Primal Survivor (2016) s08e06 Episode Script

1
(dramatic music)
Look at this place.
Especially look at that up there.
They're not clouds, but that's fog.
It's coming in from the Pacific.
I'm getting close to the ocean.
I've been following the sun west, west,
west, until it finally comes to an end.
(bird screeches)
Still have to get down there.
It gets steep quick.
I know it doesn't look like
the best way down, but
the other ways down look impossible.
(grunting, continuous)
(crumbling)
(grunts)
(coughs, grunts)
Okay. Here we go.
Slippery.
The things that kill you out here,
freezing to death, dying of thirst,
hunger,
and injuring yourself.
I've gone far too far for far too
long to screw things up now.
I'm Hazen Audel. Wilderness explorer.
My epic Andes expedition
has taken me all the way from
the Atlantic rainforests of Argentina
and across the high Andes
to the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Now I'm on the final leg of my adventure.
A tough journey north, up the perilous
Pacific Coast,
over mighty sand dunes,
high cliffs, and rocky peninsulas.
My destination at the western
edge of the continent;
lying on the Tropic of Capricorn, the
southernmost latitude of the sun's path,
is iconic Mount Moreno.
In just a few days, it's going
to be the winter solstice,
the shortest day of the year.
The Incas called this pivotal date
on their calendars the Inti Raymi,
after their sun god.
It marks the symbolic death at dusk
and rebirth at dawn of the sun
and the beginning of a new year.
I've worked for a month to cross the
Andes to be able to see this for myself.
I still have a very intense push
to be able to make it in time.
My descent was thirsty work,
and fresh water is super scarce here.
I need to improvise.
This cactus right here
is called Copiapoa cinerea.
I love plants, and it's one of
the reasons why I'm still here.
There we go.
It's a little bit
of a tricky business.
Right here.
It is a very bitter source of water.
It's the only water that's
around here in some places.
I can't live off of this. This might
get me through for a few days,
but eventually
I'm going to need real water,
because you keep drinking
the moisture out of this cactus,
the toxins are just going to build up and
you're going to wind up killing yourself.
It's just enough hydration
to keep me going, for now.
(dramatic music)
And, finally, I've reached
the Pacific Ocean.
It doesn't get any more west
than this right here.
It would be impossible to describe
how much work it took to get here.
I'm just gonna let it soak in a bit.
It's a moment worth savoring.
But I still have a long ways to go.
I have to head north up the coast.
And finding the best route to Moreno
Mountain will require local knowledge.
I'm searching for the Chango, a community
descended from hunter-gatherer nomads
who have been inhabiting South America's
west coast for over 10,000 years.
They're going to be the ones that can
teach me some of the ancient skills
I'll need to complete my journey
up this rugged coastline.
It is not easy getting through all this.
The battered oceanfront is dotted
with towering boulder fields
caused by millions of years of
winds, waves, and coastal storms.
Just one of the many challenges
I face along this coastline.
I pick up a trail as the
boulder fields turn to sand.
(dogs barking)
No.
Hey. No.
(barking continues)
Hey. No.
These are feral dogs, making it clear
I'm in their territory and I am a threat.
The big one, that one doesn't like
me. Looks like it wants to bite.
Pack mentality can turn nasty fast.
Hey! You guys stop. (Audel growls)
(VO) I need to stay calm
(growls)
(VO) and assert my dominance.
Yeah. (grunts)
A little rock throw
does wonders sometimes.
It worked. Cool. They were getting a
little bit too angry for my taste. Okay.
Moving on. Seems like they've left now.
Packs often roam on
the outskirts of settlements,
but are also able to scavenge
and hunt and kill on their own.
But out here right now, there's
no sign of other human life.
There's a little lizard right there.
It's called an Atacama Pacific iguana.
Here you go. There you go. Hi, how
are you? So you're nice and calm.
I want you to show off your color.
Look at that. Look at those cool stripes.
During breeding season,
they do push-ups.
Not really to impress the ladies
but to intimidate the other males.
