Primal Survivor (2016) s08e03 Episode Script

1
(grand music plays)
(Hazen grunts)
HAZEN: There's just so
much dirt falling down here. (sighs)
Almost make little handholds,
but they also fall apart.
(dramatic music)
I'm climbing into the foothills
of the mighty Andes mountains.
But, recent rains have made this
cliff face a treacherous ascent.
Pull myself up with these roots.
(crumbling)
Don't give way.
(grunting, groaning)
No. No. No. No. No!
(theme music playing)
(grunts) Not a good place to be.
Just a little ways further.
I can see the top.
(grunts)
Phew! All right!
(exhales)
Made some elevation gain on that one.
(grand music)
I'm Hazen Audel, wilderness explorer.
I'm almost half way through
my epic, solo adventure,
crossing the mighty Andes,
from east to west.
Journeying through some of the world's
most diverse and extreme ecosystems,
each with their own unique challenges.
This is a race against time.
Winter is coming.
Nights are
already getting frosty.
I must reach the freezing high peaks of
the Andes before the winter snow sets in.
And with it, any chance of
completing this epic adventure.
On this third leg, I start my long
climb, into the Andean Foothills,
and up through the impenetrable
Yungas Cloud Forest.
My goal is La Banda, a small
high altitude settlement,
home to members of a
unique indigenous group.
This place is almost an
impossible place to live,
but the people that do
live here are the Coya.
At this time of year,
the Coya perform the ancient ceremony
of Pachamama, or Mother Earth,
a ritual that dates back
to their Incan ancestors.
If I can get there in time, I
hope to witness this for myself.
As I climb deeper into the foothills,
I need to ensure I'm
heading in the right direction.
Using the sun as my guide, I'm navigating
my way through dense forests,
open plains, and a maze
of trails heading westward.
I've been watching that sun, and watching
where it comes up at, which is east.
The sun is not tracking across the sky
right above me. It's at a bit of an angle,
and coming down in the west at a little
bit of a different spot every day,
because the seasons are changing.
But, at least for right now, I do know
that that is west bound, so I'm on track.
(grand music)
Look at all these stones. This trail
that I'm on was built by the Incas,
one of the most sophisticated
civilizations in the world
during its time.
These walls date back to the Coya's
ancestors, in the 15th and 16th century.
The ancient Incan empire
spanned much of South America,
and devised the most efficient ways
to cross these rocky, mountainous slopes.
If you can get your people and supplies
from point A to point B,
weeks, maybe even months,
before anybody else, you are top dog,
and so if I'm not taking full
advantage of these passageways when I can,
I'd be an absolute fool.
There's a dead cow.
Ugh. Yeah, it's a dead
cow. (clears throat)
Gotta be upwind from this one.
(flies buzzing)
It may have fallen off one of
these cliffs, injured itself,
and you can tell the vultures
have been here already.
All of its guts have been taken out.
They're the most tender parts.
These foothills are also
home to the Andean condor,
the world's largest bird of prey.
There's one right there.
They're reliant on animals that perish
all through these mountains.
Pumas and Andean bears
are also part of the clean-up
crew that stalk these hillsides.
(growling)
I'll keep my eye out.
With my supplies dwindling,
I'm moving into a patch of forest
hidden within the mountain valleys.
Where there is water, there is life.
Oh, my gosh. Look at this.
I just happened to see it.
Right there.
Might be hard to see, 'cause it's sorta
camouflaged, right? Oop, there it is.
Now that it's not camouflaged anymore,
see what a beautiful green color this is
Oh, wow. What a beautiful frog!
That is a Carrizo tree frog.
It's green right now because it was
hanging out on a green leaf,
trying to be hidden.
But, if it stays on this brown branch
long enough it will turn brown.
If it's on one of these grey rocks, it
will turn grey, so they can change colors
depending on their environment in
which they wanna stay hidden in.
It looks like a very tropical animal.
In actuality, it is a
very cold loving tree frog.
It's a great little critter.
But you are a tree frog. I'm gonna
put you right back up into the trees.
Let's see if you
can go right in there.
(tense music)
In the cold air of higher altitudes,
the body burns through calories quickly.
So I'm on the lookout for
any opportunities for food
this valley can offer.
