All language subtitles for Aerial.Argentina.S01E02.Patagonia.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

Narrator: Argentina.

A land of extremes.

From the continent's
tallest mountain

to oceans
where behemoths roam.

This is where adventures
take flight,

history comes to life,

and children dream of glory.

Argentina is a country
of stories

as varied and rich
as the land itself.

Venture south and you enter
a realm of giants.

This is where the world's
largest dinosaurs once ruled,

legendary outlaws
tried to disappear,

and inspiration and wanderlust

drive travelers
to hit the road.

♪ ♪

Patagonia,

where the end of the world
seems within reach.

♪ ♪

[dramatic percussive music]

♪ ♪

The coast of Patagonia

is where the waves crash
against rugged cliffs

and the broken bones
of the continent

spill into the Atlantic ocean.

In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan
and his crew

were the first Europeans
to see this land,

and their reports were like
something from a fairy tale.

♪ ♪

The chronicles tell
of encounters

with people
twice their own height.

They were referring to
the native Tehuelche people.

But the Europeans
called them Patagones

after a fictional colossus.

♪ ♪

The name stuck,

and the land itself was,
and still is,

called Patagonia.

♪ ♪

Patagonia runs all the way

to the southernmost tip
of the continent,

which is often called
"the end of the Earth."

With more than
350,000 square miles,

it's bigger
than the state of Texas

and contains
just 2 million people.

[soft music]

It's one of the most sparsely
populated areas of the world,

for humans at least.

Wildlife flourishes here.

As Magellan's crew
traveled further south,

they saw these odd birds

and thought they were
some sort of wild goose.

But they're penguins.

Despite
the Europeans' confusion,

they were named
after the expedition's leader

and are known today
as Magellan penguins.

[penguins chittering]

Here at Punta Tombo,
adult penguins

are looking to get in
a little family time.

♪ ♪

They're returning
from migrations

that took them north,

chasing food
like squid and krill.

Some penguins have traveled
almost 4,000-mile round trip.

It's the season to settle in
and make babies.

Penguins are monogamous.

So even after they've been
separated for months,

the same two adults
will pair off each year.

♪ ♪

Except it's not always
"happily ever after."

♪ ♪

Some couples
have wandering eyes,

and if they don't
produce young,

a few couples will go
their separate ways.

♪ ♪

They'll each find a new mate
and pair off again.

Every year,
a pair will produce 2-4 eggs.

But the population
has been in decline.

Oil spills and fishing nets
are constant threats,

and overfishing
and climate change

have triggered a decline
in their food supplies,

causing some groups
to starve to death.

[inquisitive music]

But nature is resilient,
and the news is not all bad.

Up the coast at Caleta Valdés
Provincial Reserve,

Park Ranger Matías Tricase
is on the front lines,

helping to defend
the wilderness.

He keeps a close eye
on sea lions

and the occasional
elephant seal

that cluster
along the beaches.

They gather here
by the thousands.

Hauling their huge bodies
onto the gravel beaches,

they sun and rest,
safe from predators.

They are awkward on land,

so they stick close
to the water,

where they're more at home.

Weighing as much
as 800 pounds,

they are massive animals,
but are still tiny

compared to the ocean's
true giants.

[soft music]

Southern right whales
return to the waters

off of Caleta Valdés
from August through October

to feed on krill.

♪ ♪

It's not instinct
that draws them here.

It's a learned behavior called
philopatry, or site loyalty,

passed from mother
to daughter.

♪ ♪

Each generation of mothers
leads their young calves

to waters off
the Valdés Peninsula.

♪ ♪

Docile and reaching close
to 50 feet,

right whales once made
easy targets for hunters.

They are called "right" whales

because harpooners said
they were easy to hunt

and floated
after being killed.

Right whales once teetered
on the brink of extinction,

but today, their numbers
are slowly growing

once again
in the south Atlantic.

It's too early to celebrate,

but the fragile recovery
of the southern right whale

is a source of hope
for conservationists.

♪ ♪

[mellow acoustic music]

The towns on this coast
are compact, picturesque,

and closely intertwined
with the ocean.

This is Puerto Pirámides,

a center for both whale
watching and conservation.

