Desert Speaks

On The Road To Cajamarca

In this episode, host David Yetman, his brother, geologist Dick Yetman and South American archeologist Axel Nielson start at sea level in the town of Chiclayo and then journey upward to the town of Cajamarca. In Chiclayo, they explore the "witches' market," where they find herbs, hallucinogens and other natural remedies that promise everything from basic protection from curses to headache cures. As the trek continues, stop to examine pre-Incan mountaintop aqueducts hand carved into the thick rock of the Andes. Near the outskirts of Cajamarca, the crew visits the Ventanillas de Otuzco ("Little Windows of Otuzco"), an area where a deposit of volcanic ash provided natives with the material to create a stunning commemorative memorial for their ancestors. The episode concludes in Cajamarca with a climb up an Incan stairway to view the city as an Incan emperor would have surveyed his domain.