1 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:11,320 I'm on a huge journey. 2 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:13,760 I'm travelling the length of the Americas, 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,360 the two continents that, together, form more than a quarter 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,200 of Earth's land surface. 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:22,480 On this adventure, 6 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,880 I'm travelling down through South America. 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,240 We're in such a remote part of planet Earth. 8 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,840 It's a journey of more than 4,000 miles 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,320 through some of the world's greatest landscapes... 10 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,440 ..encountering spectacular wildlife. 11 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,080 The cat is on the move. 12 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,320 From its iconic cities 13 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,480 to the Andes Mountains, 14 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,840 it's a continent of dramatic extremes. 15 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:00,200 Down! 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,520 Along the way, I meet the inspiring... 17 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,040 Yolanda! Abrazamos? 18 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,560 ..and the surprising people... 19 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,080 These guys are Mennonites. 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,320 ..who make South America so extraordinary. 21 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:18,960 CHEERING 22 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,200 There's Wi-Fi here, 23 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,640 nowhere else for miles around, apparently. 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,200 We do our own thing. We're happy here, man. 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,040 WIND WHISTLES 26 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,960 Oh, it's epic! Look at this view! 27 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:01,400 So, down beneath me, and all around me, 28 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,840 is the driest desert on planet Earth, the Atacama. 29 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,240 To get a bit of perspective on this incredible landscape, 30 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,920 I've taken to the air, paragliding. 31 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,400 I was in Northern Chile, 32 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,040 starting the final leg of my journey down through South America. 33 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,520 Below me, the Atacama Desert 34 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:28,400 is 40,000 square miles of sand, red rock and arid mountains. 35 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,240 It's endlessly, pitilessly dry, 36 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,560 and also one of the oldest deserts on Earth, 37 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,120 arid for tens of millions of years. 38 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,160 Floating above it was as close as I'll get to paragliding on Mars. 39 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,040 It's the very particular conditions of the area here 40 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,320 that make the Atacama what it is. 41 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:55,520 The snow-capped Andes Mountains block rain coming from the east, 42 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,640 and the cold upwelling waters of the Pacific 43 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,960 conspire, really, to mean that, in some areas of the Atacama, 44 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,200 there is less than one millimetre of rainfall per year. 45 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:09,640 Wow! 46 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,160 Now we're just on the edge of the desert, right next to the sea, 47 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,560 and even here, there is a human settlement. 48 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,000 This is the industrial city of Iquique. 49 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:30,520 Yeah. 50 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:32,800 All right. 51 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:35,880 OK. 52 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,760 SIMON LAUGHS Sorry! Sorry! 53 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,080 Ah! Ah! That was pretty good, though... 54 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,120 ..except for following the final instructions. 55 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,600 Yes, you forgot. I forgot the final crucial bit. 56 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,280 Oh, that was astonishing. 57 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,800 It's nice to be back on solid ground, though. 58 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,440 It might seem bizarre there's a thriving modern city 59 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,320 plonked down here in such a remote 60 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,320 and extreme corner of planet Earth... 61 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,920 ..but they've been mining the desert here for centuries, 62 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,040 and Iquique is now a bit of a boom town. 63 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,360 Chile has been one of the great 64 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,000 South American economic success stories 65 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,600 in recent decades. 66 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,440 Average income levels here 67 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,480 aren't far off those in parts of Europe, 68 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,520 partly because Chile exports enormous quantities of copper. 69 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,640 They make a fortune from mining copper here, 70 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,040 but Chile's government has also made Iquique 71 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,320 one of the biggest tax-free ports in South America, 72 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,600 which means hundreds of firms import and export electronics, appliances, 73 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,360 toys, booze, and especially clothes. 74 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,840 I drove outside the city to the fringes of the desert. 75 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,360 This is a strange, barren area... 76 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:07,440 ..right underneath these looming cliffs. 77 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:18,160 Oh, my God! 78 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:27,120 I've just had one of those moments of awful realisation. 79 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,920 So, what I'm standing on... 80 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,400 ..is clothes. 81 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,800 Underneath my feet, underneath the ground over here, 82 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:43,000 there are tens of thousands of tonnes of clothes. 83 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,200 I was above what is basically a mountain of used, 84 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:48,840 discarded clothes. 85 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:50,880 Each year recently, here in Iquique, 86 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,680 it's thought an incredible 60,000 tonnes of clothing 87 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,840 have been dumped illegally. 88 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:58,400 The council have just bulldozed it all into the ground, 89 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,440 creating an enormous landfill. 90 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,480 You can see these layers and layers of clothing 91 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,680 coming out of the ground here. 92 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,840 A pair of trousers here. 93 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:20,160 It is mad that we create this clothing 94 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,920 and then so readily throw it away. 95 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,480 It takes more than three tonnes of water 96 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:30,920 to produce a pair of jeans... 97 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:33,760 ..and then, boom... 98 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:37,640 ..it's chucked. 99 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,280 Traders here import bales 100 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:41,520 of recycled clothes from Europe and the US. 101 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,400 They resell them across the continent, 102 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:45,960 and many clothes do find a new home, 103 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,800 but due to the explosion in so-called fast fashion, 104 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,680 there's now just so much - a tidal wave of cheap clothing - 105 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,920 that millions of pieces are dumped here, 106 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,680 showing perhaps how wasteful we've become. 107 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,400 Bloody hell! 108 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:02,440 This is a... 109 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,080 This is a... I almost can't believe it. 110 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,760 So, this is a 100% pure cashmere jacket. 