0:00:03 > 0:00:06I've been travelling the world for the past 25 years.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10I've met so many people in so many countries
0:00:10 > 0:00:14that everyone thinks of me as the man who's been everywhere.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19But in all these years, there's been one big gap in my passport.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Nothing less than the fifth largest country on Earth.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29A country blessed with a melting pot of peoples
0:00:29 > 0:00:31and an abundance of resources.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35A country that's risen almost out of nowhere
0:00:35 > 0:00:38to become a 21st-century superpower.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42It's the host of the next World Cup
0:00:42 > 0:00:44and the next Olympic Games.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It's a country whose time has come.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52How can I say I've seen the world when I haven't seen Brazil?
0:00:53 > 0:00:56OK, waterfall, we defy you!
0:00:56 > 0:00:58We defy you!
0:01:09 > 0:01:13In this episode, I'll be meeting a lot of people I feel I've met before,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16in an epic landscape, both natural and man-made.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19For this is southern Brazil,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21where European and Asian immigrants
0:01:21 > 0:01:25have created a very different culture from the rest of the country.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27And it can still spring plenty of surprises.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31I don't know what I'm doing to the ecological balance here, but there you go!
0:01:31 > 0:01:33CHUCKLES
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Well, I'm on the last leg of my Brazilian journey.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54We're sailing down the coast from Rio.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Behind me is Brazil's other rainforest,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00the Mata Atlantica, the Atlantic rainforest.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04We're approaching a town which was once one of the most prosperous in the whole of Brazil.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09It's called Parati, where the gold came out and slaves went in.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16300 years ago, Parati lay at the end of the Camino d'Oro,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19the Gold Trail, which led through the mountains
0:02:19 > 0:02:21to the goldmines of the interior.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26It was a road built by slaves for other slaves
0:02:26 > 0:02:28to carry the gold, which, for 100 years
0:02:28 > 0:02:31made this little town fabulously wealthy.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39But pirates made a habit of robbing the galleons that set sail from Parati.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The gold trade moved north, and the town fell into a steady decline
0:02:43 > 0:02:47which left it largely untouched by the modern world.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51A living embodiment of the colonial period can be found here
0:02:51 > 0:02:54in the shape of Prince John De Orleans e Briganza,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58a staunch republican who's heir to the Brazilian throne.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01I think people would be quite interested to know
0:03:01 > 0:03:05that there was, there is still a royal line in Brazil,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07which you represent.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09It's a very interesting story, yes.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Peter the First, my great-great grandfather,
0:03:12 > 0:03:17he was married to Leopoldina Habsburg from Austria.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20- Napoleon was married with her sister, Marie-Louise.- OK.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23- Napoleon was the brother-in-law. - Yes.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27'Brother-in-law or not, the Portuguese court fled Napoleon's invading troops
0:03:27 > 0:03:30'for the safety of Brazil.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32'Their arrival, in Don John's opinion,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'laid the foundations of today's nation state.'
0:03:35 > 0:03:40A very interesting thing. Brazil, before their arrival, was a colony.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45After their arrival in 1808, Brazil turned into a nation.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49From one moment to the other, the founding of many institutions,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53cultural, scientific, and political institutions.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55- Is she one of the princesses?- Yes.
0:03:55 > 0:04:02- Princess Isabel.- Beautiful.- She signed the law giving total freedom to slaves in 1888.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06- She's your great... - Great-grandmother. Yes. Grandmother of my father.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13The gold that lay on the other side of the mountains may have run out,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18but it's been replaced by something else the rest of the world buys from Brazil.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21A half-hour flight from Parati,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24brings me to one of Brazil's great success stories.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Well, it was until I took the controls!
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I'm in the simulator at Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft builder
0:04:37 > 0:04:40which turns out 200 planes a year.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52From being almost bankrupt 15 years ago,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56it's now the third largest manufacturer of commercial planes
0:04:56 > 0:04:57in the world.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Some people still think of Brazil
0:04:59 > 0:05:02as being too laid-back and relaxed
0:05:02 > 0:05:04for the competitive world of modern industry.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Embraer, with its smart management, technical expertise
0:05:08 > 0:05:12and skilled 17,000-strong workforce is the perfect riposte.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16This is a company snapping at the heels of Boeing and Airbus.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24And they've found a job for me in the paint shop
0:05:24 > 0:05:26with Felipe Galvan.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28For me, this colour blue is difficult to paint.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34- Is it? Why?- Because the blue is very dark. Like a mirror.- Yeah.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37When I paint it's difficult to pass, the speed.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42- I need to very, very specifically... - You have to be very careful
0:05:42 > 0:05:43otherwise, yeah.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47- It's enough?- These are my fashionable shoes!
0:05:47 > 0:05:49These are Paul Smith of London.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Paul, if you're watching, look what they're doing!
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- Redesigning your shoes! - The shoes Nike.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01- Nike.- Nike?!- Made in Brazil! Made in Brazil!- No, no, no.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03- Now we're ready to paint. - What colour?
0:06:03 > 0:06:07- The colour is dark blue.- Oh, no. It's a difficult one. You told me. - Yes.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10That's a lovely colour. It's sort of azure blue.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Very, very blue.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15- OK?- Wow. Yeah.- Ready to paint.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17- Paint your shoes, no?- Yeah, good.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Get off!
0:06:20 > 0:06:22- Right, so this goes on. - Put your mask.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25Wow!
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Space man time!
0:06:27 > 0:06:28Your hair, it's blue!
0:06:28 > 0:06:31'Felipe, having finally got over his obsession with my shoes,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'turns his attentions to a bigger game.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37'The tail fin of a Kazakhstan airliner.'
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Two fingers here? All right.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Press! Press! Press!