But sometimes, if the other male
feels like it's strong enough,
then it's like a push-up contest.
Sometimes it winds up being a
tail-slapping and a biting mess,
and then, of course,
the most powerful male gets to take
over that other male's territory
and also probably gets the
females as well. That's the end game.
Oh, there he goes. (laughs)
Following the coast,
I'm faced with an obstacle while
continuing my journey north.
Just seems to go on and on.
This coastline boasts some of
the world's highest sand dunes,
rising up to 2,000 feet, and
as steep as sand can stack.
This one drops straight into the ocean.
Whew.
Since I can't go around,
I've got to go over.
I've climbed up this high, and
I'm trying not to lose any elevation.
For every step forward, it's two steps
back if you're not paying attention.
It's a grueling ascent.
It's one of those things,
you don't want to look down.
One misstep creates avalanches of sand,
making me climb and climb all over again.
If somebody did take a tumble, they'd
probably wind up in the ocean,
crashed against those rocks first.
I need solid ground.
I thought the rocks were just there.
It's deceptive. They're a lot farther than
they look. Sand just keeps collapsing.
I'm not moving anywhere.
The vibrations make all the sand
go at the same time.
One thousand feet up,
I finally reach rock.
It was worth the effort. The summit of the
dune provides the perfect vantage point.
There it is. It's got to be the Chango.
This has got to be one of their trails.
I can see a Chango village dead ahead.
I am hoping their expert
knowledge of this coastline
will help me find the fastest
route north to Mount Moreno
in time for the winter solstice.
¡Hola! How are you?
-YONI: Hello.
-Hello.
-Hello. How are you?
-What is your name?
-YONI: Yoni.
-HAZEN: I'm Hazen. Huh?
-Vitalio.
-HAZEN: Great.
Brothers Yoni, Vitalio,
and Claudio are Chango
and live in the small settlement I found.
So what these guys are doing
is they're collecting all this kelp.
Never seen anybody do
it before. What's this for?
-We're taking it to the market.
-HAZEN: Really? You sell this?
Yes.
Every day the brothers
head out to the water
and use 100-foot hooked lines
to haul out heavy clumps of kelp.
So you just use these?
-YONI: Sí.
-And you just (speaks Spanish)?
YONI:
Nice and strong.
That's it. (laughs)
Yeah. Pull, pull, pull.
Oh you missed it.
It's hard going.
But eventually I get the knack.
(men shouting)
YONI:
That's it. Don't let it get too tangled.
HAZEN:
Okay. Wow, that's good.
Wow.
-It's like an octopus.
-YONI: Sí.
HAZEN:
By only taking
what's been naturally torn from the
ocean's floor and brought to the surface,
the brothers ensure the kelp's
continued abundance,
vital for this ocean's ecosystem.
Some kelp can grow nearly 300 feet
and can grow close to three feet a day.
And so you can imagine an entire
underwater world of forest out there
that supports a huge abundance of life.
And what I love about this
is they're just harvesting the stuff that
was going to go to waste anyway.
Packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and
minerals, kelp is a superfood of the sea.
Selling it is an important part
of the the Chango's local economy.
-How many days does it dry for?
-Four days.
-HAZEN: Four days. Okay, bueno.
-Four days.
YONI:
This one's still wet and will need drying.
-HAZEN: Bueno, bueno.
-YONI: Sí.
HAZEN: With the kelp haul being over,
the brothers invite me to lunch.
But it looks like we're going
to have to catch it first.
YONI:
Let's now go and catch some sea urchins.
HAZEN:
Okay. Good. Sea urchins.
(speaks in Spanish)
Finding sea urchins is indeed a skill.
So with a bit of instruction
and basic equipment
These are the bags to put urchins in.
I'm ready for a bit of diving.
Here goes.
The water here is cold all year round,
and the tide is coming in.
So this is a time-sensitive endeavor.
They're down there. If you know
where to look, there's lots of them.
(tense music)
With such limited time, we
split up to cover more ground.
And finally I hit the motherlode.
Okay. And this is what
everybody's after. Whoo!