Are you seeing this?
This kind of clean, super oxygenated
water is perfect for trout.
There's a way of
catching fish, if you're good.
If you're in the right spot,
which, this is the perfect spot,
and you're good, which, I don't know,
I haven't done it since I was a kid,
but it's called fish tickling.
So, if you don't have a hook and line,
the fish, they just get freaked out
by seeing stuff from above,
but once you're in the water with them,
you can kinda move your fingers around,
and actually feel the fish and you can
actually cup the fish with your hand,
and if you're fast enough, you can get a
fish, by catching it with your hands.
So, what I gotta do,
since this is not the place to
be in wet clothes all day, is
you gotta put on your birthday suit.
It's gonna be cold.
Nothing on but a smile.
(tense music)
Whew!
Ooh, it's actually really cold.
This is melt water from the
glaciers, high in the mountains,
and it's only a few
degrees above freezing
I need to strike fast.
This ice-cold water will quickly seize
up my muscles, and slow my reactions.
(grunts) They're so slippery!
Oh, God. Just come on.
Ah! I had it! It was
so close. It just slipped.
-(VO): The trout here are all spooked.
-I was so close.
I've gotta find another spot.
But in or out of this water, there's
the danger of hyperthermia.
And then, things
could go downhill fast.
There's a big cave, right in here.
(grunts, laughs)
Yeah! Woo.
Yeah. Ah. Woo! This is a great spot!
Success. Despite the
freezing temperatures,
I'll work this promising
spot for as long as I can bear.
Yeah. Ah. Woo! Oh. I got cranking.
(grunts) They're slippery!
Great. Yeah?
These trout will provide
some much needed sustenance,
but I can already feel my body
succumbing to the icy water.
Whew!
I can't do it anymore. (screams)
One pretty good size one,
and then two little ones.
Yeah, that's good. I'm pretty happy.
Too cold. Ah, I gotta get moving now.
(shudders)
(dramatic music)
With dinner sorted, I continue
to push west, and up
If I'm gonna make it through these
foothills, to the mountains,
I'll need more help to
navigate than the sun alone.
There's a horse up there
(tense music)
It's tied up in no man's land.
Hello.
Hello.
-Hello, how are you?
-HAZEN: Good.
-Orlando.
-HAZEN: Orlando? Hazen.
HAZEN:
Do you live here in the mountains?
ORLANDO:
Yes, I have a settlement over to the west.
HAZEN:
Orlando is a Coya herdsman.
He's been hunting in the forest
and already has his catch.
-HAZEN: Ah, I see.
-ORLANDO: It's big.
HAZEN: It's a guan, a relative of the
pheasant, and found in abundance here.
I found him just as he's resetting a trap.
It's hunting techniques like this that
have kept Coya families fed
for countless generations.
You have a little hook, and
then, you put that trigger
-ORLANDO: I see.
-HAZEN: On that hook, just like that.
This is what they would,
they would tread on.
Just a little stick, just like that, and
you put right on the very edge of that.
(speaking in native language)
-HAZEN: Okay. Ooh! Okay.
-ORLANDO: Leave it over night.
-HAZEN: Ah, wow.
-ORLANDO: Bueno.
You really do look lost.
Not many people around here like you.
(both laugh)
-Where are you headed?
-I'm looking for a way west of here.
I tell Orlando about my hope of
joining a Coya celebration of Pachamama,
up in the high mountains,
and he said he can direct
me to the safest route up.
But it's getting late in the day,
so Orlando invites me to spend
the night at his family settlement.
(indistinct chatter)
-ORLANDO: This is my home.
-HAZEN: This is where you live? Oh.
(speaking in native language)
-I'm Gabriella.
-HAZEN: Gabriella, nice to meet you.
I'm Hazen.
-DAVID: David.
-HAZEN: David.
-ROMAN: Roman.
-HAZEN: Roman?
-Sí.
-HAZEN: Roman, mucho gusto.
-Rodrigo.
-Rodrigo. Bueno, bueno.
I've got here just in time.
Winter is coming, and Orlando and his
family will be leaving here tomorrow,
with their cattle, for lower
and warmer pastures.
The calves suffer much more.
You have to take them to a warmer place.