111 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,320 This is madness. 112 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:15,600 This was something called Peterborough Row, 113 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,480 "Only at Bloomingdale's," 114 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,280 one of the finest stores in New York. 115 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:23,960 I'm just staggered. 116 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:26,640 Clothes with tags on. 117 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,760 These have come straight from stores. 118 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:32,600 Ah! 119 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:35,400 Gap. 120 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,680 It's not quite my size. 121 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,840 We're addicted to clothing trends and fast fashion. 122 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,680 In the UK, in 2019, 123 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,320 we spent a whopping £61 billion on new outfits - 124 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,280 the highest level in Europe. 125 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,240 Many clothes are worn just a few times and then chucked. 126 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,080 And there's an environmental cost. The clothing industry pollutes. 127 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,120 It's said to use a quarter of all the chemicals made on Earth. 128 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,000 This is really 129 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,800 the clothing industry's dirty secret. 130 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:13,480 This is where fast fashion and old favourites go to die. 131 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,400 In the UK now, we throw away something like 132 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,840 13 million items of clothing... 133 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:26,560 ..per week. 134 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,240 I think the clothing industry, globally, 135 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,520 it has got away almost under the radar, 136 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:40,360 environmentally, for far too long. 137 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,800 There's a focus on other industries, 138 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:47,400 but the clothing industry has an enormous ecological footprint. 139 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:55,160 It's responsible for about 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions. 140 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,960 That's as much as international flights 141 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,320 and shipping combined. 142 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,240 Just next to the dump and the sands of the Atacama Desert, 143 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,200 I found a new makeshift settlement that's sprung up from nothing. 144 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:15,280 This is a really basic little shanty area. 145 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:18,480 It's been chucked together at... 146 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,360 ..at relative speed by people with very little. 147 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,120 It's mostly migrants living out here in the dust and heat. 148 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,400 Many have made an extraordinary 3,000-mile journey 149 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:31,960 from Venezuela to the north, 150 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,000 where the collapsing economy, poverty and hunger 151 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,600 means almost a quarter of the population has fled. 152 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,080 It's one of the biggest migrations in the world, 153 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:44,360 a humanitarian crisis largely ignored outside this continent. 154 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,320 At different points on my journey down through South America, 155 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,720 we've seen the difficulties facing Venezuelan migrants 156 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,920 as they attempt to find safety, a job... 157 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:57,520 ..a home, a future. 158 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:03,720 But this is the furthest south that I've seen that they've travelled. 159 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:08,200 My God, they have been through hell, often, to get here. 160 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:12,240 Say hello. 161 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,440 I stopped off to meet some of the new arrivals - 162 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,440 a young couple who made the gruelling journey from Venezuela 163 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,320 with their two young daughters. 164 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,040 Hiya. Simon? Simon. This is Maria? 165 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:32,320 And you're...? Mayason. Mayason. Mayason? Mayason. 166 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,480 So, where have you come from, and why? 167 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:50,920 When you say the situation in Venezuela was complicated, 168 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,240 what do you mean? 169 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,680 What has been the worst bit of the journey to get here for you? 170 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:53,680 I can't imagine a situation where my partner and child, 171 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:56,200 they're on the road somewhere and you're, what, 172 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,400 getting phone calls saying what's happening 173 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,800 and you're trying to send money to them? 174 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,320 How was it for you? 175 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,920 I feel like we've just sort of landed in your world 176 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,480 at what looks like quite an important moment 177 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,160 because you're in the process, I am guessing, 178 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,720 of building and decorating your own shop. 179 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:50,960 Is that right? Is that what you've got the paint for? 180 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:00,720 This is a big moment. 181 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:06,240 This is you two properly building a future here. 182 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:35,080 Well, I thought they were fantastic, inspiring, and genuinely moving. 183 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,480 Thousands of miles from home, on the edge of the Atacama Desert, 184 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,120 this young couple were building a future for themselves 185 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,400 and their children, and that future starts with their little shop. 186 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:47,240 It's a small space... 187 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,080 ..but I reckon you two could do great things. 188 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,440 What would you like the outside world to know? 189 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,240 What would you say to other people in Chile and South America 190 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,040 and elsewhere in the world about your situation 191 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,160 and the situation of Venezuelans? 192 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:38,640 Millions of Venezuelans have now left the country 193 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,920 and they are travelling enormous distances across South America 194 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:48,200 to get to somewhere like Chile in the search for a better future, 195 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,760 an education for their children, a job. 196 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,280 Not all of them will end up somewhere like this, 197 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,880 but a lot of them will. 198 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,240 Right, I'm going to be one of the first customers, 199 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,160 and I would like a bottle of delicious orange juice 200 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,400 and maybe some Tuareg biscuits, which look pretty good. 201 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,560 Oh, man! A drink for the whole team. 202 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,280 Brilliant. OK. Gracias! 203 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:21,520 It's underway! The shop is happening! 204 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,800 He's a good businessman, as well. He didn't give me a small bottle. 205 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,360 Gracias! 206 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,640 Buena suerte! Igualmente. THEY LAUGH 207 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,560 I wish them all the luck in the world. 208 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,600 It was time to leave the Atacama 209 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:41,640 and continue my South American journey 210 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,440 heading ultimately to the bottom of the continent. 211 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,560 Chile is, of course, the longest, thinnest country in the world. 212 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,400 Move it over Europe and it would stretch 213 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,000 from the Arctic Circle to Southern Spain. 