♪ ♪

Boat captain and tour guide
Miguel Bottazzi

is a second-generation
guardian of the sea.

His father, Tito,

was a pioneer
in the study of whales

and started
one of the area's first

whale-watching companies.

♪ ♪

This business helped shape
Puerto Pirámides.

♪ ♪

And the town has honored Tito

with a monument in the shape
of a whale's tail.

♪ ♪

[funky music]

♪ ♪

Farther south along the coast

Puerto Madryn looms larger.

It was founded
by Welsh settlers in 1865.

They arrived on a ship
called the "Mimosa"

long before there were any
piers to welcome them.

Their goal was to keep
the Welsh culture

and language alive.

[singer vocalizing]

Elizabeth Harriet
Adams Humphreys

was the first woman
to disembark.

14 days later,
she gave birth to a daughter.

For the Welsh settlers,
this was a sign of hope

in what seemed a bleak land.

[soft acoustic music]

Moving into the interior,

they found desert
and hardship.

But this wasn't
an empty wasteland.

They soon encountered
the native Tehuelche,

who still live in the area.

Today, native burial sites
are marked by sacred symbols,

and they contain stones piled
as a tribute to the dead.

Unlike the Argentine
government,

the Welsh settlers believed

that the Tehuelche
should retain their lands,

and a kinship grew
between the two groups.

In the early years, the Welsh
came close to starving,

but the Tehuelche
traded meat for bread

and taught the Europeans
key survival skills.

One settler, Rachel Jenkins,

helped save
the struggling farms

by introducing irrigation.

As a result,
parts of the desert bloomed.

[soft music]

Upriver,
Gaiman was one of the first

and most successful
farm settlements.

Even today, residents keep
the Welsh heritage alive.

♪ ♪

In 1995, Lady Di,
Princess of Wales,

went to a traditional
tea house in Gaiman

and had the Patagonia version
of the Welsh fruit cake.

♪ ♪

Today, the Welsh and
the Mapuche Tehuelche flags

fly alongside the Argentine,

symbolizing the diverse roots
of this place.

[tense music]

Farther inland,
on the Patagonian Plateau,

the landscape is as hostile
and uninviting

as when the Welsh arrived.

♪ ♪

Out here,
winds are almost constant

and can reach
90 miles per hour.

While this makes farming
almost impossible,

the wind itself
can be harvested.

62 windmills
in the Madryn wind farm

produce enough electricity
to power 100,000 homes.

♪ ♪

Towering 380 feet
above the ground,

they are modern giants.

But they're far
from the first.

[dramatic music]

A life-sized model
of the Patagotitan mayorum

is a tourist attraction today.

Standing 65 feet tall

and measuring 130 feet
from head to tail,

these dinosaurs once roamed
the Patagonian Plateau.

Millions of years ago,
this area was humid, warmer,

and covered in forests.

Plant and animal life
flourished.

But now you have to dig
to find evidence of it.

♪ ♪

World famous paleontologist
Rodolfo Coria

heads up a search
for ancient life.

He returns to the Plateau
just about every year

to hunt for fossils.

This "rock star"
of paleontology

has uncovered many of
the world's largest dinosaurs.

One of these was 114 feet long
and weighed over 70 tons.

He and his team
named this plant-eating beast

the "Argentinosaurus"

in tribute to the country
where they found it.

One of the world's
best dinosaur collections

is held here

at the Egidio Feruglio
Paleontological Museum.

It contains
the fearsome Giganotosaurus,

or "giant southern lizard,"

which may have been bigger
than the T-Rex.

[tense music]

Farther west,
dinosaurs are not

the only type of fossils
found underground.

From up high,
these look like alien tracks,

roads that scar a dry plateau
that once was a shallow sea.

This vast plain is now called
Vaca Muerta, or Dead Cow.

Today, it has sprung
back to life

as a gateway
to liquid gold: oil.

The national oil company YPF
estimated that there

are billions of barrels
of oil underground here.

Through a controversial
process called "fracking,"

these fields produce
almost a quarter

of Argentina's
oil and gas consumption.

Though these plains appear
endless, the oil is not.

Time will tell if oil drills
ever go extinct

and, like the dinosaur,
become fossils themselves.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

But Patagonia doesn't
just power the country.