All three of those brothers are
busy getting in all this water (yelps)
for these right here.
See urchins are packed with protein,
fatty acids, and minerals.
And they are preyed upon by a
huge array of coastal sea mammals.
But for the Chango, they're
a prized spiky delicacy.
Got a pretty good haul.
But more waves are coming.
Whoo-hoo!
(grunts)
It's time to head back.
Here comes another one.
Hold on.
High tide means swimming back to shore.
-YONI: Hazen. Danger, danger!
-VITALIO: Let's go!
But I'm being followed.
(sea lions barking)
See all those sea lions there?
Fiercely territorial, male sea lions
can be unpredictable and aggressive.
We got to go over to the other side.
There's a lot of them.
They're coming out full force.
(sea lions barking)
They know that we're here collecting
sea urchins. They eat sea urchins too.
And, whew, they're very curious.
These heavyweight marine predators
can grow up to 10 feet
and weigh almost 800 pounds,
swimming at speeds
of up to 30 miles per hour.
You just have to stay calm
and keep your eye on them.
They're really mischievous and smart.
Sea lions are notoriously clever thieves,
and could easily snatch away
our hard-won bounty.
YONI:
Come this way. Let's go.
So the brothers and I
make a tactical retreat.
Mission complete.
And back on the beach,
two of the brothers' wives,
Jacqueline and Maria,
have prepared a fire.
-JACQUELINE: Cold?
-HAZEN: Yes, very cold.
(sighs)
We're all eager to try
the catch of the day.
Just crack open the shell there.
It's hard but you can get it
out. This is what you eat.
HAZEN:
Whoa!
Inside that little sac,
that is a parasitic crab
that's living inside
of each of these sea urchins.
Exploiting its host's spiky
exterior for protection,
the crab lives inside the anal sac of
the urchin, feeding off its fecal pellets.
-Don't swallow it, just chew it.
-(laughs) Okay. All right.
All right, just pop it right in. (laughs)
It's like all juicy inside
so that's what you want,
you just crunch it up, suck up all that
juice, and then you don't eat the rest.
-Ooh, whoo! Punchy.
-You just unwrap it like that
-There's another one.
-and it's ready.
And you just, yeah, well, they love
those little crabs that are inside.
It's like the little
surprise inside. (laughs)
And the delicacies keep coming.
This orange stuff is what
they're pulling out of the urchin,
which is actually
the reproductive organs.
So I should just try this?
-The orange stuff, como, just
-JACQUELINE: Sí.
Just kind of slurp it up?
Just try that like that.
-Mmm.
-It has a very special flavor.
Yeah. It kind of tastes like the
like the ocean took a big
poop in my mouth, actually.
It's very, very rich. Bueno, sí. Bueno.
(coughs) Very seafoody
but I think if you probably grew up
with this taste, you would really love it.
Bueno, gracias. (laughs)
What an adventure, I must say.
(indistinct conversation)
Seafood palate aside, the
Chango are incredible hosts.
I'm invited to rest up tonight in
preparation for my journey ahead.
I'm up and ready to leave early.
Yoni has offered me the use
of one of their old boats.
And a gift to speed up my journey.
-This is for my boat?
-Yes.
Bueno, okay.
It's the sail.
-Okay, the sail!
-Sí.
HAZEN: I'd better get a move on.
Thank you, Jonathan for everything.
(speaks Spanish)
-HAZEN: Bueno. Gracias.
-(speaks indistinctly)
-I may head back to you.
-Yeah, we'll be here.
Yeah, hopefully I can come back
and visit you guys once I'm all done.
Yeah, gracias.
-Okay, ciao.
-ALL: Ciao.
There are only a few days
until the winter solstice,
and the climax of
my South American adventure.
I'm still a long way from my goal.
Mount Moreno sits on
the Tropic of Capricorn,
the southernmost latitude
of the sun's path.
A special place to witness what the
Incans believe was the rebirth of the sun.
Getting there will not be easy,
but a boat will be more
direct than going by land.
There they are.
Just like they said.