0:06:57 > 0:06:59- Yes? Let's go again.- Right.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05OK. That's it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Now we need to wait ten minutes
0:07:08 > 0:07:11until the surface has got cold.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13You must be hungry. What time did you have breakfast?
0:07:13 > 0:07:16- 4.00am.- 4.00am?- 4.00am.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21- 4.30am.- Yeah.- And lunch now. And another breakfast 2.00pm.- Ah.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23So you have three meals a day by 2.00pm?
0:07:23 > 0:07:27- What food do you like? What's your favourite?- Meat.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30- Barbecure.- "Barbecure"? Barbecue! Oh, yeah.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32- Brazilians love barbecue. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Now pasta!
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Always pasta.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Do you have a surprise?
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Surprise pea.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44- What?- Surprise pea.- Surprise pea?
0:07:44 > 0:07:46There. It's good.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49'Felipe was so keen to get a job at Embraer
0:07:49 > 0:07:53'that he left his own engagement party to make the interview.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55'He's never looked back.'
0:07:55 > 0:07:58The first time I entered the building, the paint shop,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01I saw many guys painter there.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05And I stood just looking. It was amazing painting. "Whoosh!"
0:08:06 > 0:08:09- Yeah.- And I told myself, "I want to be one of them."
0:08:09 > 0:08:13And I have friends, other friends there,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15and they helped me to get the job here.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- Does it pay well? - Yeah. Pays very well.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20What sort of...
0:08:20 > 0:08:26- Today, I earn more or less 3,500 reals a month.- 3,500 reals a month.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31- That's about £1,500. I'm just trying to think, a month. Not bad.- Not bad.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- So how did it change your life? - Everything.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39- Like what?- Because this job I bought my apartment, my house. Everything that I have today.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45And I have a good car, a good life. I have a good life.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47- Yeah.- I buy everything. I have Xbox.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50- I buy my Xbox. Everything.- Yeah.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54What would you like to do? Would you like to go up from painting
0:08:54 > 0:08:57to some other thing? To administration?
0:08:57 > 0:09:00No, I don't think about this. I like to be a painter.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03- That's enough for me.- You're happy doing what you're doing.- Yeah.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05I stop with what I have now.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09'He's an enviable combination of hard work and happiness.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15'Embraer's speciality is short-haul commercial jets.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19'One of their regular customers is Dutch carrier KLM.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22They've taken 21 Cityhoppers
0:09:22 > 0:09:25and are today taking delivery of their 22nd.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30It's an important moment marked by a very silly ceremony...
0:09:31 > 0:09:34..involving the Brazilian seller, the Dutch buyer and me!
0:09:36 > 0:09:38- You wear the clogs?- OK, yes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Good for flying!
0:09:40 > 0:09:42OK. There we go.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48I hope they fit. They look a little big for me. Oh, they're very snug!
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Is it just one?
0:09:52 > 0:09:53There we go.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Thank you very much. That's very kind of you.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59What is next is we have Dutch fish. What you call eels.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03It's smoked eel. When it's smoked, we call it "paling".
0:10:03 > 0:10:07- Paling. Oh, I never knew that. - Very similar to your name.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10People ask where my name comes from.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14I've never heard it coming from smoked eel!
0:10:14 > 0:10:15So that's something useful.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18- I like eel.- You should try it.- OK.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25- Just try it.- Thank you very much.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28I'll be the first to try it. A bit of "paling".
0:10:28 > 0:10:31It's really good.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47It might seem a bit whacky, but this is a very important part of the whole delivery process.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Because they're here, the KLM people, to do final checks
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and then in a week's time, they'll have to write the big cheque
0:10:54 > 0:10:56to pay for the plane.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59So that's why everyone's very happy and jolly,
0:10:59 > 0:11:04but underneath it all, there's a lot of money hanging on this cloggy, palingy moment!
0:11:08 > 0:11:09- Can I have one more?- Of course!
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I like this paling.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14For some reason. I don't like all paling.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24'Taisse is the woman from Embraer who's been cashing in those big KLM cheques
0:11:24 > 0:11:25'for the past few years.'
0:11:25 > 0:11:28You've obviously got a good relationship with KLM.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Does anybody else provide smoked eels and...
0:11:32 > 0:11:34No, no. Not really.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40But I must confess, in the beginning, we were expecting something more serious,
0:11:40 > 0:11:41more cool.
0:11:41 > 0:11:48Then, when they come, they come with smiling faces and very open-minded talking to us,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50doing this kind of exchange culture thing.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53So it surprised us a lot.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55GREETING
0:11:57 > 0:11:59How do you feel when it all goes through?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Do you feel proud of what's being done here?
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Totally, yes. Totally.
0:12:02 > 0:12:10To see the airplane going back home with the customer very satisfied,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12it's part of us. We are proud of it,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15we are proud of our product and we represent Brazil.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18This is for us. It's crazy.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Crazy it may be, but as another 40-million-worth of airliner takes to the sky,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33one Brazilian company is getting it exactly right.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39A few minutes' flying time from Embraer,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43the vast megalopolis of Sao Paulo, largest city in the southern hemisphere,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46rises like a man-made forest.
0:12:46 > 0:12:5040 million people, one in five Brazilians,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53live in Sao Paulo and its surrounding state.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57This is the economic and financial heart of Brazil,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00and it's already full to overflowing.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11The very rich Paulistas have grown so impatient with the crush and the congestion
0:13:11 > 0:13:13that they no longer live on the ground
0:13:13 > 0:13:14but in the skies above.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Sao Paulo is the helicopter capital of the world.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27It's not surprising that it's also the traffic jam capital of the world.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31One of them recently reckoned to be nearly 200 miles long!
0:13:31 > 0:13:36So here in the city, there are 400 helicopters making 300 journeys a day.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39The rich and successful go from building to building
0:13:39 > 0:13:43to make meetings without ever having to touch the ground.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I'm going with one of those people today. In the helicopter with Wilson Quintella,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50king of Brazilian garbage!
