Páramos de leyendas

This Traveltalk series short looks over the South American Andes mountains, and the South American west coast, also Rio de Janeiro.

The Andes Mountains travel the western side of South America. Unlike many other mountain ranges of their altitude, the Andes do support human life on their high altitude slopes. Modern life is slowly making its way to the high altitude Andes, but the natives for the most part continue with the traditional ways of their ancestors, growing limited crops such as beans and potatoes - where the crop originated - raising sheep and pigs, and living in crude huts. The llama is the most useful of their work animals. The most conspicuous aspect of the native dress is their derby hats, the origins which are unknown. Further down the slopes, agriculture and ranching is more productive and is carried out by descendants of the Spanish settlers. There is a famous lake district in the Chilean part of the Andes, where resort hotels are located.

History of the first ascent of Aconcagua by the south face in February 1954 by the French shock team led by René Ferlet and composed of Lucien Bérardini, Adrien Dagory, Edmond Denis, Pierre Lesueur, Robert Paragot and Guy Poulet. In seven days of combat, they extricate themselves from the mountain in a pitiful state; all except Robert Paragot will be victims of severe frostbite which earned them amputations, some important as for “Lulu” Bérardini who lost part of his left hand.

Ten-year-old Sébastiana recounts the history and legends and explains the local customs of Andahuaylillas, Peru, a small village located high in the Andes. Their simpler way of life has persisted for over three centuries, undisturbed by modern society's technology and materialism.

Movie about David Lama climbing the Patagonian mountain Cerro Torre for the first time free, a mountain that has been dubbed the most difficult to climb in the world.

The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

The story, told by the survivors, of a group of young men, members of a Uruguayan rugby team, who managed to survive for 72 days, at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters, in the heart of the Andes Mountains, after their plane, en route to Chile, crashed there on October 13, 1972.

A documentary fiction in the form of a diptych, about solitude, nostalgia and waiting. On the high plateaux of the Andes in Venezuela, the seventy-year-old mule-driver Saturnino has only one friend, his donkey Turmero. Filomena, seventy eight years old, is waiting against for the return of her husband.

In Ecuador, in a single day, the train passes from the mountainous Andes to the tropical coast. The roads were built between 1861 and 1908 to connect the country. Until this date, the two regions live as separate countries, although the roads connect them in less than a day. The film is an observational work that talks about space and collective memory.

A documentary revolving around the 1972 crash of the plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team; interviews with survivors and the families of victims.

There was once, in 1910, a train able to cross the wild territories between Argentina and Chile, making possible a mythical journey, joining two oceans with a single ticket, from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. The last trip of the BAP was in 1979; in the nineties, its various branches were permanently abandoned. Since then, travelers have been inhabiting the railway landscape as they dream, desire, remember or yearn: as part of their own being and national history.

Bolivia's Climbing Cholitas - a group of indigenous women scaling the Andes Mountains, some of the highest peaks in the world. Shot in Bolivia for Vogue Latin America and Vogue Mexico's 20th anniversary cover story.

It is a powerful predator, one of the most elusive animals in Patagonia and rarely filmed. In the very South of Chile the Pumas' hunting grounds lie in the awe-inspiring Torres del Paine National Park, follow a mother Puma as she rears her cubs in the wild, teaching them to survive and thrive.

From the plains of the Huasco Valley to the Atacama Desert and the mines of northern Chile, the narrator gathers the testimonies of farmers, neighbors, small landowners and political leaders. In the surrounding area and in the Pascua Lama gold mine itself, called The Treasure of America because of the enormous gold reserves it holds, the action is centred. The investigation is possible thanks to the access to the Canadian multinational Barrick Gold whose reports on the environment will be questioned.

"In Chile, when the sun rises, it had to climb hills, walls and tops before reaching the last stone of the Cordillera. In my country, the Cordillera is everywhere. But for the Chilean citizens, it is an unknown territory. After going North for Nostalgia for the Light and South for The Pearl Button, I now feel ready to shoot this immense spine to explore its mysteries, powerful revelations of Chile’s past and present history." Patricio Guzmán