It's a graveyard.
(grunts)
The Chango keep their
old boats for spare parts,
and Yoni told me
to salvage whatever I need.
Yeah, all kinds of stuff that
they either put here deliberately
or it just washes up, but let's
see what I can make work.
Lots of good rope.
Yeah, might be junk, but it's
somebody else's treasure.
It's got to be this one.
I have a feeling this is it.
It looks sturdy.
I have my boat and materials.
Now to construct a mast, because I
won't make real distance without a sail.
This is the material that they gave me.
Make this mast a little bit longer.
I hope it's strong enough.
Nice little trick is to get a little rock,
put it around right in here.
Do a little clove hitch,
and there we are with a way
to attach a sheet to a rope.
Nice. Good and strong.
Yeah.
They defining moment is moments away.
(grunts)
(adventurous music)
Yoni told me that afternoon
winds would take me north.
But it's still too early
in the day, so I have to row.
This weather and these conditions
can change just like that.
It's grueling work.
There's some waves up
ahead, I can see a break.
And I don't know
what this boat can take.
I've got to read the wind, see where
all these swells are taking me,
and read the current.
I got to pay attention to a lot of things,
because I'm not just going to be
able to muscle my way through this.
The ocean is choppy.
I would like to get out
of this open water.
I feel awfully exposed
being out here right now.
(tense music)
It's a big one.
Hopefully, once I just
get past this section,
I'll feel a lot better
about my current position.
With the sea getting calmer,
I can regain control.
Right now things are pretty stable.
Nothing that this boat and I can't handle.
The wind, which was
blowing against the tide,
making conditions choppy,
has now turned in my favor.
Like taking a horse for a ride.
-(VO) Time to saddle up.
-Got to grab it by the reins.
Finally, I'm making miles northbound.
Well, this is good. Okay.
This is what they call smooth sailing.
But after being bashed
around by the ocean,
my boat is steadily taking on water.
This boat does have some
leaks in it. So I've got to bail.
With the tide now going out,
there's no possible way I can
make it back to the mainland.
There's an island up there,
and if I can catch it,
might be the place where I'm going
to be spending the night tonight.
It's my best bet to give my
boat some attention,
and hopefully a place to find
food and shelter before dark.
I'll just try to get there.
I make it just in time.
At the bottom of my boat
is a big puddle of water.
I'll figure out repairs in the morning.
Right now, I've got other
priorities, like where to sleep.
Alright.
This is good, dry sand, and I've
got a big land mass over there,
so there's no waves
coming in this way.
And I have just limited
amounts of firewood.
The wind is going to just
waste all my firewood,
so I'm trying to be here
in a nice shelter.
After expending so much energy
on the ocean, it's time to find dinner.
In these kind of marine environments,
it's like the jungle with
critters all over the place.
You've got barnacles,
anemones, all kinds of snails.
I don't know. It's gonna get better.
I'm after lapa, a type of limpet
high in protein and calories.
But being so well adapted to
its wave-battered environment,
harvesting them isn't easy.
Things here have to stick
onto the rocks so good,
so that they don't get washed
away by these crashing waves.
There's no way you can get them off.
I'm going to employ an ingenious Chango
trick, and make sure I get what I need.
So this is called a sun star.
So it's not like the starfish with the
five legs. This has a whole bunch of them.
They're predators. See
those little tube feet right there?
Those tube feet are so powerful
they'll actually spread the clam open.
It inserts its stomach
into the body of that clam
and then it just basically
digests that clam.
And since I know this,
here's what you do.
You just place these right on top.
This right here, this is a limpet.
And you just wait for that thing
to pry it off the rocks.
There's some more limpets.
Here's another starfish.
I'll put this one
right on top of that one.
They just suction onto that
limpet right there
and just pull it right off
the rocks, with all those feet.
Boy, they really grip on, don't they?
Ahh, okay, there you go. Cool. Okay.
Ah!
Ah. All suctioned right on there.
Pry him off. Here you go.
Cooking my lapa will maximize
its nutritional value,
so again it's time to improvise.