It represents the frontier,

and its wildest places
spark a quest for adventure.

[tense music]

Narrator: Venture west
in Patagonia,

and travelers will discover

one of the wildest places
on Earth.

♪ ♪

This region wasn't fully
explored by white Argentinians

until the late 1800s.

♪ ♪

In the 1870s,

Francisco Moreno led
scientific expeditions here.

Just before reaching
the border with Chile,

he came upon a natural wonder:
Lake Nahuel Huapí.

♪ ♪

As a reward for his work,

Moreno earned the title
of "Perito," or expert.

The government granted him
a huge tract of land

around the lake.

Moreno set aside
29 square miles

on the condition
it become a national park.

Argentina became
the third country

in the Western Hemisphere

after the United States
and Canada

to create
a national park system.

The protected lands
around the park grew to cover

more than 2,700 square miles,
making it more than

twice the size
of Yosemite National Park.

♪ ♪

[sweeping music]

Snow melts
from the Andes mountains,

and the water finds
its own way

through a dramatic
and lush landscape,

all the way
to the park's namesake lake.

This basin was carved

by glaciers
over millions of years,

and the water has been flowing
ever since.

At the southern end
of the lake

is the gateway
to the wilderness,

the city of Bariloche.

Many of the early settlers
of Bariloche

were German immigrants,

and their influence
is reflected

in the city's Alpine-style
architecture.

[dramatic music]

But the area's German history
contains a dark chapter.

♪ ♪

On a tree-clad island
in the lake,

mysterious ruins
are all that's left

of a strange experiment.

Austrian Ronald Richter
was a Nazi scientist.

In the 1950s,

Argentina brought him here
to lead a secret program.

Richter promised to create
energy from nuclear fusion,

and the Argentine government
sank huge sums of money

into the project.

But Richter failed
and left little to show for it

but these old ruins
and empty walls.

♪ ♪

[soft acoustic music]

Now this area has emerged
from its checkered past

to become the top tourist
destination in Patagonia.

From Bariloche,
you can catch a cable car

to a revolving restaurant
with the sweetest views.

Or you can motor out onto
one of Argentina's largest

and deepest freshwater lakes.

On the water, visitors keep
an eye out for Nahuelito,

this lake's version
of the Loch Ness Monster.

Stories of Nahuelito
reached the United States,

where former president
and hunting enthusiast

Teddy Roosevelt talked
of stalking the beast.

But he never got the chance.

♪ ♪

There are still reports

of a long-necked
sea-serpent-like creature,

but there's no proof
that Nahuelito exists.

♪ ♪

Instead,
the only unusual sights

day-trippers
are likely to encounter

are ghostly shipwrecks.

They are relics
from the park's bygone days

of mystery and intrigue.

[funky music]

Today, mystery
gives way to luxury.

Visitors looking
to be pampered

can stay at one of the world's
premier hotels,

the Llao Llao.

Named for a local mushroom,

the hotel has survived fires
and financial calamity

to remain one of Argentina's
most glamorous hotels.

Built in 1938,

four American presidents
have stayed here.

Most recently,

Barack Obama brought
his whole family in 2016.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

For those who come looking
for a more rugged experience,

the backcountry beckons.

Mirror-calm lakes,
like the Laguna Negra,

are a dream destination
for hikers and backpackers.

A string of huts
runs through the mountains.

Roughly a day's hike apart,

they give the more daring
a chance

to see some of the most
stunning and rugged country,

while providing
a comfortable place to sleep.

[dramatic music]

For those looking
to pick up the pace,

there are plenty
of two-wheeled adventures.

Visitors can jump on a bike
and take the spectacular

Ruta de Los Siete Lagos,
or "The Seven Lakes Route."

The first section winds
around Lake Nahuel Huapí.

♪ ♪

Near the north end
of the lake,

a side trip
down a dirt road leads

to the Quetrihué Peninsula.

Here you'll find a rare forest
of Arrayan trees.

In the myrtle family, Arrayan
generally look like shrubs,

but here, they grow
to be almost 60 feet.

[tense music]

This forest
of cinnamon-colored trees

is so fantastical,
some think Walt Disney used it

as inspiration
for the movie "Bambi."