214 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,040 I crossed the border to Argentina and headed to the capital - 215 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,040 one of my favourite cities. 216 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,880 Buenos Aires was built on waves of European migration. 217 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,480 In the late 19th century, millions of Italians and Spaniards, 218 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,400 plus Germans, French, Poles, Russians, Scandis and Brits 219 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,000 came here seeking their fortune in the New World. 220 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,880 They poured out into the rich land of this, 221 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,960 the eighth largest country on the planet. 222 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,040 Now, Argentina is blessed with incredible natural resources, 223 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,400 and it's easy to forget now, but for many decades, 224 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,160 Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. 225 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,600 In the late 1800s, the GDP per capita here 226 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:47,880 exceeded that even of the United States. 227 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,480 There was an expression, "As rich as an Argentinian." 228 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,400 I'd arrived late and it was getting past my bedtime, 229 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:01,040 but my guide in Buenos Aires, Catalina Sarabi-Rouse, 230 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,320 took me across the city for a drink in a trendy area. 231 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:08,760 Where we're driving through now, I mean, it looks... Pretty. 232 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,000 It looks gorgeous. Yeah. 233 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,040 It looks like we're in an incredibly wealthy, 234 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:16,800 very European... 235 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,560 It is a very European city, famously. 236 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,480 It's a nice place, pretty place. It's pretty cool. 237 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:32,240 Culturally, intellectually, emotionally, 238 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:37,720 so much of this city keeps its connection with the Old World. 239 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:42,080 Yeah, and my family, my great-grandfather, 240 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:45,840 he was the first one to come to Argentina, and I'm 26, 241 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,160 so it's not that far away, for my family, 242 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,120 the first one to come... Right. ..in a boat. So, we all... 243 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:54,680 Whoever you talk to, they are going to tell you, 244 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:58,320 "Oh, yes, my grandfather was the first one to come to Argentina." 245 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,760 Even into the early 1900s, 246 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,000 this was among the top ten richest nations, 247 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,520 and then it all went wrong. 248 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,040 Like a punter in a casino who keeps betting badly, 249 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,000 for decades, Argentina lurched 250 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,640 from one economic disaster to another. 251 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:14,160 Over the last 100 years, 252 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,440 no other country in the world has suffered 253 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,080 such a steep economic decline, and the problems are still ongoing. 254 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,080 They impact millions, especially the young. 255 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,960 Cheers. Cheers! Thanks for bringing us here. 256 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,200 Tuesday night. It's quite cold. Still, there's people out. 257 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:32,840 Life goes on, doesn't it? 258 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,080 The thing is that it's not something that you can do that often. 259 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:37,320 That's how it works. 260 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,000 I'm 26 years old and I have to get three jobs. 261 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,840 I end up not being able to earn enough money 262 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:47,480 to face my day-to-day - 263 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,800 things I want to spend my money on, 264 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,400 pay your rent, pay your food, your insurance, your - 265 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,200 I don't know - your phone, whatever you need. 266 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,160 I gather that the economic problems here 267 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,720 disproportionately affect the young. 268 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,880 Hmm. Do you feel that? Do you see it? 269 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,400 I feel it in a way that 270 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,240 it's related with our hopes and our dreams. 271 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,280 I have lots of friends that they start deciding, 272 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:18,160 instead of working here and trying to make a career here, 273 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,280 they just go abroad because when they realise that 274 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,720 buying a house will be impossible, 275 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,920 renting a house or a small flat will be very hard, 276 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,000 and there are not so many opportunities, 277 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,080 they say, "OK, maybe if I go to Europe..." 278 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,080 They try different countries. 279 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:41,120 There's something deeply tragic, I feel, 280 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:46,200 about a country that was so built on immigration 281 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:50,040 now being such a potential source of emigration. 282 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,720 Yeah, I have lots of friends that they decided to just go 283 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,120 and try some luck, as we say here... Yeah. 284 00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:59,800 ..somewhere abroad because they realise that, 285 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,200 here, things are not that simple. 286 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,880 Here, why should I keep on trying if everything is so, so hard? 287 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,720 One survey of under-25s in Argentina 288 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,520 suggested seven out of ten of them want to leave the country 289 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,480 because, despite the glitz of Buenos Aires, 290 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,320 there is a massive cost-of-living crisis here. 291 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,200 Any country most youngsters want to leave 292 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,400 is clearly in dire straits. 293 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,720 The problems here can be pinned on decades of poor leadership, 294 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:39,200 economic mismanagement, bad luck, a self-serving elite, corruption, 295 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,880 and international money markets turning against the country. 296 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,640 And one aspect of the crisis impacts everyday life here 297 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:50,000 perhaps more than any other - crazy levels of inflation. 298 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,720 So, Catalina is taking me now to, I suppose, 299 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,440 the heart of the economic problems of the country. 300 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,520 Is that fair? Yeah. Where are we going? 301 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,560 We're here - the supermarket. Come on, let's go. 302 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,480 We've got problems with inflation, 303 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,600 but imagine what it's like for people here. 304 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,880 At one point, it was 1,000%, 305 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,200 and it was still 60% when I visited. 306 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:12,560 Well, milk. 307 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:17,600 Last week, this one - this milk - was 140. 308 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:22,080 One week ago. Seriously? Now it's 160. Exactly. 309 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,840 The price grows week to week. 310 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:29,680 If we take two, we are going to win some money this time. 311 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,760 Win some money? So, you're almost... 312 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,880 You're spreading your risk with that, aren't you? Exactly. 