HAZEN: Before night falls, they
need to round up their cattle
in preparation for their onward journey.
(cows low)
And I'm invited to join in.
(horse breathes)
(adventurous music)
ORLANDO:
Let's go.
HAZEN: The cattle are scattered
over a vast area of grazing land.
Orlando and his family will
use their expert riding skills
to guide the cattle
into the safety of a corral.
Just gonna scan the landscape,
there's a couple up there.
(cows low)
Just slowly bringing 'em in.
Hee-yah!
Keep them all moving
in the right direction.
Yeah, this is quintessential
understanding group dynamics.
Nice. Nice.
We soon find out, though,
there's one last job to get done.
(cow lows)
Got one on the loose.
Come on. Get him. Go on get 'em.
Yah, yah!
Come on. Hup. Hup.
If this calf escapes,
it'll be left behind.
Yah!
And she won't survive the winter alone.
(whoops) Hee-yah!
Come on. Get him. Go on get 'em.
(tense music)
-Come on. Yah!
-HAZEN (VO): Orlando and I
-Manage to turn the calf around
-MAN: Orlando's got a few on one side.
HAZEN:
And push it back towards the herd.
Whoo-wee. Nice job.
A little bit of action.
Bueno, bueno. (laughs)
With the Coya cattle
safely in their corral,
it's back to the
ranch for some guan stew.
(soft music)
Thank you. It's very hot.
Smells great.
And, the trout from that icy stream.
The road you have
to travel, it's a difficult journey.
HAZEN: Orlando says
that he knows of a trail
that will lead me through the Cloud
Forest, and further into the high Andes.
ORLANDO: You have the altitude,
the weather, the cold.
Make sure you prepare in good time.
You know, get your shelter and fire ready.
HAZEN:
Yeah.
Because you could even get
hypothermia, that sort of thing.
(dramatic music)
HAZEN: With the freezing journey
ahead, and concerns for my safety,
Orlando's mother, Gabriella, has a
gift that she says I'm going to need.
I'm giving you this poncho for your trip.
HAZEN:
Seriously?
GABRIELLA: It will help with the cold
when you are in the mountains.
It is made from the
wool from our sheep here.
-HAZEN: Seriously? Like this?
-GABRIELLA: Sí.
Yeah.
(speaking in native language)
HAZEN: You are like my grandmother.
(all laugh)
(night sounds)
HAZEN: There's a lot of me that
just wants to keep staying here,
keep learning from these people,
but if I don't keep going westbound,
I'm gonna be in these
Andes entrapped by the snow,
and I won't be able to get out.
If this place is covered with snow,
I'm not going anywhere.
I'm truly chasing the sun.
It's a race against winter, right now.
(soft music)
It's an early morning, and before I
depart, Orlando has a special request.
ORLANDO: When you get to
the community in the mountains,
-please give them this.
-Of course!
This package contains a
traditional Coya food, called charqui.
It's thinly sliced beef,
that's covered in salt,
and then, dried in the
sun for at least five days.
In this part of the world, where they
don't have a postal service,
when you give a package like this,
it says that they had an exceptional year,
their animals are really healthy.
This is just to let you know that
we're doing really well. It says a lot.
-Yes, of course I'll take it.
-Great.
HAZEN: As Orlando prepares
for his winter migration south,
it's time for me to
get my move on west.
Okay.
-Goodbye, my friend.
-It's been a pleasure to meet you, Hazen.
(speaking in native language)
(dogs barking)
HAZEN: To reach the village of La Banda,
in time for their annual celebration,
I must first navigate
the Yungas Cloud Forest.
(dramatic music)
(wind blows)
5,000 square miles of dense,
dripping wet woodlands.
Warm water vapor from the South
Atlantic is blocked by the Andes,
and forced to rise to higher elevations,
where it cools and condenses to
form this heavy, moisture-laden mist.
(breathes laboriously)
Tell you what,
Cloud Forest is so dense.
(grunts)
You gotta get low to get places.
Whew!
Orlando warned me that getting lost in
the forest was an ever present danger.
To keep on track, I must look
out for an old Coya herding route.
Look at this. The Coya, they're
using this to transport their cattle.
They've been doing it
for hundreds of years.