Some even think Disney
had a cabin here.

But there's one Dumbo-sized
hole in the story.

Walt Disney
never visited this area.

The myth is just as fictional
as one about a talking deer.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

However, there is
a Disneyesque castle

overlooking
the Quetrihué Peninsula.

It's just not Walt's.

It's the castle of Messidor,

with its own tales
of intrigue.

After a coup d'état in 1976,

the first female president
of Argentina

was held prisoner here.

María Estela Martínez de Perón
was ousted

and held captive
for seven months,

cut off from
the surrounding scenery

when her captors
boarded up her windows.

♪ ♪

[inquisitive music]

But today, those who journey
through the national parks

can see it all if they don't
mind working for the views.

Farther north, mountain hikes

are a favorite
of Gabriela and Fernando,

who have lived here
for 30 years.

In this ever-changing
landscape,

they are always discovering
something new,

because there's
one constant here.

The promise of more adventure.

♪ ♪

Farther south in Patagonia,
a new surprise awaits

around every corner,

from breathtaking,
rugged beauty

to journeys that take
travelers back in time.

[train chugging]

[soft music]

Narrator: In a realm
of towering giants,

one mountain
stands head and shoulders

above its neighbors.

The Lanín volcano.

It rises 12,000 feet
above sea level.

♪ ♪

In the native
Mapuche language,

Lanín means "dead rock"
or "extinguished."

But geologists think this
monster might just be sleeping

and could erupt once again.

♪ ♪

The area surrounding Lanín
contains one of the largest

groves of araucaria trees
in South America.

They thrive on the exposed
rock and sand slopes.

Looking like illustrations
from a Dr. Seuss book,

they are the descendants
of Jurassic era trees.

♪ ♪

While the araucaria trees
survive like living fossils,

they are listed
as endangered today.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

Forest fires
are common in the area

and pose the greatest threat.

Park Ranger Martín Pereyra
has fought many blazes.

He's served in Lanín
National Park for 23 years,

10 of those in fire control.

From his isolated outpost,

he works with the native
Mapuche communities

that co-manage
this national park.

He has to stay alert.

Spotting traces of smoke
can help prevent a fire

from getting out of control.

♪ ♪

With the winter setting in,
Martín also has to prepare

for when snow
will close the roads.

He could be cut off
from the rest of the world

for weeks at a time,
so to stay warm,

he has to be ready
to start fires of his own.

Except his will be in a stove.

[soft acoustic music]

Isolation isn't the only way

to commune with nature
in Patagonia.

For some,
the best way to become one

with the great outdoors
is with a rod and reel.

♪ ♪

To the south,
a short, natural channel

called the Correntoso River

connects Lake Nahuel Huapí
and Lake Correntoso.

This unassuming
stretch of water

is actually quite unique.

At 650 feet in length,

it's one of the world's
shortest rivers.

It's also one of the best
trout fishing spots

on the planet.

But the fish these anglers
seek are not native.

There were no trout here
until 1904.

♪ ♪

When explorer Perito Moreno
was developing

his gifted land
around these lakes,

he imported seven crates
of live trout

and landlocked salmon
from the United States.

Many of the fish died
during the 50-day journey,

but enough survived
to seed a new fishery.

The result, the fish
and their offspring

have thrived here,

turning this
short stretch of water

into an anglers' Eden.

[soft music]

Venturing into Patagonia,

the farther south
the journey leads,

the more desolate
the landscape

and the more
isolated the towns.

But there are signs of
attempts to make inroads here.

In the early 1900s,

the Argentine
government attempted

to build a rail network
across the country

until they ran out of steam.

Deep in Patagonia, many
of the rail lines are empty

except for a few famous trains
that still run to this day.

[train chugging]

With just 29 1/2 inches
between rails,

it looks like a toy,
but La Trochita,

or "the narrow gauge train"
is a true workhorse.

♪ ♪

Called "The Old
Patagonian Express"

by famed travel writer
Paul Theroux,

it became famous
around the world.

♪ ♪

And like "The Little Engine
That Could,"

the Patagonian Express
is undersized

but just won't quit.

At 59 years old, conductor
Alfredo Delfin Mansilla

has been driving La Trochita
for almost half his life.

