IN THE AMERICAS WITH DAVID YETMAN IV



#401 Reefs, Ruins, and Revivals: Belize's Melting Pot
Belize has a decidedly different history and culture from the rest of Central America. English is the first language of this small nation, reflecting its British ancestry, yet Belize retains deep historic connections among its many residents of Mayan ancestry, and is proud of its strong African roots among the Garifuna people. Belize also has world-class archaeological sites, vast tracts of intact rain forest, and some of the world's richest marine treasures.

#402 Yakima: The Quest for Hops
The explosion of craft beer brewing across the United States has created a widespread interest in the process of beer making. A beer festival in Tucson, Arizona, leads to some local brewers and sends David on a quest to the origin of what makes beer different – hops. Nearly all of the hops in the U.S. are cultivated around Yakima, Washington where the team follows the annual harvest and sample as many products of hop production as possible.

#403 Panama's Wild West
An hour or so distant from Panama's burgeoning capital and its great canal, a broad peninsula juts into the Pacific Ocean. The Azuero Peninsula is home to traditions, landscapes, and people different from those of the capital and its suburbs. Residents of Azuero celebrate what sets them off from the rest of Panama. And they are huge fans of baseball.

#404 Argentina's Route 40: From the Steppes to the Lakes
Argentines maintain that Patagonia begins at the Río Colorado in the Province of Neuquen. Traveling south, they cross that river on Ruta 40 (Route Forty) in a volcanic landscape amidst a vast desert, the majestic peaks of the Andes always present on the right. Within the slopes of the Andes are myriad lakes and towns constructed by European immigrants and expatriates, but never far from the arid, windswept steppes of Patagonia. More secluded are the Mapuches – Indians who resisted the European onslaught and today struggle to retain their culture. In Patagonia, all roads lead to San Carlos Bariloche, the crown jewel of Ruta 40, a Swiss-type resort on the shores of the great Lake Nahuel-Huapi. On a sailboat, David travels westward, passing from desert scrub on the shoreline to the lush rainforests and snows of the Andes.

#405 Heart of the Wilderness: Wyoming's Wind River Range
The Wind River Range in western Wyoming is the state's largest mountain range, nearly one hundred miles from north to south. With dozes of massive peaks, it is also home to the wildest country in the lower 48 states. Much of it is protected in wilderness, which David and his team commemorate on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. On arriving, they visit ancient foothill sites where Shoshone Indians left examples of their art, historic locations of Indian battles, and scars of mines and ghost towns before plunging deep into the wilds of the Wind Rivers - on foot.

#406 From Vaquejada to Jangada: Into Rural Ceará, Brazil
A small state in Brazil's dry northeast, Ceará is home to a variety of traditions not found in the rest of the vast country. The inland bush, called the sertão, is home to cowboys and and odd rodeo, while the coast supports fisherman whose wooden boats are little changed over the last several centuries. Ceará is home to Brazil's most important religious shrine, its last lace-weavers, and a startling array of tropical fruits.

#407 Bogota to the Amazon: A Trip Across Colombia
From the urban capital city of Bogota and its famous cicolvia dedicated to bicycles, this sprawling nation offers an unexpected variety of cultures and urban landscapes. David and his team hop from the mountains to the extreme southern tip of the country to see wildlife and to visit indigenous villages of the people who live in the heart of the Amazon jungle.

#408 Gift of the Andes: Mendoza, Argentina, and its Wines
Argentina's nostalgic Ruta 40 passes along the base of the Cordillera of the Andes from the extreme north to the southernmost road in the nation. On its way Ruta 40 meets the famed wine capital of Mendoza, whose dedication to Malbec wine is recent, but whose win production dates to colonial times. David lingers in the vineyards and bodegas, sampling the varieties of Malbec and Argentine food. Farther south, Ruta 40 penetrates the northern reaches of Patagonia, a windswept desert boarded on the west by the incomparable Andes, and massive pre-Andean volcanoes.

#409 Coffee and Culture in Oaxaca
The state of Oaxaca is home to 16 different Indian groups among whom can be found more than 60 different languages. Each group retains much of its ancient culture. They visit a Zapotec market, navigate the mangrove watercourses on the coast, and participate in the harvesting, drying and roasting of coffee in the fog forest.

#410 Favelas & Samba: Brazil
The shanty towns for which Río Janeiro is famous (or notorious) play a pivotal role in the city's cultural history. Favelas, as they are known, rise precipitously from near the ocean far up the hillsides. Often bereft of minimal municipal services, they are home to a rich cultural life, their own social organization, and along the way in their history, have provided the artistic and dramatic talent for Brazil's most important international artistic contribution, Carnaval in Río. David visits favelas and speaks with residents there.