This trail has been worn
down by feet and hooves.
This extensive network
of trails like this,
to get people, for miles and
miles, through the Andes.
These Coya paths are hard to follow
through the ever-growing forest,
so I pay attention, and
it pays off in other ways.
Walnut. These walnuts can be on
the ground and stay good to eat.
They are super hard shell.
There we go. (laughs) Hey, sweet.
So, they're, kinda, gooey
and gross on the outside.
But look, that is a perfect,
beautifully preserved, walnut.
And, like I said, the
mold doesn't get to it.
The bacteria doesn't get it, because
that hard shell just keeps all that flesh,
that nut, nicely preserved.
The flavor is definitely a lot more
pungent than your supermarket walnuts.
A little bit more bitter, but nuts are
so high in fat, so high in protein.
In preparation for a long journey ahead,
I can't miss this as an
opportunity to stock up.
Yeah, there's some good ones.
While some things on the forest floor
offer nourishment, some are deadly.
(tense music)
Oh. This is called
the Yungas red-bellied toad.
It's not a speed demon, by any means,
but it really doesn't have to move too
fast, because it's very poisonous.
Its skin almost looks like
they're covered with warts.
They're not warts, that's
just the texture of the skin.
But under those bumps, they're
just packed full of poison.
If this was to get bitten by
a creature with sharp teeth,
it will puncture one of those glands,
and the venom that's in those glands
goes right into the body of that predator,
and it's so poisonous that
it could kill that predator.
If I don't injure or puncture any of
the skin, I should be all right,
but it's definitely gonna be a good
idea for me to still wash my hands
before I make any meal
or anything like that.
Okay. I'm gonna let this toad
go, right where I found it.
(dramatic music)
As I continue skyward,
thick clouds move in.
My world is shrinking, and visibility is
barely more than a stone's throw.
(exhales)
Ooh, look at this.
So, the trail has
completely washed out.
A big landslide took this out.
Whoa
(rustling)
(tense music)
Yeah, it's
Everything is so steep that the ground
has a heard time sticking together.
When it starts raining a lot all this
soil gets heavier, it gets slippery,
and it just falls down.
To have any chance of
making it up to the high Andes,
I've gotta reach the
trail on the other side.
There are some precautions
that you should take.
Just sharpen up to
kinda dig into the ground.
Sometimes, these are just fine
to cross, sometimes they're not.
So, you just try to
read the soil. Okay. (grunts)
Whoa.
Landslides in cloud
forests are a real danger.
The wet environment makes the earth
slippery, saturated, and extra heavy.
(crumbling)
(dramatic music)
No. This is actually a little
bit sketchier than I thought.
Just trying to cut some steps
so I have a good foothold.
This slope could
drop for hundreds of feet.
If it decides to go, it's an avalanche
of loose rock and mud
that could carry me all
the way to the bottom
-Whoa.
-(VO) Or worse.
Ah. No. No. No. No.
(grunting)
(crumbling)
A river of rock. Very dangerous.
I lost so much ground. I just wanna
get up there, but it's too steep.
(grunting)
No. No. No. No. No.
Okay.
(grunts)
(sighs)
I got a little shredded in parts,
but from here on out, well,
this part looks good, anyway.
I'm back on the trail,
and a step closer to reaching
the Coya celebration of
Pachamama, in just two day's time.
(dramatic music)
From here, I'll continue my ascent
through the dense Cloud Forest.
Then, a steep mountain
climb up to 11,000 feet,
over the ridge line
and into the valley below,
where I should find the Coya village.
In a cloud forest, patches of sunlight
occasionally break through,
transforming inhospitable woodland
into something quite spectacular.
Look at the light right now.
You don't get this
very often, because, usually,
this whole place is
covered in mist and clouds,
but the sun has broken through,
and just shows all of this in glory.
But, right here, we're at
that certain elevation
where this whole forest is
being fed by the clouds.
It is magical. It won't last for long.
A special place and a special time.
Clear skies and good visibility
provide me with the perfect
opportunity to hunt out some dinner.
(grunts)
There are a little special crab
that lives high up in the Andes,
and there's a local way of getting them.
This plant, right here, is called clavija.
As I rip the leaves off, you
can see how spiny this thing is.