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Wilson Quintella can look down on Sao Paulo with some satisfaction.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08Last year, his waste management company, Estre Ambiantal,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10made a £400 million turnover
0:14:10 > 0:14:13from everything that Sao Paulo throws away.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Wilson, like many multi-millionaires,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20travels his empire by air.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Today, he's flying me to one of his biggest landfill sites,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25just outside Sao Paulo.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29"Waste is just the beginning" is the company slogan.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31As far as Wilson's concerned,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33every rubbish tip has a silver lining.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41- So you're in the right business. Garbage is big business.- Yes.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42It's growing a lot.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47We... Brazil brought about 40 million people who was in poverty.
0:14:47 > 0:14:5040 million people who were poor are now consumers?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53It's making 40,000 tonnes per day.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56That's the waste of a city like Sao Paolo.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Wilson, this is not just about collecting people's garbage.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- This is business, isn't it? - Oh, yeah.- It's big money.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05- Yeah. Well, big money, I don't mean...- I don't know.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09- Not big money.- Your profits last year were good.- It is good, yeah.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12And it's growing all over the world.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17But I believe the most interesting thing is that we can do an environment business
0:15:17 > 0:15:20joined with an economical business.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22We can get money from the recycle.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26I believe that is what will change completely this market for now on work.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Maybe one day we are going to pay to the garbage.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35For instance, like cans, like paper, all these have a market.
0:15:35 > 0:15:41Nowadays, China imports more plastic coming from the recycling business
0:15:41 > 0:15:46than the total consumption of Brazil, in terms of plastic.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Recycling used to be confined to poor people scavenging rubbish tips.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Wilson acknowledges their contribution
0:15:53 > 0:15:56by offering them a safe and secure role in his business.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58In Brazil, this market is booming
0:15:58 > 0:16:01because we are having economic growth
0:16:01 > 0:16:03and besides that we have a new law
0:16:03 > 0:16:07that obliges to finish with dumping
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and obliges at least to recycle 20% of the total waste.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12It's going to be a revolution in Brazil,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16as we have a huge opportunity for companies like ours.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Not to make money, but to do something good for society.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22- And make a profit.- And make some money.- Come on.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30The scavengers who eke a living from rubbish dumps
0:16:30 > 0:16:33have recently received the ultimate accolade.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37To become characters in one of Brazil's hugely popular soap operas.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Avenida Brasil.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41THEY SPEAK PORTUGUESE
0:16:57 > 0:17:00One of the stars of Avenida Brazil is Carolina Ferraz,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04a much-admired actress with over 20 soaps under her belt.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08She's the perfect person to show me round the make-believe world
0:17:08 > 0:17:09where the stories are filmed
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and to explain just how they do it.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17And here, if you look, you have all the outside cities.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19They built the scenario outside.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Each soap opera has its own.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24So we go there and shoot.
0:17:24 > 0:17:25Shall we get out and have a look?
0:17:27 > 0:17:30DIRECTS IN PORTUGUESE
0:17:38 > 0:17:42So what's actually happening now in this part of the story?
0:17:42 > 0:17:45They are shooting the soap opera, telenovela, called Avenida Brasil.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Which is the one I'm shooting now as well.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51And this is the neighbourhood, the outside set.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54We have the poor neighbourhood. Everything that happens, happens here.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57- This is the poor neighbourhood? - They don't know we're shooting.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02- Everything is happening. - Everyone's acting. We're acting, they're acting.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06It's very realistic, actually.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08A lot of extras,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11a lot of camera shooting at different angles.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14If you think about it, we shoot something like 30 scenes per day.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18- 30 scenes a day.- So it's like shooting a whole movie a week.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20What sort of character do you play?
0:18:20 > 0:18:25I play part of the comic part of the soap opera.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28I play a very rich woman who is going to lose everything.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I'm going to become poor and I'm going to come and live here.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35- Doesn't sound very comic!- It's in the comic way. It's not tragic.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37- No.- I'm going to come here
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and I'm going to make lots of confusion with all the characters.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42It's going to be fun!
0:18:42 > 0:18:45IN PORTUGUESE
0:18:52 > 0:18:54There's something about soap operas.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59I see them on television sets all over Brazil. Tell me how popular they are.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01It's like our Hollywood. People love it.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07People truly don't go out of their houses because they want to stay and watch the soap operas.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11And because we don't have a soap opera that goes on for ten years,
0:19:11 > 0:19:18our soap operas they go on for something like six to eight months, maximum eight months.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20So everybody knows that it's going to end.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25So everybody wants to follow it to know what is going to happen and how it's going to finish.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27Who is going to marry who in the end.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31- This is...- You say everybody. What size of audience does that mean?
0:19:31 > 0:19:37It's huge. It's something like 72 million people watching you every night.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39It's amazing. It's crazy, isn't it?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43Is it like people working out their own dreams through you?
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Or is it more real life?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50They sort of have a social obligation.
0:19:50 > 0:19:57They always bring different issues, topic issues, that people as a society should discuss.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Because it's so popular.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And we are in such a poor country.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04So we use this, because it's very popular,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06to debate different issues.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Setting a part of Avenida Brasil in the rubbish dump
0:20:14 > 0:20:18has given a voice to a previously marginalised under-class.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25This is what is new in Brazil.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29They're starting to have these kind of characters coming out
0:20:29 > 0:20:31and they're speaking to society.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37- This is what is fresh now. It's so...- Previously, no-one would have bothered about them or listened.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39They wouldn't have space to come out.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42That's not about people paying attention to them,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45they didn't just have the chance to come out.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49And you think this is because Brazil itself is more confident and prosperous
0:20:49 > 0:20:53so they don't feel threatened by people at the bottom of the pile?