313 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:40,520 There is another way we find by saving, 314 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:42,520 and it's through toilet paper. 315 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,480 OK. I wasn't expecting that! Yeah. 316 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,880 Come with me. I'm going to show you. Over here. 317 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,760 I'm going to tell you what my mind is thinking. OK. OK? 318 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,960 I look at how long the toilet paper is. 319 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,840 Yeah, how many sheets per roll. Yes. Exactly. 320 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:05,280 What I think is, "OK, if I take four of these ones..." 321 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,920 Yeah. "..I will be able to handle them for - 322 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,280 "I don't know - maybe four months." 323 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:15,680 So, this way, when I come back four months from now... Yeah. 324 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,480 ..I will find this price 325 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,560 500 by then. 326 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,120 You think it could go up to 500 pesos, 327 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:26,480 but you've saved that increase over the next few months. Exactly. 328 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,680 Inflation means prices keep rising, 329 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,320 but usually wages don't keep pace, making everything really expensive. 330 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,000 But it's gone on so long here, 331 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,720 people lose track of what things are actually worth. 332 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,840 In the UK, those four packs of loo roll, 333 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,640 based on our average salaries, would be £60. 334 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:43,920 Oh, wow! Look! 335 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:45,720 CATALINA LAUGHS Buenisimo! 336 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,880 There's quite a lot of value in that, isn't there? 337 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,760 So, if you can fill your house with toilet paper... I definitely would. 338 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,440 This is gold. 339 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:54,880 # Ah! # 340 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,000 Big business and the wealthy elite here 341 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,440 insulate themselves from the economic problems. 342 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:05,240 They turn their pesos into US dollars 343 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:06,880 and get them out of the country. 344 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,520 Some suspect there's more Argentinian investment wealth 345 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,360 stashed in American banks than there is in all of Argentina. 346 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,720 In Latin America, the richest 1% 347 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,080 hold almost half of all personal wealth. 348 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,520 It's just about THE most unequal region of the planet. 349 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,960 So, what's this place? Well, here we are 350 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,040 in a place where they give food for the little children. 351 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,920 Hola! Hello! Hola! 352 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,160 It's like a food kitchen? Exactly. It's a food kitchen. Hola! 353 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,360 The poorest in society suffer, but, here, there's organisation... 354 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:39,800 Wow! ..and inspiration. 355 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,600 It smells fantastic. It looks pretty bloody good, as well. 356 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,360 Elena Gonzalez runs a soup kitchen from the back of her house. 357 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,320 In a country of 45 million, 358 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,680 more than 4 million people now rely on thousands of food banks 359 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,840 and soup kitchens for sustenance. 360 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,120 Very roughly, how many meals - individual meals - 361 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:04,720 do you think you serve out to people? 362 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,200 Do you pay for this out of your own pocket? 363 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,040 It's very impressive to see, actually, 364 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:50,880 the children at the table here. 365 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,520 Yeah, most of the boys are waiting for... 366 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:55,720 ..until they all have food to start. 367 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,720 Elena's never been so busy. 368 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,760 Even before the Covid pandemic, 369 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,360 many parents struggled to put food on the table. 370 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,400 Now, since the pandemic started, the number of people 371 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,920 living in extreme poverty on the continent 372 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,760 has risen by 16 million. 373 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,960 Almost two-thirds of Argentina's children live in poverty. 374 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,760 Communities and countless charities, like Barrios de Pie, 375 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,240 who fund Elena's kitchen, fight to help families survive. 376 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:40,640 So, what's your own personal story, your background? Can you...? 377 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,080 Can you empathise with the struggles of the families here? 378 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,440 You had a stroke, I think, just a few weeks ago. 379 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:45,840 Why are you still...? 380 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,640 Why are you still doing this? It must be physically draining. 381 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,920 People like Elena, and others who run these community kitchens, 382 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,400 are real heroes in this economic crisis. 383 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,600 Day after day, week after week, they provide thousands - 384 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,720 hundreds of thousands - of meals, 385 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,520 and often with very limited resources, 386 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,960 and they do it with ingenuity and with heart and with love. 387 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:38,440 I travelled south, 388 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,200 back towards the Andes Mountains 389 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:41,680 that run like a spine 390 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:43,520 between Argentina and Chile. 391 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,800 This is completely spectacular. 392 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,320 I'm arriving now into one of the most glorious landscapes 393 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,960 in all of South America - Patagonia. 394 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:08,320 The region of Patagonia 395 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,840 covers the south of the continent on both sides of the Andes. 396 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,680 Its lakes, forests, grasslands and mountains will keep me company 397 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,280 through to the end of my South American journey. 398 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,000 There's a little bit of rain, and we're heading uphill, 399 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,560 because we are climbing up into the Andes Mountains, 400 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,240 and we're going to cross into Chile. 401 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,880 It's quite exciting to see snow in the Americas. 402 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,520 Thanks, mate. 403 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,440 I love the extremes of South America. 404 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,520 On this journey, I've been from the rainforest of the Amazon 405 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:17,600 to the largest tropical wetland in the world - the Pantanal. 406 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,760 There was the dry forest of the Chaco, 407 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,960 the desert of the Atacama, and now, here, look at this! 408 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,080 It's like we're in Lapland! 409 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,320 I love South America. HE CHUCKLES 410 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,960 Down from the cold, snowy peaks of the Andes, 411 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,440 I drove towards the border on the Chilean side of Patagonia. 412 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:56,240 Now we're on the Pacific side of the Andes again 413 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,720 and it's a lot wetter on this side. 414 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,000 We're into, well, you were saying rainforest. 