With this, I'm using another plant called
Spanish moss, and some earthworms.
And then, just, kinda, tangle them all
in there. It doesn't have to be neat,
'cause I put this mess
in there, just like so.
(underwater sound)
All those crabs
that are in there,
they'll start immediately
smelling that bait in there.
They start trying to get inside all
that mess, and they get all tangled.
It shouldn't take too
long for my strategy to work.
Now, let's see who's inside.
These little crabs, they're found in this
really cold Andean very clean water.
Ow, they have little pinchers.
But they're very strange.
They kinda look like a little lobster.
They are crazy looking crabs. There's one.
Here's one too. They pinch, but they
don't pinch too bad. I got plenty in here.
Okay.
It's been a long day. My priority
now is to find a good spot to camp.
Mm. That is too good of
an opportunity to pass up.
Yeah. Yeah. Dry.
This is great.
To build my shelter, first, I need
to figure out the right materials.
That's what I'm looking for.
That is seringuilla grass.
Okay. (grunts)
Whoa, man. Not a place where
you wanna drop off of.
The grass is very tough,
and if you get enough of it,
it acts like thatching on roof.
But, to harvest enough seringuilla grass
I need to work closer to the edge.
Oh. Ah!
(dramatic music)
Ah. You're wriggly!
Ah. Ooh. Ah. Oh.
You don't see
these very often. Ah!
You bite, too. Ah. Okay.
Got you. Got you. Got you.
It looks like a snake,
but this is a legless lizard.
The one reason why you can tell
that it's not a snake, it has eyelids.
Snakes don't have eyelids.
It has little teeny, tiny legs that
are pretty much worthless.
During its evolution,
these particular animals just
must have found out that legs
and arms will slow them down.
They're very, very fast.
Follow that tail, and then, right there,
see how it looks different.
At some point in this lizard's life,
it was probably being chased after, and
it basically, just ejected its tail off.
And when it does break off,
it still wriggles, it's like a lure.
And the great thing about these legless
lizards is when its tail breaks off,
it can just simply grow another one.
It's like a life-saving
decoy for this animal.
Go ahead. There you go.
Okay, back to cutting grass.
Whew! Sketchy.
With the night drawing in, and
the temperatures plummeting
Okay.
I need to finish up my shelter.
I've got half of my wall all blocked by
a big, giant boulder, which is great.
And then, the other half, I'm essentially
making a really big panel of shingles.
Whether it decides to rain
or not, it's gonna be cold.
So, this stuff is also
really good insulation.
There we go.
Whew. Now, I've just
got to make a frame.
I don't wanna make my shelter too big,
'cause it's just like a real life house.
The bigger house you have,
the harder it is to heat.
You come in here,
and you can see where I have just
a few spots where there's still light.
Those are spots where
heat is going to escape,
but I have lots and lots of
grass to close up those spots.
Now, for the hardest and
most important part of the job.
I've gotta make a fire in a place where
the air is thick with moisture.
I got some pieces here
to help me make my fire.
So far, on my South American journey,
I put together a basic fire starting kit,
which is a bow drill.
I'm just adding a little bit of grit to
it, and the sandstone is good for that.
The bow is a tool that gives
me more friction, so more heat.
(grunts) Whew.
(suspenseful music)
Ah. Yeah. It doesn't look
like much, but it is growing.
Getting smoke is the easy part
It's so wet here.
It's a flame that I need.
This is so challenging.
There we go! Okay.
Ah, finally! Finally. (exhales)
Stuff like that
just is a reminder,
just a simple thing of
not being able to get a fire,
that could mean the difference
between life and death.
Now we can get to cooking.
You see solid, solid, solid,
and then, that, right there.
That is just a hollow.
There's a big flake right here.
This place is gonna be
more than just shelter.
I've been noticing another feature
on this boulder that'll be quite handy.
(grunts)
(thuds)
Oh, yeah. There we go. Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on. Watch your toes.
There we go. Whew! Sweet.
It's a frying pan!
Okay, cool. Great.
Roasted crab and
walnut tonight. Sounds fancy.
They'll start to roast, just
like that, real nice and slow.
You don't wanna heat
up stone really fast,
because any moisture that's in that
rock has gotta go somewhere.