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Now people have more real chances.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Increasingly, the voices that are being heard in Brazil
0:21:02 > 0:21:04are the voices from the shanty town,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07none louder than that of Criolo.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Criolo is a rapper, poet and composer.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17His poems are eloquent but enigmatic,
0:21:17 > 0:21:19delivering a message that has struck a chord
0:21:19 > 0:21:22with a generation who have grown up at the bottom of the pile.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Carolina is an admirer, and has taken me to meet him.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29When you were growing up and what you saw around,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34did it make you angry in any way, the way people were treated?
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The way people lived? Did it make you angry with the system?
0:21:40 > 0:21:43- TRANSLATOR:- 'We can't feel how hot the pot of soup is
0:21:43 > 0:21:45'if we are the vegetables inside the soup.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50'Our system here has been broken for 80 years
0:21:50 > 0:21:53'and we are the ones paying for the super-glue to keep the thing together.'
0:21:53 > 0:21:59The economy is going well at the moment. It seems to be going well for Brazil.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Do they notice any change as a result of that?
0:22:08 > 0:22:13'The detail seems to be in the word he used before - "seems" to be going well.'
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Yeah.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21'Anyway, we have to think that this situation
0:22:21 > 0:22:23'has to last for at least 50 years,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26'otherwise I don't know.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30'To think that five or ten years would change a single leaf under this tree.'
0:22:32 > 0:22:36His bleak views might be uncomfortable for many Brazilians.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40But the man himself doesn't behave like a prophet of doom.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Criolo remains engagingly loyal to the streets where he grew up.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Streets where poverty is endemic,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54but where the compensations, like the music that nurtured him,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56still raise the spirits.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24On the other side of Sao Paulo
0:23:24 > 0:23:28are the affluent streets which cater for the burgeoning new middle class.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32Someone who did more than most to set this tide in motion
0:23:32 > 0:23:36is the man credited with turning the Brazilian economy round
0:23:36 > 0:23:38in the 1990s.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41He's former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43known to all as FHC.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46I talked to him about his home city.
0:23:46 > 0:23:52- Being in Sao Paulo, I'm aware of the importance of immigration to this city.- Yes.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57I suppose people saw Brazil then as like America?
0:23:57 > 0:23:59It was a dream for them.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03This is a kind of America. In our minds, we are European.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08We consider ourselves as kind of a part of Europe.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09This is senseless, because we are not!
0:24:09 > 0:24:13But then the feeling was much more European.
0:24:13 > 0:24:19And I used to say in our culture, we are much more Americans than Europeans.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21This is a new nation. Migration.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Blacks in Brazil like in America.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The true melting pot is not US, it's Brazil.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33- Yes. Yes.- Because in the US, they live together.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35- But they don't integrate each other. - No.
0:24:35 > 0:24:41In Brazil, it's much easier to be part of the similar confusion of things.
0:24:41 > 0:24:47- Yes.- It's how you live with the other is more relaxing here. No doubts.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53What FHC calls "living with the other"
0:24:53 > 0:24:57is something that characterises the cosmopolitan streets of Sao Paulo.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02One of the largest of the many groups of immigrants
0:25:02 > 0:25:04to have found their fortune here are the Japanese.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Here we are, the Sao Paulo Shimbun.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Something for every community.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Sao Paulo is a city of immigrants.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23It's the sixth biggest city in the world, the largest city in the southern hemisphere
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and it's made up of people from all other parts of the world.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30In the country alone, there's 1.5 million Japanese in Brazil.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33And see, they have their own papers, for which I must now pay.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Hello. Hola!
0:25:36 > 0:25:39RELIGIOUS CHANTING
0:25:45 > 0:25:50In the Liberdade district, which is the heart of the Japanese Brazilian community,
0:25:50 > 0:25:56they're celebrating the start of Hanamatsuri, the traditional Japanese Flower Festival.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00The priest is blessing one of the tiniest Buddhas I've ever seen!
0:26:00 > 0:26:04The participants are mainly businessmen of a certain age.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07But one of the younger onlookers is Jun Takake.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Why did they come to Brazil, your grandparents?
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Because they were fortunate to work with agriculture here.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15- Oh, in agriculture.- Yes.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17They started to work in the farms to make money
0:26:17 > 0:26:21to come back to Japan and to buy a farm and start to...
0:26:21 > 0:26:25But most of them, they keep here.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29- And they're still now here, and that's why I'm here!- Yeah.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32My grandparents, they said, "No, Brazil is good.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35"I want to keep stay here, not go back to Japan."
0:26:37 > 0:26:43Is there any problem with Japanese inter-marrying with other immigrant groups or other races?
0:26:43 > 0:26:45No, not now. In the beginning, yes.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49But now we have a lot of these mixtures and cultures.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55A lot of Brazilian Japanese marry with Brazilian girls.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59And Italians or Russians or Germans.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01No, it's not a problem.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Because we are in Brazil. I'm born in Brazil.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06So I'm Brazilian Japanese.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Jun, like millions of other immigrants,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20has been willingly sucked in to the collective identity
0:27:20 > 0:27:22of the country he now calls home.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28In some areas of life, non-Brazilian stereotypes are very much alive and well.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Supermodels, for instance, like Gisele Bundchen,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33tend to the Teutonic.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Bundchen has made a fortune from not looking particularly Brazilian.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39And, unsurprisingly,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42she's become a model for all potential models.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Her brand of tall, long-legged elegance
0:27:45 > 0:27:48is drawn largely from an area some way from Sao Paulo.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55500 miles south, in the city of Blumenau,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58white European immigrants predominate.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Here, where the buildings are half-timbered
0:28:00 > 0:28:02and the beer drunk in steins,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07is a fertile recruiting ground for some of the most sought-after models in the world.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13One of them, a second-generation German, local girl Priscila Falaster,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17is already well-established on the fashion runways of the world.