415 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,960 Rainforest, cloud forest, 416 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,360 but a much more lush environment on this side. 417 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,360 Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. 418 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,080 We're now at the official border with Chile. 419 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,280 There's a long queue. 420 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,720 It's very boring. Passports, documents. 421 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,560 We need to get across, then find a hotel 422 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:25,200 and pick up filming tomorrow. 423 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,360 This heavily forested region of Patagonia 424 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:38,440 is the ancestral land of the Mapuche people - 425 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,760 South America's largest indigenous group. 426 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,600 There's around 1.5 million Mapuche in Chile. 427 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,200 Like so many indigenous groups I'd met on my long journey 428 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:50,480 through the continent, 429 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,480 the Mapuche no longer own the expanses of land 430 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,240 that once was theirs. 431 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,320 Much of the land here 432 00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:59,960 is now owned by farmers and logging companies. 433 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,840 In some places, old forests have been cleared 434 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,160 and replaced with plantations of non-native trees - 435 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,760 thirsty, exotic trees that suck scarce water. 436 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:13,760 All right. 437 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,120 Juan Pichun campaigns for these forests 438 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,600 to be returned to the Mapuche people. 439 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,560 He's been labelled as a militant. 440 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,880 This is eucalyptus, isn't it? 441 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:53,320 And this is non-native. This isn't from Chile. 442 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,200 This isn't a South American plant or a tree, at all, is it? 443 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,960 Is it fair to say, then, that, as Mapuche, 444 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:24,440 you're not just angry about your land being taken from you, 445 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,800 it's also how the land is now being used? 446 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:52,000 A lot of Mapuche see these as almost like the final insult. 447 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:53,960 It's not just that their land, 448 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:55,840 as they see it, has been taken from them, 449 00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:00,360 but it's now being used for these eucalyptus trees. 450 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,880 There's a growing conflict over this land. 451 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,520 Forestry is a lucrative industry in Chile, 452 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,840 generating more than $2 billion in exports. 453 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,200 Companies don't want to give that up to the Mapuche, 454 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,320 but I travelled on to an area 455 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,520 where some Mapuche are resorting to extreme tactics 456 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,200 to push out what they see as outsiders. 457 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,920 Another burnt-out house. 458 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,520 Mapuche activists here are targeting logging companies, 459 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,520 farms, and even homes. 460 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,600 Oh, my God! 461 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:38,720 Can we stop? Can you just stop here? 462 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:41,240 I'll be able to just jump out. 463 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:48,600 Bloody hell! 464 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,880 So, this was, say, a little vineyard - 465 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,920 not so little, actually - vineyard restaurant, 466 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,920 and a couple of nights ago, it was burned to the ground. 467 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:05,240 The talk locally, and on the news, is that 468 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:09,720 it's a militant Mapuche group that is responsible. 469 00:34:09,720 --> 00:34:11,480 It's very hard to know. 470 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,960 I found restaurant owner Grasiella and her husband, Jose, 471 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,280 surveying the wreckage. 472 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:25,480 This is my wife's dream and she had many plans for it. 473 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,160 It's all gone now. 474 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:48,040 They burned it. 475 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:50,640 Who is "they"? Well, the... 476 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,720 ..terrorists. They are terrorists. 477 00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:57,320 They say they are Mapuche, but they are terrorists. 478 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:00,640 They're telling us that we must leave the area, 479 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:05,400 and that all the farm owners must leave, and things like that. 480 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,200 Do they claim your land? 481 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,440 No, not yet, but it's a matter of time. 482 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,040 They start asking for more and more and more, 483 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,240 so I think they want everything. 484 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,560 For many years, armed Mapuche groups 485 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,840 have been attacking the equipment and property 486 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,760 of forestry companies and large firms. 487 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:36,080 They've caused hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of damage. 488 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,480 And then, much more recently, 489 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,960 the groups seem to have started attacking even small farms 490 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:43,400 and people have been killed. 491 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,000 This has rapidly become a crisis in Chile. 492 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,480 The government has declared a state of emergency in this region. 493 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:58,360 It was upsetting to hear from those who've lost livelihoods and farms 494 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,040 to the direct action. 495 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:02,800 And when you remember what happened to indigenous people here 496 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,480 after Europeans arrived, 497 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:06,760 and how they've been oppressed and marginalised, 498 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:08,720 even over the last century, 499 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:11,320 it's also hard not to feel sympathy for the Mapuche. 500 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,480 The bloody door is broken. 501 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,360 HE GRUNTS OK. 502 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,240 Over the top. HE GROANS 503 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:34,520 And this...is where we're staying. 504 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:38,160 Oh, look. 505 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,600 "Stop the repression of the Mapuche people." 506 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,720 This is a gorgeous area of the country, 507 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:52,560 but they don't get as many tourists here, 508 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:54,520 in part because of the... 509 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:58,080 I was going to say problems, but it's a conflict, really. 510 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,760 And, my goodness, it is heating up. 511 00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:14,280 I'd arranged to meet up with one Mapuche group. 512 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,800 Early start, and we're heading up a mountain 513 00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:23,240 for a Mapuche New Year ceremony. 514 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,160 It was the middle of winter in the southern hemisphere - 515 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,240 winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. 516 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,320 The Mapuche celebrate the imminent return of the sun. 517 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,560 Elders tell stories and make offerings to the Earth. 518 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,840 Local Mapuche leader, Alberto Curamil, 519 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,880 was in charge of the New Year ceremony. 520 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:51,760 Alberto, what's happening today? 