The rail line used to take
almost 600 curves,

and the train struggled
so hard to climb steep slopes,

passengers could get out
and walk alongside.

[horn blaring]

Today, it sticks to flatter,
straighter stretches of track

and never strays
too far from home.

Still, riding
"The Old Patagonian Express"

has become a badge of honor

For anyone traveling this far
into the depths of Argentina.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Where Patagonia stretches
even further south,

beyond the reach
of the railroad,

human settlements
are few and far between.

This is where people go
to find solitude

and to disappear.

In 1901, Cholila
was a small village

when two secretive Americans
arrived.

Calling themselves James Ryan
and Harry Place,

they bought
a 12,000-acre ranch.

They started a major livestock
operation with 900 cows,

1,500 sheep, and 40 horses.

But when two English-speaking
bandits robbed a local bank,

people began to wonder

if the American ranchers
living in these cabins

were really who
they said they were.

The answer in a word was "no."

They were really Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid,

two of America's
most notorious bank robbers.

♪ ♪

All that's left of them
in Patagonia

is the log cabin
where sheltered from the law

until the law
caught up to them.

♪ ♪

[upbeat music]

Today's free spirits
can make their own escape

by venturing along a road

that traces the entire length
of Patagonia:

Route 40.

Route 40 stretches

from the northern border
of Argentina,

parallels the Andes
for more than 3000 miles,

and leads all the way
to the Straits of Magellan.

♪ ♪

Along the route,
drivers often carry extra gas

and plenty of food and water
because they are traveling

through
sparsely populated areas.

Still, thousands of outsiders
are drawn here every year.

They don't come here
for creature comforts.

They come to test the limits
of their body and spirit.

They're seeking
the next great challenge

in a realm of extremes.

[rock music]

Narrator: Deep
in southern Patagonia,

a series of stone spires
pierce the sky.

The centerpiece,
Mount Fitz Roy.

This natural cathedral
of solid rock

is on the bucket list
of many hardcore mountaineers.

♪ ♪

Reaching only 11,073 feet
above sea level,

far shorter than most famous
mountaineering destinations,

Fitz Roy's stature is not
what makes it challenging.

Its slippery rock faces
are nearly vertical,

and winds can batter
the exposed climbers.

This climber, Tomas Odell,

became the youngest person
to summit Mount Fitz Roy.

He was just 15.

♪ ♪

He climbed it
with his older brother, Pedro,

and their father, Max,
who's a mountain guide.

A year later,

Tomas is almost constantly
refining his skills,

already in the ranks
of the world's elite climbers.

♪ ♪

Tomas and his brother, Pedro,

are both Argentine
national climbing champions,

and now they're charting
new routes up Mount Fitz Roy.

♪ ♪

One of Tomas's
favorite practice sites

is a cliff called
el Paredon de Los Condores,

or the wall of condors.

But this climb isn't
in the remote wilderness.

It's just across the river

from his hometown
of El Chaltén.

It's an easy walk
from his house, which is good,

because Tomas is still
too young to drive.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Today, El Chaltén has

a year-round population
of 3,000

that swells during the hiking
and climbing season.

Decades ago,
it was just a tiny hamlet.

In 1968, five friends

who called themselves
"The Fun Hogs"

drove all the way here
from California.

Their goal: make history.

The five "Fun Hogs"
became just the third group

to reach the top of Fitz Roy,

blazing what is now known
as the "California Route."

♪ ♪

They changed mountaineering
in this area,

and they were also changed
by the mountain.

♪ ♪

One of the Fun Hogs,
Yvon Chouinard,

founded
an outdoor clothing company.

♪ ♪

He named it
after the place that beckoned

his climbing spirit:
Patagonia.

And the Patagonia logo
he created

is a stylized silhouette

of this view
of Mount Fitz Roy.

[soft music]

Doug Thompkins was another
of the five California

"Fun Hogs" who summited
Mount Fitz Roy in 1968.

♪ ♪

On the trip, he also fell
in love with Patagonia.

♪ ♪

A co-founder of North Face,

Thompkins made a fortune
in the clothing business.

In 1989, he turned his focus
to conservation.

He married longtime Patagonia
CEO Kristine McDivitt,

and together,
they founded the land trust

Conservación Patagonica,
now Thompkins Conservation.

