of.
- Yeah.
- You know?
We don't understand our massive impact
on the world.
Hell, we were in Puerto Rico, dude.
They're no different than I am now.
These people just got
their whacked out.
We're all just as exposed to
anything happening at any moment.
Now, me personally losing my house,
I'm gonna go down swinging,
trying to move the needle on this planet
to help the human family
and to help Mother Earth
that clearly is showing us
what the is wrong.
I agree.
It's crazy to think about
how all of this started.
I reached out to Darin
because I appreciated what he had to say.
I had no idea how far
that curiosity would take me.
You have all these people that follow you.
And you said very clearly to me,
which impacted me straight in my heart,
and it was, like,
"I wanna use it for something good."
That was the moment I was like,
"Oh, man,
like, we can actually do something,"
'cause it's, like
it's just so
It's so intense.
And we see all this,
I mean, you look around and
so many people don't have much and..
And it's it's just gutting.
When people actually open their eyes
and see the world beyond the United States
and beyond their little communities
I'm just
I don't know why, it's
I feel you, man.
I've taken so many trips, you know,
and I just go and experience culture
and I don't
take pictures or anything,
but, like,
there is something that you learn
that's a product of seeing
and meeting people,
that you could explain if you did bring
a camera and did film something,
there would be a story to tell.
So it's nice to have
Shout-out to our crew. Everybody here
- Oh, my God.
- So amazing,
like, going into the trenches with us.
- Getting dirty, getting sick, coughing
- Yeah, fighting through it.
Scratching,
fighting through jungles,
sweating their off,
having no sleep.
Like, these guys and girls are awesome.
- Heroes.
- They've become family and
Yeah, we were pretty lucky on this trip.
The more we learn
and the more stuff we see,
the more questions are asked.
And I feel like there's endless doorways
that have shown themselves to us.
It seems like the more we, kind of,
excavate, the more comes out to play.
I am so fired up to, like,
take it way beyond what we've even done.
Absolutely.
Well, it'll be great to see
the needle move in some capacity.
Or, at least, foster some attention.
We out here. It's crazy. We're all here.
- Yeah.
- And we gotta take care of this place.
We gotta live happy, be healthy,
take care of the planet.
This has been the adventure
of a lifetime.
I can't help but take these experiences
with me everywhere I go, from here on out.
I can't look at a bottle of water
or flip on the light switch
like I used to.
When I see a concrete wall,
I want it to be a green wall.
When I see an empty roof,
I wanna cover it with solar panels.
I suddenly stop
and want to know everything I can
about every bite of food I'm going to eat.
What is it, really?
Where did it come from?
Who grew it?
Are they treated well?
Are they happy?
It's overwhelming.
But I have to do it.
Our time here is short.
Even if we live to be 100 years old,
it all goes by so fast.
I want to make a difference
in whatever time I have.
It's a nice world we've got here.
Let's make it last.
Oh, my God.
Ughhh Argh!
Oh, my God.