521 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,440 HORNS PLAY 522 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,920 The Mapuche have a grand but tragic history. 523 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:22,440 Renowned as fierce warriors, 524 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,840 they were never actually conquered or colonised by the Spanish, 525 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,880 but were forcibly incorporated into the Chilean state 526 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,520 in the late 1800s. 527 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,680 During the brutal dictatorship of General Pinochet, 528 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,880 which started in 1973, 529 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,440 many Mapuche leaders were murdered, imprisoned or exiled. 530 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,720 Vast areas of Mapuche territory 531 00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:44,920 was then handed to rich, connected families 532 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,960 during the 1970s and '80s. 533 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,240 Loggers and miners moved in, 534 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:53,760 and anger and resentment still runs deep here. 535 00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:00,960 We've been asked to keep a bit of a distance... 536 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:06,400 ..which is understandable. This is a... 537 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,680 These are a traumatised people, in many ways, 538 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:12,280 and they don't trust outsiders entirely, 539 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,880 and they certainly don't trust people with cameras. 540 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,680 Chile has long lagged behind other South American countries 541 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:25,640 in terms of recognition and protection 542 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,760 of its indigenous peoples. 543 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:29,800 Many of the Mapuche feel left behind 544 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,640 by the economic growth this country has experienced 545 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,120 and by what they feel is discrimination against them. 546 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:41,120 After Chile returned to being a democracy in the 1990s, 547 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,840 the government said it would give land back to the Mapuche, 548 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:47,280 but progress has generally been very slow, 549 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,000 and a lot of the Mapuche are saying they've just really had enough. 550 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:55,360 Mapuche ancestral territory 551 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,840 covered a vast area of Southern Chile and Argentina, 552 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,800 stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 553 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,760 Many now talk of taking it back and forming their own nation, 554 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:07,400 which they call Wallmapu. 555 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:29,520 What tactics are acceptable, do you believe, 556 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:33,640 for the Mapuche to reclaim what you believe is yours? 557 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,480 Alberto is an award-winning champion 558 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,840 of the environment and indigenous rights. 559 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,120 Like many, he supports the campaign of sabotage 560 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,200 and he's completely committed. 561 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:42,320 He's been shot, arrested and jailed in pursuit of the Mapuche cause. 562 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,480 I was getting closer to the end of my journey 563 00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:48,000 down through the continent. 564 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,760 From the Amazon to Bolivia and Paraguay, 565 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,360 I'd met with indigenous groups, 566 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,920 and I'd heard and seen how they're still struggling. 567 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,400 Many believe the Mapuche insurrection 568 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,040 is a warning that other countries in the region 569 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:07,120 need to address the marginalisation of their First People. 570 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:10,720 I think what I've seen here 571 00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:13,640 is actually one of the most important issues 572 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,960 I've encountered on my journey down through South America, 573 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:20,040 on my journey down through all of the Americas, actually. 574 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:24,200 How can the millions of indigenous people 575 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,880 reclaim more of their rights and their wealth 576 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:32,600 after hundreds of years of discrimination and exclusion? 577 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,920 I headed towards the Pacific coast of Chile, 578 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:44,720 where I had a ferry to catch. 579 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,640 I'm leaving the mainland now 580 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,720 and I'm heading for the first of two islands 581 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:53,880 that I'm visiting on this final leg of my journey. 582 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,160 This island we're heading to now is called Chiloe. 583 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,240 The island of Chiloe is one of hundreds 584 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:14,120 that pepper the Pacific coast 585 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:16,680 all the way down to Tierra del Fuego, 586 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,320 my final destination. 587 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:30,520 Islanders here have always relied on fish. 588 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,560 Trawlers would head out into the ocean, 589 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,480 often for days on end, 590 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:38,440 to bring back their main catch of anchovies, mackerel, hake, 591 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:41,360 as well as shellfish, like crabs and mussels. 592 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:42,800 But in the last few decades, 593 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,600 there's been something of a revolution 594 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,200 in Chile's fishing industry, 595 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:48,880 and the affects have rippled out across the ocean 596 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:50,360 and around the world. 597 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,480 Chilean conservationist Liesbeth van der Meer 598 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:56,600 is one of the leaders of Oceana, 599 00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:00,000 a global campaign group focused on ocean conservation. 600 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,000 She took me to the local fish market. 601 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:04,400 So, this is the fish market in... 602 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,480 ..for the island, for the town? 603 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,200 Yeah, for the whole island. 604 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:11,960 So, right here, you have... 605 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,200 This is hake, salmon. 606 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:18,640 Salmon and...? 607 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:21,240 Merluza. 608 00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:24,320 Before, we used to have over ten species here - 609 00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,200 native species - 610 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:31,200 but now you can see all we get is hake and salmon, 611 00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:34,840 and you can see this in every single stand repeating itself. 612 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,760 These markets used to be filled with native fish. 613 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:41,280 These are giants! 614 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,640 HE SPEAKS SPANISH 615 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:50,520 He's going to weigh that salmon. OK. 616 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:53,800 Flippin' heck! 617 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,600 Pesa siete kilos. Seven kilos. Where would this have come from? 618 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,520 Artisanal fishermen fished it. Right. 619 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:08,760 This comes from escaped salmon. Escaped salmon? 620 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,680 And how can you be so sure that it's escaped? 621 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,320 Because it's Atlantic salmon. 622 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,760 And we are not by the Atlantic. Exactly. 623 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,240 Fish farms are the revolution here. 624 00:45:22,240 --> 00:45:24,280 Hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon 625 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:26,080 have escaped from farms off the coast 626 00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,520 and become an invasive species in the Pacific. 