Working with native groups

and local
and federal governments,

they have helped to protect
2.4 million acres

in Argentina.

This is part of
a private/public initiative

to preserve
huge swathes of land.

♪ ♪

It includes Argentina's
newest protected area,

Patagonia National Park.

One effort
is to return the area

to its original state,
and "rewild" the park.

♪ ♪

Four naturalists use GPS
to track elusive animals

through the plateaus
and canyons.

Emauel Galletto,

Federico Castro,
Sabastian Di Martino,

and Franco Bucci
hope to understand

the animals' range
and movements.

♪ ♪

One of their goals
is to determine

just how much space
these animals need.

♪ ♪

Some, like this endangered
Andean condor,

can travel 100 miles without
once flapping their wings.

♪ ♪

They surf air currents,

keeping their 33-pound bodies
aloft on 10-foot wingspans.

In time, conservationists hope
to create a string of parks

that stretches
from the Pacific

to the Atlantic Oceans.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Near the park's eastern edge,

erosion has cut through
the 150-million-year-old rock

to form what looks like
a mini Grand Canyon.

This is
the Cañadón del río Pinturas,

or Canyon of the Pictures.

And it's famous
for what lies at the base

of its 650-foot walls.

♪ ♪

This is the Cave of the Hands.

Painted hands
and petroglyphs of animals

are proof of human settlement
here roughly 10,000 years ago.

Millenia later,
humans continue

to leave their mark
on the land.

[soft acoustic music]

Today, evidence
of human settlement

includes the animals
they bring with them:

sheep.

Even though the climate
near Lake Argentino

is high desert,
rain in the fall and winter

turn the hills green
and feeds this flock.

They belong to the almost
30,000-acre Nibepo Aike Ranch.

Four generations
have ran the ranch.

But sheep are no longer
the money maker.

It's now tourism.

[sheep bleating]

[soft music]

The ranch lies near
the southern end

of Lake Argentino,

within the boundaries of
Los Glaciares National Park.

There are 47 large glaciers
in the park,

including one named after
the explorer Perito Moreno.

It feeds into the lake.

Glaciers are dense masses
of compressed ice

that form over
thousands of years.

♪ ♪

The Perito Moreno Glacier
stretches for almost 19 miles,

starting at the ice fields.

Like a river of ice,

the glacier flows down
mountain valleys.

♪ ♪

The Perito Moreno Glacier
can grow

by more than 6 feet a day

before spilling its blue ice
into the lake.

♪ ♪

Its sheer walls stand 240 feet
above the water

and is 3 miles wide.

The glacier's movements
split the ice

and create seracs
and crevasses.

♪ ♪

But a daring few
venture out onto the surface.

And there, they can enjoy
a celebratory drink

on the rocks.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

In Patagonia, there seems
to be no end to adventures,

even where the wind bends
and twists the trees

and the land itself
seems to give out.

[dramatic music]

Narrator: The southern coast
of Patagonia

is a hard, unforgiving
stretch of cliffs.

And in 1520,
Ferdinand Magellan

and his crew
were facing ruin here.

They were the first Europeans
to reach this shore,

and they needed a safe harbor
for the winter.

Like the colonies
of cormorants

that shelter on the cliffs,

the Europeans needed somewhere
to get out of the wind

and to anchor their ships.

Winter storms
in the southern Atlantic

are notorious for shipwrecks.

♪ ♪

On March 31, 1520,
they found safety in a harbor

they named Puerto San Julián.

Today a life-sized replica of
one of the expedition's ships,

the "Nao Victoria,"
commemorates the five months

Magellan and his crew
spent here.

But it was far from peaceful.

On Easter, several of
Magellan's captains mutinied.

The commander
put down the revolt,

executed one of the leaders,
and exiled another.

♪ ♪

[light music]

In the 500 years since,

Puerto San Julián has grown
into a town of 7,000,

but it still seems shadowed
by strife and violence.

In 1982, Argentina
and Great Britain

went to war
over the Falklands Island,

which are roughly
400 miles offshore.

♪ ♪

San Julian
was a major air base,

and more than a quarter of all
sorties took off from here.