0:28:17 > 0:28:23Is it a big ambition of girls in Brazil to be a model?
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Like Gisele Bundchen, or someone like that?
0:28:26 > 0:28:30- Is it something that girls want to be?- Yes.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Everybody wants so much to be a model here.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37Maybe because we have Gisele Bundchen
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and the girls say, "Oh, my God, I want this life."
0:28:40 > 0:28:45Do you feel quite proud of what you've done, you know,
0:28:45 > 0:28:47for you're here in Blumenau?
0:28:47 > 0:28:51- Yes.- Do you feel quite good? You've done...- I am so proud.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54I am so proud because I love here.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57When I have been German,
0:28:57 > 0:29:02I'm so happy because my grandfather is from there.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04And here I am so proud
0:29:04 > 0:29:08because it's one beautiful city.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11And they have culture, do you understand?
0:29:11 > 0:29:13And they have German's buildings.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16- Yeah.- I love. I love here.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29I think I know what she means
0:29:29 > 0:29:31as I see everywhere around me
0:29:31 > 0:29:35a world I'd never expected to find in the land of sun, sea and samba.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40I've now reached the deep south of Brazil,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43over 3,000 miles from where I started
0:29:43 > 0:29:45just up by the Venezuelan border.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49And the immigrants who've settled this part of Brazil are very different.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51SPEAKS GERMAN
0:29:56 > 0:30:00My preconceptions of Brazil need some readjusting
0:30:00 > 0:30:04as I find myself drawn ever more deeply into a different place
0:30:04 > 0:30:06and a different time.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10In the small town of Pomoroj,
0:30:10 > 0:30:1390% of the inhabitants not only speak German,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17but speak it with a 19th-century Pomeranian dialect.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19And funny hats are obligatory.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Like so many immigrants, the Germans of Pomeroj stick to their old ways
0:30:27 > 0:30:31with a fervour that the homeland rarely equals.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Complete with whoops, yells, accordions,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and dances that Health and Safety would have banned years ago!
0:30:57 > 0:31:02Drinking a lot of beer helps if you're wielding an axe right next to your foot!
0:31:03 > 0:31:05I've been enlisted to help Ingo Pens,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09who sells ice-cold Pilsner from a motorcycle side-car.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Ingo sees my potential as a travelling barman.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Ooh, what a creamy top that is.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16OK?
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Tip it up a little, dear. That's it. There we go.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22- Hi.- Hi, yes, now you'll want a lot. You're hot.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25You're hot. Heit.
0:31:25 > 0:31:26Strong beer. There.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Oops.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36- Prost.- Beifall.- Very good. To the team. To the team!
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Then, just when I thought I could get quietly pissed...
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Oh! Thank you!
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Ah, well, here we go.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Ah.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55- OK. Yes.- Yes.- Yes. All right, I've got that bit.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19After some initial embarrassment, I get into the swing of it
0:32:19 > 0:32:22and soon we're a fully-fledged dancing unit.
0:32:33 > 0:32:34Thank you!
0:32:35 > 0:32:38But you can only have so much fun.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40And now it's time to get back on the road with Ingo.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43At a leisurely pace, he takes me on his beer bike
0:32:43 > 0:32:47to visit one of the oldest immigrant families in the area.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Hannah Laura has invited me to join her
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and some of her 14 brothers and sisters and their children
0:32:53 > 0:32:56for a traditional Pomeranian Sunday lunch.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58SPEAKS GERMAN
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Yeah.
0:33:03 > 0:33:04Stir well.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09What she's making now is a traditional Pomeranian stuffing
0:33:09 > 0:33:10which was brought over from Germany...
0:33:12 > 0:33:14..to have with the duck.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19You've got to have a strong arm to do that.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26In it goes.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31PRAYS IN GERMAN
0:33:52 > 0:33:55So how do you feel, Hannah Laura?
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Do you feel German first
0:33:57 > 0:33:59and Brazilian second
0:33:59 > 0:34:02or do you feel Brazilian but German as well?
0:34:02 > 0:34:04- TRANSLATION:- I feel German first.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08In most of Brazil, the immigrant people,
0:34:08 > 0:34:12whether they've come from Italy or Spain or Portugal,
0:34:12 > 0:34:15they all become Brazilian.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20But here, you remain very German.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23You're very strongly attached to your German identity.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27Why is that different from all the other immigrants in Brazil?
0:34:32 > 0:34:37'I think it's maybe because our forefathers left us the culture
0:34:37 > 0:34:38'and the customs.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40'And every family from Germany
0:34:40 > 0:34:42'wants to make sure it continues,
0:34:42 > 0:34:46'wants to make sure we pass it on to our children and grandchildren
0:34:46 > 0:34:48'so it doesn't die out.'
0:34:53 > 0:34:55They call this the European Valley,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58largely settled by Germans like Hannah Laura
0:34:58 > 0:35:01who don't seem in any hurry to assimilate.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04My evening with Ingo is hardly going to break the mould.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06He's taking me to a bierkeller!
0:35:10 > 0:35:14The band is led by a man called Michael Lochner,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16who, for once, is not Brazilian German.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19He's actually German German!
0:35:24 > 0:35:28He came here for a beer festival, met a local girl and stayed.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38His band is quintessentially Brazilian,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40and they don't take it all too seriously.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44One of their biggest hits is called White Sausage Samba.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49So you're really dealing with a quite difficult fusion
0:35:49 > 0:35:53of Brazilian and German and Portuguese and German.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56It's quite challenging.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58- It's very complicated. - And with the music as well.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01You've got brass band and you've got guitar.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04You're playing samba and you're playing oom-pah-pah!
0:36:04 > 0:36:08- We recorded about 15 CDs.- OK.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Up until today, our record company
0:36:12 > 0:36:18don't know where to put them - German, Brazilian, rocking.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23What place in the record store will we put this record?