627 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,120 With few natural predators, 628 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,160 they've caused havoc in the ecosystem, 629 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:34,640 and native fish have taken a hammering. 630 00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:38,120 Fish farming is booming globally, and Chile's a major player, 631 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,640 second only to Norway as the world's largest producer of salmon. 632 00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:49,040 About a third of the world's farmed salmon comes from here, 633 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:50,480 comes from Chile. 634 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,680 It's an enormous industry. 635 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,880 It supports more than 60,000 jobs. 636 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,400 And I'm hoping that one of these fishing boats, 637 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:00,840 if we can just arrange it with them, is going to take us out 638 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:02,640 to see where all the fish are coming from. 639 00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:08,920 Right, success. 640 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:13,640 I can remember when salmon was a luxury 641 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:15,840 we ate at Christmas as a special treat. 642 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:21,920 Now, around the planet, we consume more than 4 million tonnes a year. 643 00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,920 That massive change, for better or worse, 644 00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:31,880 is the result of fish farming. 645 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:41,240 We can see them jumping, can't we? Yeah, those are the salmon. 646 00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:43,560 Is there an average for the amount that's in there? 647 00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:44,920 What are we talking? 648 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:47,760 This whole facility probably has around... 649 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,320 ..100,000 salmon in there. 650 00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,560 100,000 salmon. 651 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:57,320 Because what you see here, it's only, you know, 652 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,360 one-tenth of what is actually underneath the water. 653 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,040 It's almost 40m down, 654 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:06,960 so 20 floors of a building, filled with fish. 655 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:08,840 These fish are very confined. 656 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:10,880 I mean, you can see them jumping here. Yeah. 657 00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,880 They're extremely confined. 658 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:16,400 This is why they also get sick, and they have sea lice. 659 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:18,800 Sea lice? Ugh! 660 00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,680 They... That's a creature 661 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:23,320 that almost eats away at their bodies, isn't it? 662 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:27,000 Exactly, and so we have to use anti-parasites on them. 663 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,000 These are like insecticides. 664 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,400 And because they're so close together, 665 00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:33,440 this has become a plague. 666 00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:37,520 So, imagine... A plague? Yes. Is that what you said? A plague? 667 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,680 Yes. This is exactly like... Wow. ..in humans, you know, 668 00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,280 when their immune system is down, 669 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,480 they're sick, they need antibiotics. 670 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:47,440 They're crammed into these small spaces - 671 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:49,920 relatively small spaces, arguably - 672 00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:53,440 so it's easier for parasites and disease 673 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:56,200 to transfer from one to the other. Exactly. 674 00:47:56,200 --> 00:48:00,280 So, we use 2,500 more times antibiotics 675 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,080 than Norway does to produce the same amount of salmon. 676 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:04,560 Oh, my God! 677 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,640 In Chile, Liesbeth's group, Oceana, warns that excessive use of drugs 678 00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:14,680 could result in the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria - 679 00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:17,160 a potential threat to human health. 680 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:22,000 Oceana also accuses salmon farms of polluting the sea with pesticides, 681 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:24,600 salmon faeces and uneaten food. 682 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:28,680 That, in turn, spurs the growth of algae, 683 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,320 which starves parts of the ocean of oxygen. 684 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,160 The fish are moving away. 685 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:38,880 The oxygen that we used to have here is not the same quality, 686 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:43,280 so now there are less fish, they have to go further, 687 00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:47,000 and maybe the most that they can find is salmon. 688 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:48,400 The salmon industry says 689 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:50,680 it's trying to reduce the use of antibiotics, 690 00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:53,680 and the Chilean government's trying to curb the environmental impact 691 00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,120 of salmon farming under pressure from conservationists 692 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,360 and local fishermen who say they've lost out 693 00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:00,320 because of the industrial fish farms. 694 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:03,200 You can see it in these people. Yeah. 695 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:04,960 These people are now fishing crab, 696 00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:08,080 but, before, this used to be very productive waters 697 00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:10,280 with a lot of valuable fish, 698 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:13,120 and now we're down to only a few species. 699 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:16,600 You will see it in the markets, you will see it in the water, 700 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:18,720 and that is worrying. 701 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:25,800 What are you fishing for here? 702 00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:34,960 Right, it's got to be bigger than that. OK. 703 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,840 How has the salmon farming affected your fishing? 704 00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:23,880 Chile's fish farm industry says farmed salmon is actually 705 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:27,520 one of the most sustainable ways of creating animal protein. 706 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:29,920 The aquaculture industry, as it's known, 707 00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:31,400 says it's one of the best ways 708 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:34,000 of feeding our burgeoning human population. 709 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:35,520 That may well be true, 710 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:38,120 but hopefully not at the expense of local fishermen, 711 00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:40,120 the ocean or other fish. 712 00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:58,280 Back on the road, I travelled south through the forests of Patagonia. 713 00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,920 This was the final stretch of my journey, 714 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,880 as I headed right down to the bottom of South America. 715 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:07,520 It's isolated down here, 716 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:11,080 but on a continent of more than 400 million people, 717 00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:12,840 it's not empty. 718 00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:19,080 Hola, buen dia. Hola, buenos dias, caballero. 719 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:25,760 This ferry is going to take me to the end of the world - 720 00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:27,520 el fin del mundo. 721 00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:44,280 It's nearly 20 past nine in the morning, 722 00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:47,840 but I'm so far south and it's winter, 723 00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:50,040 so the sun's only just coming up. 724 00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:53,720 I was on my way to South America's biggest island, 725 00:51:53,720 --> 00:51:56,080 which forms the toe of the continent. 726 00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:04,440 When the explorer Ferdinand Magellan came this way in the early 1500s, 727 00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:06,840 he saw so many fires along the beaches 728 00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:08,680 lit by indigenous people 729 00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,680 that he named this area the Land of Smoke. 730 00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:15,800 The Spanish King decided that was not catchy enough, 731 00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:18,800 and he renamed it the Land of Fire. 732 00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:21,960 This is Tierra del Fuego. 733 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:24,920 Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago 734 00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:29,400 and the most southerly land on the planet outside of Antarctica. 735 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,160 It's split between Chile and Argentina. 736 00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:38,920 It's remote, windswept and jaw-droppingly beautiful. 737 00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:47,400 This landscape is absolutely breathtaking. 738 00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:49,200 We've got to stop here, haven't we? 739 00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:53,800 All right, let's go and have a quick look. 740 00:52:58,720 --> 00:53:04,360 This is the end of the Andes in South America. 741 00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:09,040 The mountain range really ends completely in Antarctica, 742 00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:11,360 a few hundred kilometres to the south, 743 00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:14,960 but, here, this is where it ends in Argentina and Chile. 744 00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:19,880 You've got the mountains bathed in this almost candy-floss colour. 745 00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:25,520 I'd seen so much destruction 746 00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:27,920 travelling down through the Americas, 747 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:31,560 but also so much beauty, so much diversity, 748 00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:34,400 so much that is still left to conserve. 749 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,960 Marcelo Noria is a mountaineer 750 00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:42,240 and my guide through this majestic and faraway land. 751 00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:43,960 Look at this place. Mm. 752 00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:47,280 You know, all over the world, there's a lot of people, 753 00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:49,440 they're running all the time. 754 00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,680 But here, we have peace. 755 00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:01,960 These trees are very special - 756 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:04,480 the most southerly forest on planet Earth. 757 00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:07,560 It is the sub-Antarctic forest. 758 00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:10,280 We are the nearest point to Antarctica. 759 00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:16,640 Australia is 2,000km more north than the point we are now. 760 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,240 That is amazing. 761 00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:23,200 I'd travelled 4,000 miles 762 00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:27,240 through a continent stuffed with spectacular landscapes, 763 00:54:27,240 --> 00:54:30,080 but the end of my journey really was in sight now. 764 00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:35,360 So, we're now arriving into the most southerly city 765 00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:37,800 on planet Earth. This is Ushuaia. 766 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:46,960 The city of Ushuaia is the gateway to the famous Beagle Channel, 767 00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:49,760 a 150-mile, east-to-west waterway 768 00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:52,040 which links the Atlantic with the Pacific. 769 00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:58,960 One final treat. 770 00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:08,520 The channel was named after the ship Charles Darwin sailed on 771 00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:11,160 when he came here on his famous voyage. 772 00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:14,760 What he found was natural wonder teeming with life. 773 00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:17,400 "No-one can stand in these solitudes unmoved," 774 00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,240 he wrote, and he was right. 775 00:55:20,240 --> 00:55:23,280 In the middle of the Beagle Channel is Sea Lion Island. 776 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:28,200 SEA LIONS GRUNT 777 00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:29,800 Look at them all! 778 00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:32,280 They're so bloody noisy! It's brilliant! 779 00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:38,720 The males can actually grow to almost three metres long. 780 00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:41,400 They can weigh a third of a tonne. 781 00:55:41,400 --> 00:55:44,680 And this whole area's a really important breeding site for them. 782 00:55:47,240 --> 00:55:49,280 A thriving sea lion colony 783 00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:52,760 needs abundant fish stocks and a healthy marine environment, 784 00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:54,800 but plans were recently put forward 785 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:57,200 to introduce salmon farming in the Beagle Channel. 786 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:01,880 The farms would bring some jobs and economic development, 787 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:03,920 but the people of Tierra del Fuego 788 00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:06,520 worried they would lose out in other ways. 789 00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:12,240 The people from Argentine and the Chilean side, 790 00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:13,840 they kayaked in together 791 00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:16,320 and they stayed in the middle of the Beagle Channel 792 00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,040 and held up banners to say, 793 00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:23,360 "No to the salmon. Out, please." 794 00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:27,880 And after that, the authorities heard the people 795 00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:32,120 and said, "No salmon industry in the Beagle Channel." 796 00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:36,280 So, the salmon farming was stopped? People power worked? 797 00:56:36,280 --> 00:56:39,680 The government listened? Yes, it's true. 798 00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:44,560 I'd already learned salmon farming can affect biodiversity in the sea. 799 00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:45,880 People here were worried 800 00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:48,280 salmon farms could impact their tourism industry 801 00:56:48,280 --> 00:56:50,240 and also Mother Nature. 802 00:56:50,240 --> 00:56:53,080 Even down here at the bottom of the continent, 803 00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,120 people are facing one of the great issues 804 00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:59,160 challenging the rest of South America and all of us - 805 00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:04,040 how to build an economic future without destroying the environment. 806 00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:06,080 There is hope. 807 00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:08,760 Vast areas of land across the south of this continent 808 00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:13,320 have been turned into national parks and protected areas. 809 00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:17,440 We used to hunt sea lions in huge numbers. 810 00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:19,440 Now their numbers, 811 00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:21,560 I'm pleased to say, are pretty stable. 812 00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:24,200 They're fairly protected. 813 00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:27,400 We can protect them, we can protect this 814 00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:29,400 and we can protect more. 815 00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:40,360 Throughout my journey through South America, 816 00:57:40,360 --> 00:57:42,720 and down through the Americas, 817 00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:45,800 I'd been awed by the wildlife, 818 00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:49,960 but I'd been left marvelling at the sheer wonder of humanity, 819 00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:52,800 and I'd been overwhelmed by a desperate hope 820 00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:56,280 that we will get better at looking after our only home. 821 00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:00,920 I'm really coming to the end now. I feel very emotional. 822 00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:05,280 These have been the greatest journeys of my life. 823 00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:09,680 I've travelled the length of the two continents that, together, 824 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,760 form more than a quarter of Earth's land surface. 825 00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:16,000 It's been such an honour, such a privilege. 826 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:19,000 Thank you so much to everybody I've met 827 00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:22,360 and all those who've joined me on this journey. 828 00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:24,360 It's been amazing... 829 00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:25,680 ..but this is the end.