What looks like a white
monolith from one angle

reveals a memorial to the war,
with a plane tail

and an outline
of the Falklands.

♪ ♪

40 years later, the airstrip
is largely unused,

and the planes' hangers
and bunkers are abandoned.

♪ ♪

The Patagonian desert

is gradually
reclaiming this land.

♪ ♪

From San Julian, Magellan
and his crew sailed south

once the weather improved.

Their entire mission
was centered on one thing:

discovering a western
sea route to Asia.

♪ ♪

Here, at Cape Virgenes,

the expedition
discovered a channel

that connected the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans,

changing the world forever.

♪ ♪

A lighthouse marks the opening
to the Straits of Magellan,

named in honor
of the expedition's leader.

For the first time in history,

humans could now sail
all the way around the planet.

Today, cargo ships
still use the same shortcut.

♪ ♪

Until the Panama Canal
was built,

this was a vital lifeline
for international trade.

And today, the lighthouse
still beckons

to globetrotters.

Just of a very different sort.

This is literally
the end of the road,

mile marker zero on route 40.

This legendary road unfurls
the length of Argentina,

and, at over 3,000 miles,

is the longest one
in the country.

Ricardo Lapettina
and "Toni" Giorgetta

started this journey

more than 2,000 miles
from here.

♪ ♪

For 11 years, they've been
exploring Argentina's

dusty backroads
on their motorcycles.

But finally reaching this spot
is a dream come true for both.

♪ ♪

500 years ago,
Magellan and his crew

sailed west
through the strait.

On the far side, they saw
fires burning on an island

that seemed shrouded in smoke.

They named it
"Tierra del Fuego"

or "Land Of Fire."

But it is really a land
of brutal winds.

It blows constantly,

and almost always
from the west.

The wind is so powerful,

it seems the trees
bow down before it.

Known as "flag trees,"

these native beech trees
grow bent in the wind,

trying to put up
the least resistance

to the brutal gusts.

[dramatic music]

Across the trailing end
of the Andes Mountains,

Ushuaia is the southernmost
city in the world.

In the early 1900s,

it grew up around
the Presidio de Ushuaia,

a cluster of prisons.

Like an Argentine Siberia,

it held hardcore criminals
and political prisoners.

Closed in 1947
after reports of abuse,

it is now a museum.

[soft music]

And the town itself has
become a tourist destination.

Cruise ships
now line the harbor.

Ushuaia sits on the north side
of the Beagle Channel.

Like the Straits of Magellan,

it connects the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans,

forming a shortcut.

♪ ♪

It's named after
a British ship

that charted the area's waters
and coastline

in the early 1800s.

♪ ♪

The captain and one passenger
on the second voyage

would go on
to even greater fame.

The boat was under
the command of Robert Fitzroy,

who was a pioneer
in weather forecasting.

The legendary mountain
is his namesake.

Also onboard
was an unassuming naturalist

who would revolutionize our
understanding of evolution:

Charles Darwin.

He was awed by what he found
in Patagonia.

Today, retracing
Darwin's route,

much of the land
is sparsely populated.

♪ ♪

Here, at Puerto Almanza,

just 30 families spread out
over a 5-mile coastline.

All of them live off
small-scale,

independent fishing.

♪ ♪

To ensure that the fishery
stays sustainable,

they set single pots

and keep
just the large male crabs.

The government has also banned
large-scale salmon farms

as another way
to maintain balance

in this delicate ecosystem.

♪ ♪

Traveling down
the Beagle Channel,

Darwin would have also passed
this strange formation.

Jutting up in the middle
of the channel,

these rocks
are a shipping hazard.

So the government
built a lighthouse,

painted it
a classic red and white,

and fired it up in 1920.

Sea lions didn't seem bothered
by the new tower

on a favorite sunbathing rock.

It became known
as "Faro del Fin del Mundo,"

or "the lighthouse
at the end of the world."

♪ ♪

100 years later,
it still feels that way.

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

This is where the journey ends

in a trek across Patagonia.

Named for mythic giants,

this is where some
of the world's largest animals

still call home,

where the Wild West--

or, really, the Wild South--
lives on,

and where mountains challenge
and inspire

both body and soul.

Patagonia.

This is truly
the land of extremes.