0:36:23 > 0:36:25It's complicated. Folk? I don't know!
0:36:25 > 0:36:28'He's not the only one who's confused.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32'After a few beers, Michael looks distinctly like a woman!'
0:36:43 > 0:36:45So the German and Brazilian senses of humour
0:36:45 > 0:36:49can appreciate the same thing?
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Or not?
0:36:51 > 0:36:53I think it's different!
0:36:53 > 0:36:57What's the German... All right, we know the German sense of humour.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00It's nice and good. They love Monty Python so it must be great.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03But Brazilian sense of humour? How different is that?
0:37:03 > 0:37:05What do they laugh at?
0:37:05 > 0:37:09It's... It's... For me, it's a little bit superficial.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Is it? Yes?
0:37:11 > 0:37:15I think Brazil, it's a country for many immigrating countries -
0:37:15 > 0:37:18Italians, Germans, Portuguese,
0:37:18 > 0:37:19Spanish, all.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21This is... It's complicated.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24- Yes.- To mix this mixture,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27to understand the same kind of humour.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48The surprises of southern Brazil keep on coming.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50Like this wonderful railway train.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Brazil's railway heyday was 100 years ago
0:37:54 > 0:37:57and it's rare to find a train that still carries passengers.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00We're running on a freight line
0:38:00 > 0:38:02cut through the Mata Atlantica.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04The scenery is spectacular
0:38:04 > 0:38:07and we few lucky passengers
0:38:07 > 0:38:09are thoroughly spoiled.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14I'm sharing my champagne with a serious young Brazilian called Marcelo.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20- It's a good way to see the forest, isn't it?- Yes.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Because there are no roads here, only the railway.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26It gives us this chance to see it. It's beautiful.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Yes, it's so beautiful. And it's amazing
0:38:29 > 0:38:34because 12% of the bio-diversity of the world is right here.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38- 12% of the bio-diversity of the world.- Yes.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40You see all this, the forest,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43and it makes you feel quite spiritual, in a way.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47You know, about how this came to be. Why is it so beautiful, all that.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Do you have a religious belief? Are you a Catholic?
0:38:51 > 0:38:54No, I'm a spiritualist.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57- I believe in spiritualism.- Right.
0:38:57 > 0:38:58- Yeah.- I believe in that.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02And I believe too, that the forest is a big soul.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07It provide us our energy, our light.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Everything that we need comes from the forests.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15Do many people, young Brazilians like you, feel the same thing?
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Yes, it's amazing because many people feel like me.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Many people now is feeling this important thing.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25The nature, human people, the animals,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27everything is connected.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31We can change, we need to change this world.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33We are part of everything.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36What is your...
0:39:36 > 0:39:40This is from Maori culture.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42- Maori?- Maori culture.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46I pass one week Dreaming with the Maori people.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50- Dreaming?- Dreaming.- Oh, yes, doing the Dream culture.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52And the Maori people, one man,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54with tattoo,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56is teaching me to carve.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58- Oh, right.- I never did that before.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02- Of course, I've seen that in... - This is the first job that I made.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06And when I give for the person, like this,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08- and have a pray.- OK.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12I have a pray and desire everything. This is for you, Michael.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17This is for you. You're gonna use this to protect.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20To protect your family, to protect your body,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22your mind, your spirits.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24This is a gift for you right now.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29OK. Receive my love, the universe love. OK?
0:40:29 > 0:40:31Do you know you can feel?
0:40:31 > 0:40:32This is for you.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36- Thank you.- This is yours.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38- This is mine?- This is for you.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40This is for you.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42That's... I'm very touched.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Very touched.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- Thank you.- This is a gift for you, my friend.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Michael. My old new friend.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54- Thank you.- You are welcome.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59My encounter with Marcelo is typical of many I've had on my way through Brazil.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04There's a sense of openness and un-self-consciousness about people here.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06If they like you, they'll tell you.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09There's nothing better than a breath of Brazilian fresh air
0:41:09 > 0:41:12to blow the dust off British reserve.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I can't leave Brazil without reminding myself once again
0:41:24 > 0:41:29of the size, scale and beauty of its rarely visited interior.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32I'm flying 500 miles to the west
0:41:32 > 0:41:34where the central plateau drops away.
0:41:34 > 0:41:39Below lies a very different vista of lagoon and forest.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41It's the largest wetland in the world.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43They call it the Pantanal
0:41:43 > 0:41:45and the transport is traditional.
0:41:45 > 0:41:50Take the camera off for the undignified bit!
0:41:51 > 0:41:53- So, in like that.- Hold it there.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57Very good.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00- OK?- Good.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02This is about the speed I like!
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Thank you, Alex. Thanks.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15'Alex and my fellow horsemen are the Brazilian counterpart
0:42:15 > 0:42:17'of the Gauchos in Argentina,
0:42:17 > 0:42:22'and here, as there, their life is inextricably linked to the movement of cattle.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26'The young cattle are particularly vulnerable to predators,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28'as I'm to find out.'
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You're going to be looked at.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39'This calf has been attacked and needs to be treated.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42'One of the team keeps the mother at bay
0:42:42 > 0:42:45'whilst Alex supplies some modern medicine.'
0:42:53 > 0:42:56He has been attacked by a jaguar.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Oh, really? What damage has been done?
0:43:00 > 0:43:03- Been attacked.- Yes, attacked. You see it has bitten his neck.- OK.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07He's lucky because the mom is really courage.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11- The mother would have attacked the jaguar?- Yes. Defending him.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19I'm going to leave him.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27- So you were just able to put some antiseptic on?- Yeah.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Antiseptic. If it's too big,
0:43:29 > 0:43:32we get some dry shit.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34- Dry shit?- And put it in. - Really?- Yeah.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36- And that helps heal the wound?- Yeah.