It leaves a steam, and sometimes,
you create explosions, basically,
rock shrapnel everywhere.
So, just go nice and slow.
The crabs that I
caught are in here.
Pretty small little critters,
but packed full of protein.
Kind of a dry roast.
With temperatures
now just above freezing,
I'm grateful for this
fire and nutritious meal.
Mm. Mm. Walnuts are nice raw,
but roasted just adds a
whole other dimension to them.
My little crabs here, even
though they came from a stream,
they turn red just like the
ocean crabs when they're done.
And, uh. Mm, crunchy. (laughs)
Ah. Weirdly enough, they taste
like they're from the ocean,
except I'm still very,
very far yet from the ocean.
(sizzle)
Tomorrow is the final arduous
push of this leg of my journey,
so I'll need all the rest I can get.
(gusting winds)
Morning, and I'm on the move.
I have to reach the
village of La Banda,
and the Pachamama ceremony before sunset.
I have the hardest part of
the journey still ahead of me:
a steep climb to a high high mountain
pass, at over 11,000 feet.
Okay. Good.
(gusting winds)
Finally free from the dense vegetation,
it's quicker to gain elevation,
but I've gotta take it slow.
(labored breathing)
(breathlessly) There's just no
oxygen. It's a crazy feeling.
At over 10,000 feet, there's 30%
less oxygen than at sea level.
Feeling headaches that are moving
from one part of your head to the next.
This thin air also
causes fatigue and dizziness.
(pants)
And extreme altitude sickness
can even lead to death.
(exhales)
(dramatic music)
(panting)
This high in elevation,
you just fill your lungs up,
but it's, doesn't feel like it's being
filled up with air, it's just
(exhales)
This is my first taste
of high Andes altitude.
Your heart's pumping, and it
makes you really lightheaded.
It's easy to get carried away
up here. I gotta pace myself.
(exhales)
With caution, I keep moving.
I need to get up and over this high pass
if I am to make it to La Banda by sunset.
And, if the altitude
wasn't making it hard enough,
out of nowhere, I'm
socked in with a whiteout.
(dramatic music)
Do you ever dream about what it might
be like to be in the middle of a cloud?
Well, this is it. Right here.
It's impossible to know
which direction I'm going.
You can't see where you're at.
No east, north, south, west.
Dizzy and disorienting.
(exhales)
This, combined with the lack of
oxygen, is a killer combination.
(coughs)
(exhales)
Finally, I'm over the high pass,
and headed down, into the
sun-drenched valley below.
Hey. I can see the trail from here.
The village is dead ahead.
Hopefully, I'm not too late.
Hello.
Are you relatives of Orlando?
-HUGO: Hey. Buena.
-HAZEN: You are?
-HUGO: Yes.
-HAZEN: Bueno.
-HAZEN: My name is Hazen.
-Hugo.
-HAZEN: Bueno, bueno.
-This is Eustaquia.
-HAZEN: How are you?
-Good afternoon. How are you?
Very good.
I have a gift for you from Orlando.
(speaking in native language)
-HUGO: Bueno.
-HAZEN: Sí, sí.
(grand music)
I've made it just in time.
The Pachamama ceremony is about to begin.
(singing in native language)
HAZEN: The villagers still
perform the sacred ritual,
in which offerings
are made to Mother Earth,
a ceremony that dates back to the Incas.
This is always done as a celebration
for a very good harvest.
HUGO:
(singing in native language)
We are going to offer the corn
that has been harvested here.
(singing in native language)
For this celebration, we're all facing
to the east, where the sun rises.
(singing in native language)
MAN:
Thank you, Pachamama. We offer you life.
HAZEN:
With winter on the way,
the Coya ask for protection to see them
through the harsh months to come.
HUGO:
(singing in native language)
HAZEN:
Something I, too, would be grateful for.
(song finishes)
(dramatic music)
My time in the Yungas is over.
Next time, I must journey
through the vast sun scorched plains
of Argentina's notorious salt flats.
This place is bright white,
for as far as I can see.
And, negotiate miles and miles
of maze like gorges and canyons.
(exhales)
Before undergoing a life
changing Andean rite of passage.
(gasping)