I got to make a fire
spindle here real quick.
This is not going to be easy.
I'm going to create a makeshift
fire bow with whatever I can find.
I'm going to see if I can use parts
of the seashells to go with that.
Yeah, it'll take
some fine-tuning.
But I'm going to use this
for the bowstring.
Now just carve a little pie.
Muscle alone here will not make fire,
but understanding what I have
at hand will get me there.
Just a little bit of sand in there.
Instant friction.
It's getting there.
Good, good, good. Okay.
Little bit more sand, and we
are there. (grunts, continuous)
Yeah, have we got it? Have
we got it? Yeah. We got it.
Yeah. We got an ember.
Just let that keep growing.
There we go. Yay!
These suckers are done.
So it's got a bunch of guts, and
the guts do not taste good at all.
So get rid of those.
(hums)
It's really nice. (spits) I wish I could
have kept more sand out of it
but considering that I
got a bunch of them,
this is a really nice meal for tonight.
Yeah, not bad at all.
As I rest, I reflect and think
about all I've gone through,
and what it's taken me to get this far
on my expedition across the Andes.
Ooh. Yeah.
I first embarked on this journey
knowing that, at some point,
I'd have to have a cut-off date and that
was the Inti Raymi, the winter solstice.
And after months and months of traveling,
I'm tantalizingly close to
witnessing what the Incas saw
as the rebirth of the sun at Mount Moreno.
So I just am on my last
few days of an epic journey.
Huge. Not just a physical
journey, but an emotional journey
because I went through
so much, met so many people.
I've got to savor everything I can,
while I can, in these last few days.
My boat's got to hold together,
and I need to rely on all the
strength I still have left in me.
I'm up with the sun.
But I'm not alone.
Maybe he sees my smoke.
Hello!
Looks like somebody is coming for a visit.
-Hi.
-Hi, hi.
-What are you doing here, friend?
-I camped here, to get some rest.
Rulo is a local fisherman from a nearby
community out checking his nets.
RULO:
Where are you headed?
-I'm traveling north towards Mount Moreno.
-Mount Moreno?
-Yes.
-(VO) I'm in luck.
-Come fishing with me, out to sea.
-Oh yeah, sure.
-OK, yeah.
-Let's do it!
-One moment. Got to get my things.
-(speaks in Spanish)
Rulo says he's able to
drop me off at the mainland,
which is a much safer bet than
relying on my battered boat.
And he says there's some
work to do along the way.
-HAZEN: This one OK?
-That's good, friend.
-HAZEN: Great.
-Let's go!
HAZEN: With the boat that
I was trying to work with,
he said I probably wouldn't get there,
so he's going to help me out.
But before he does that, he wants
me to help him bring up all his nets.
(huffs)
They're stretching 50 feet down.
(grunts) There's one coming
Hauling them up is not an easy job.
-Hey! Hoo! It's a big one.
-RULO: Sí. (laughs)
-HAZEN: Whew! Look at this. Barracuda.
-RULO: Whew! Sí, era barracuda.
HAZEN: Wow. There we go. Look at
that, yeah. Be careful of those teeth.
Rulo's quick to show me some
of fishing's occupational hazards.
Really? One of these guys
is what took off your finger?
See that right there, little stumpy?
That's because of one of those.
But, yeah, no, thank you.
(both laugh)
All these fish, none of them are
defenseless. They've got
These right there are spines
that'll go right through you.
A lot of them are loaded with venom as
well, so you have to be very careful.
That would be a woozy.
(grunts)
Little ones like this, that can
grow up to be so much bigger,
are sent back into the sea.
Ah, this is a flounder.
As they get older, one of their eyes
migrates to the other side of their body
so they can see on the ocean
floor. It's like an eyeless fish.
Oh! There's another one
and it bit me. (laughs)
But a little pain is worth the payoff.
Nice little rockfish.
(grunts) It's a ratfish.
After a backbreaking morning's work
(Hazen grunts)
we've managed to bring in all the nets.
Time is getting on, and I need to
be heading back to the mainland.
But with the tide on the turn,
Rulo won't risk taking his
rowboat into the rocky coast.
His primary boat is moored on
the leeward side of the island.
But getting to it
is easier said than done.
There's all kinds of rocks in this little
bay here that you've got to watch out for,
or else you're going to hit one,
and then there's going to be a big
hole in the boat, and then we sink.
But he knows this place like the back
of his hand, so I'm in good hands.
Finally aboard, we pull the anchor,
and we're off for the
last push to the mainland.
(engine putters)
I am starting to see
that the end is in sight.
With Rulo's expert navigation,
we head toward the cove
nearest to Moreno Mountain.
Since we've been following this coastline,
he's been pointing out specific areas,
that little point there, there's a
little rock under the ocean there.
But closer to shore, the operation
becomes even more delicate.
-Ready, my friend?
-HAZEN: Okay.
With the tide coming in fast, there's a
danger of getting grounded on the rocks.
We're timing this just right,
right between the sets of waves.
He'll get close enough to these rocks,
I'll jump on here, and then
I'll follow this coastline.
I've got to hurry up
before the tide comes up.
(tense music)
Okay, here I go.
-Thank you, Rulo!
-OK, my friend, take care!
HAZEN:
Okay, I'm on my way.
I just follow this around,
follow the shoreline.
Go as fast as I can
because the tide is coming up.
As the water rises, I'm
forced to higher ground.
Each step reveals
more loose, slippery scree.
(groans)
Crashing waves conceal
jagged rocks beneath me.
(groans)
Falling from this height could be deadly.
No, no, no, no.
(dramatic music)
(grunts)
Finally, I've made it to the top.
(majestic music)
Just in time for the sunset.
Mount Moreno. If I walk all night long,
I should definitely be there by sunrise.
Tomorrow's sunrise marks
the start of a new solar cycle.
For the Incas, it was
the beginning of a new year.
And for me, it's the end of my
three-month-long Andean adventure.
But I'm not there yet.
It's cold, it's windy.
There's the moon.
I am making my way up here,
following this trail.
Making headway up this mountain
is proving harder than I expected.
It's steep.
I've got to stay focused.
I'm so close to my goal.
I'm going to keep plugging away,
this is one of the very big, last trudges.
The ancient Incas traveled to
mountain summits to worship,
enduring harsh conditions to show
their dedication to the sun god, Inti.
Now I'm following in their footsteps.
But it turns out I'm not alone.
As I'm getting closer, I can start
to hear some music, some drums.
(drum beating)
I've got company.
I can see silhouettes of other
people making it up this mountain.
It spurs me on.
(distant voices)
I'm excited.
And I reach the top, just in time.
I got here just within minutes
of the sun coming up.
I'm going to go say hi.
Members of indigenous Andean communities
have also undertaken a grueling trek
to take part in this special event.
This is why we're way up here in the cold,
in the wind, celebrating a new year.
There's the sun.
And this is the moment
we all have been waiting for.
For the Inca, and primal peoples
throughout history and today,
the sun is the source of all life.
After this sunrise, the days
will no longer shorten.
Every day will grow. So this
is a moment to celebrate.
I've been following the sun
every day to get myself this far.
I've been so dependent on it.
Some nights I've honestly felt
like I was freezing to death,
and just craving for that sun
to come up and save my life.
There have been days where I've
been cowering from it, all day long,
because it's just so relentless.
But, yeah, it's carried me this far.
But it's not just the sun. It's been all
the people that have helped me
that have taught me.
Those people have figured out how
to survive in these environments
as all these people are
carrying on their traditions
because it's the only way
to survive out here.
And to be able to cross the Andes,
I never would have thought, in my entire
life, I would have made it this far.
This is the most significant expedition
journey I've ever made in my entire life.
It's time to get off
this mountaintop, though.
I'm going to reconnect
with some of the Chango,
and there's some fishing to be done.
(meditative music plays)
It's the end of another chapter in
my journey as a primal survivor.
But this story isn't over.
Well, if life continues,
so does the adventure.