0:43:38 > 0:43:39You don't often see that.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Calf attacked by jaguar.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Anyway, better go. Calves to save, work to be done.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47Come on, camera.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52They respect the old ways here.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Even down to the mighty curved horn that's carried to summon the cattle.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21There's a peace and serenity here in the Pantanal
0:44:21 > 0:44:25that's like nectar after the crowded cities of the coast.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29The cattle ranch, or fazenda, where I'm staying,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32has been run by the Rondon family for nearly 100 years.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37Pollyanna Rondon, the naturalist among the family,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40tells me about the reality of living in a wetland.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44The water will reach about 1.5 metres high.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Really? So where we are here,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50- it would be up to about there.- Yes. - In the wet season.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52We would never do walking here!
0:44:52 > 0:44:54Just the top of my hat would be sticking out!
0:44:56 > 0:44:58- They are ducks.- Yes.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04- Over there, those big... Are they the jab...- Jabiru. Jabiru stork.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08- Yes. They're the big... - There's a couple of Jabiru stork.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12- They are dating already.- Are they? - They are.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15They are normally in couples. They live together.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18And over there we also have some aigrettes.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22- Yes.- And we also have some ibis, over there.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24- Yes.- We call quiticaca in Portuguese.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28The names in Portuguese are related to the sound they produce.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32This bird makes something like, "Quiticaca! Quiticaca!"
0:45:32 > 0:45:34Right.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37- I know the pentivi? That's a bird, isn't it?- Yes.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39How does it go?
0:45:39 > 0:45:41- Pentivi! Pentivi!- Pentivi! Yeah.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04'Lunch with Pollyanna and her father-in-law
0:46:04 > 0:46:07'is a simple affair of two pigs and a half a calf.'
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Just to get an idea of the scale, the Pantanal is big, isn't it?
0:46:11 > 0:46:16- It's an enormous area.- They say we are the size of Holland and Belgium together.
0:46:16 > 0:46:17Holland and Belgium?
0:46:17 > 0:46:21Belgium's always dragged in as a country to measure size by!
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Holland AND Belgium! That's a tricky one!
0:46:24 > 0:46:28'Guillerme Rondon is a descendant of the great Brazilian explorer,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30'Colonel Candido Rondon,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34'the first man to map and settle the Pantanal.'
0:46:34 > 0:46:37This idea of Brazilian - what is Brazilian and all that.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42Being a Pantanero, is something which is more important than being a Brazilian?
0:46:42 > 0:46:44- Or is it...- You answer this!
0:46:44 > 0:46:47SHE TRANSLATES
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Yes.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53- Yes.- Yes, because it's...
0:46:53 > 0:46:55SPEAKS PORTUGUESE
0:46:55 > 0:46:58- It comes from the soul. - Comes from the soul.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Yes, something you feel. Yes.
0:47:05 > 0:47:06PORTUGUESE
0:47:06 > 0:47:10I see this. Like Espacion who was serving the meat for us.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12He's proud of being a Pantanal man.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Much more he would say that than a Brazilian.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Of course he's happy to be a Brazilian,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20but he would say, "I am a Pantanal man."
0:47:20 > 0:47:22- And be proud of it.- Yes.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32'To see more of this unique wetland,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36'I take to the river in the company of another proud Pantanal man,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38'my guide, John.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41'Pollyanna joked that they don't have big game here,
0:47:41 > 0:47:43'only small game.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46'But there's some impressively ferocious life on the riverbank.'
0:47:47 > 0:47:49So tell me, John, it's a...
0:47:49 > 0:47:53The spectacled or Paraguayan caiman.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56- Yeah.- It reaches a maximum of three metres.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01- Yeah.- They rest in the day and hunt at night.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03What does it hunt?
0:48:03 > 0:48:07- It hunts mainly fish.- Yeah.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10Up to frogs and baby capybara
0:48:10 > 0:48:13it can swallow whole.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15They rest there with their mouth open, do they?
0:48:15 > 0:48:17Ah, he's moved now.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Opening the mouth is for innards and metabolism.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27- Ah.- Regulating the function of the ambience.- OK.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35- Sorry.- Sorry!
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Now here's something else I've never seen on safari before.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45A capybara.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47It's the largest rodent in the world.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Seems oddly embarrassed about the fact!
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Tell me about the capybara.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59The capybara is the biggest rodent of the world.
0:48:59 > 0:49:07That is the male which reaches about 65 to 70 kilograms.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Do they live on land or in the water?
0:49:09 > 0:49:13They spend some time on the land and in the water.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15They're easy prey for puma and jaguar.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17And jaguar, right.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20And you said caiman can also eat them.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23- The caimans eat the baby ones. - Eat the babies, yes.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25- It can swallow whole.- Right.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Their self-defence is to jump in the water if it's scared of something.
0:49:30 > 0:49:31OK.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42As the day wears on, John finds a spot for some quiet fishing.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46It's what he's trying to catch that worries me slightly.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50- You're catching piranha? - Catching piranha, yes.
0:49:50 > 0:49:51Let it go down.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53Like this.
0:49:53 > 0:49:54- Short and fast.- OK.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57- OK?- Yep.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59'I'm not a natural fisherman.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02'But the thought that I might bring to the surface
0:50:02 > 0:50:05'something that could strip the flesh from my bones in seconds
0:50:05 > 0:50:07'makes me more than usually nervous.'
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Yes, that's good.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Work the fish. Work the fish as well, please.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15- Oh.- Escaped it.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21John's refusal to let me give up strengthens my determination.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23This is my Moby Dick moment.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25It's him or me!
0:50:25 > 0:50:28- Ahh!- Almost.- Almost!
0:50:31 > 0:50:33I can feel it eating.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35I can feel it nibbling.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38If you have a long bite, just pull it up strong.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Pull up, not... Wait, wait!
0:50:40 > 0:50:42- Ooh!- Wa-hey!
0:50:42 > 0:50:44This has become dangerous!
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Well, we got one!
0:50:51 > 0:50:52'OK, I nearly took John's eye out,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55'but at least I've seen a piranha.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57'And where there's one, there must be others.'
0:50:58 > 0:50:59OK.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Then, quite suddenly,
0:51:01 > 0:51:02the struggle is over.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05- May I help you?- Yep.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08So hold like this.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11OK. You can take it off.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13- Take it off and hold like this. - Yes, John.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Sorry, old mate. Nothing against you personally.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21- This kind is a...- Is this a...
0:51:21 > 0:51:24Yellow piranha. This kind is a cannibal.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27This kind is a cannibal piranha?
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Hmm.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32So it obviously thought this was another piranha.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Ooh, very sharp teeth.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37- Very sharp.- Don't want to get near those. Yeah.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Let's have a look at it.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43His teeth are worth a look.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49Just introduce him to the viewers.
0:51:49 > 0:51:50So he's a cannibal piranha
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and that's the old teeth, yes.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54That's pretty nasty.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58There are some accidents here because this fish is very slippery.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03- Slippery. It could suddenly... - People do not hold and escape the hand and bite.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06I'm not going to hold it. No, absolutely not.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08Are you going to make some sashimi with it?
0:52:08 > 0:52:10- Here now?- Now?- It would be nice now. - OK.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12Lovely here.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16Freshest sashimi you'll ever get!
0:52:16 > 0:52:18This is John's party-piece.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Five minutes ago, it was swimming around,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23merrily looking for another...
0:52:26 > 0:52:28Another piranha to eat.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30Then disaster struck.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33Palin, after 12 false attempts,
0:52:33 > 0:52:35snatched the little beast from the water
0:52:35 > 0:52:38and now it's sashimi time.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Just throw that to the caiman. Wow.
0:52:52 > 0:52:53OK.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Caiman!
0:52:55 > 0:52:57Here you are, caiman.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01I don't know what I'm doing to the ecological balance,
0:53:01 > 0:53:02but there you go.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24A beautiful sky, isn't it?
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Fantastic clouds.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31- This place is so quiet. - It is, isn't it?
0:53:33 > 0:53:35After you've spent a few days in Sao Paulo...
0:53:35 > 0:53:38anywhere is quiet!
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Here we go.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Here we go, a bit of piranha sashimi.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Mmm!
0:53:56 > 0:53:59It's good. Very good.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01Piranha sashimi at sunset.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Thank you, Brazil.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34It's our last day here,
0:54:34 > 0:54:35and as dusk turns to night,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Guillerme serenades us with his own songs of the Pantanal.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49I'll be sad to leave the good company and immense restfulness of this place.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53But another more epic wetland beckons.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01The Iguazu Falls
0:55:01 > 0:55:03is the biggest waterfall system in the world
0:55:03 > 0:55:07and perhaps the most sublime of Brazil's natural wonders.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11There couldn't be a more memorable place for me to end my journey.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17This is where the borders of Brazil touch the borders of Argentina and Paraguay.
0:55:17 > 0:55:22All three countries share responsibility for protecting the National Park
0:55:22 > 0:55:24that surrounds the falls.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Biologist Marina Da Silva
0:55:27 > 0:55:31came here from Sao Paulo to work on the Brazilian side.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34She has to keep close contact with her neighbours.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38- Over there, that's Argentine, is it? - Yes. That's the Argentine side.
0:55:38 > 0:55:39- Brazil over there.- Yeah.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42How do they all get on, Argentine, Paraguay and Brazil?
0:55:42 > 0:55:46- Is it OK?- Quite interesting, you know?
0:55:46 > 0:55:52We have a very good relationship among these three countries.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Anything you shouldn't talk about to them?
0:55:55 > 0:55:57About soccer!
0:55:57 > 0:56:01- We are completely... - Oh, dear. Deadly rivals!- Yeah.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04- Don't talk about the World Cup!- No.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07It's impossible.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Are you optimistic for the future of the protection of the environment?
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Do you think things are going to be different in the next 10 to 15 years?
0:56:17 > 0:56:19I think so.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22I prefer to believe.
0:56:22 > 0:56:28Because things are better than seven years when I arrived here.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31So I have good reasons to believe.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35People, the children, are different.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38They think different about them.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42The young people are more interested in the environment.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46They don't like the behaviour of the parents, for example.
0:56:46 > 0:56:52- Right.- The wrong behaviour about poaching, for example.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56- So I really believe that things here will be better.- Yeah.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01'Marina's view of what lies ahead is encouraging.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05'She sees her country not just as a superpower,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09'but a superpower with a social and environmental conscience.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12'They'll face challenges, but with a new set of priorities.'
0:57:20 > 0:57:22OK, waterfall, we defy you!
0:57:22 > 0:57:24We defy you!
0:57:27 > 0:57:32The Iguazu Falls seem to symbolise just how much Brazil has of everything.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35How this bounty will be used by the next generation
0:57:35 > 0:57:38will have repercussions far beyond its borders.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48Well, I've come to the end of my Brazilian journey,
0:57:48 > 0:57:50from the border with Venezuela in the north,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53to the border with Argentina here in the south.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55And from what I've seen and heard,
0:57:55 > 0:57:57it only confirms my initial impressions
0:57:57 > 0:58:01that Brazil is going to be a very powerful force for the future.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04And I think they know it, too.
0:58:04 > 0:58:05There's a sense of optimism,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08a feeling that it's a good time to be Brazilian.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10There are many problems here,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13but there's also a remarkable sense of tolerance and harmony
0:58:13 > 0:58:15and simple enjoyment of life.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19Not bad qualities for a potential super-power!
0:58:51 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd