(Caribbean beat music)
- [Jacob] Here on the west coast of Peru
lies a landscape of striking beauty,
marked by mysterious messages from the past.
Strange geoglyphs that speak to the heavens
and ancient ruins of lost civilizations
can be found alongside fertile vineyards
and upscale resorts that buzz
with the beats of modern life.
The Inca region has begun to reveal its mysteries
and charms to the world.
It's here, into this area, rich with history,
natural beauty and diverse culture,
that our voyage continues.
- [Announcer] Funding for Music Voyager
provided in part by
(dramatic music)
celebrating culture,
encouraging communication,
Create For Change, a non-profit
for bridging cultures through film.
Look, listen, learn.
Additional funding for this season of Music Voyager
provided by Prom Peru,
commission for travel and tourism, Peru.
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tauck, how you see the world, matters.
(uptempo Afro-Peruvian music)
- [Narrator] Peru's Ica region, located just south
of the city of Lima,
is one of the country's hotspots
in more ways than one.
Today it's a popular destination
for people seeking both relaxation
and adventure on the areas beaches and dunes.
And thanks to its vast fields of grapevines,
it's the main source for Peru's national libation,
as well as some of the country's most alluring
and rhythmic music.
My name is Jacob Edgar.
I'm an ethnomusicologist,
and I follow the planet's musical heartbeat
to reveal the soul and spirit of our world.
I'm traveling across Peru
with my friend Alvaro Fernandez,
a musician and entrepreneur,
who invited me to explore his fascinating country.
Alvaro is drummer for one of Lima's
most popular rock bands, Campo de Almas.
With his connections to some of Peru's
top trend setters and his knowledge
of unique, off the beaten path destinations,
Alvaro has promised me a journey I'll never forget.
It's always good to start an adventure
with a stiff drink.
So we begin our journey in the Ica region
with a stop in the town of Pisco.
(Latin-style guitar music)
It's here that Peru's most iconic beverage
has been produced for over 300 years.
Pisco is an alcoholic beverage
that's made in Peru.
It's derived from grapes, like wine,
but unlike wine, it is distilled.
So in some ways, it's like a Peruvian version of brandy.
About 200 kilometers south of Lima,
wine makers have long cultivated extensive vineyards
in this mild desert environment.
- Pisco is the national drink of Peru.
We are very proud of this drink,
we love it,
and Pisco is a denomination of our region.
It comes from Pisco.
- [Jacob] We start at the Tabernero Winery,
where we see how the vintners bring the grapes
from the fields into the distillery.
It's a process that hasn't changed much
over the centuries.
- You have all these kinds of grapes
and you have different ways of doing it.
You have pure pisco made of one grape,
then you have a blend of grapes.
- Pisco shows up in a lot of different
Peruvian cocktails, you can also drink pisco straight.
It's a really delicious beverage.
It has a lot of body to it, a lot of depth.
The vineyards of Pisco
have cultivated more than just grapes.
They also provided an environment
for new rhythms and melodies to develop,
mostly in secrecy from the wine makers.
There's a direct connection between Pisco
and Afro-Peruvian music.
African slaves were brought to Peru
to work in agriculture,
and that includes the fields of the Pisco vineyards.
Now when Africans were brought to Peru,
they weren't allowed to play
their traditional African instruments.
So they made music out of whatever they could find,
and that included shipping boxes,
and crates, and eventually that shipping box percussion
developed into the modern day cajon.
The cajon is one of the most popular
musical instruments in Peru.
Finding inspiration in the heritage and traditions
of the past has worked well for one musical group.
Nova Lima blends the deep and soulful sounds
of Afro-Peru, with electronic beats
and a hip, modern attitude.
Their efforts have made them one of the most popular
and respected bands in Peru today.
- Actually it's a rare project,
because we were living abroad in different cities
in the world,
and each of us that started the project,
put up a studio and our hub together,
and started experimenting,
mixing traditional Peruvian music
with electronic and other styles.
One of the things we work a lot during the rehearsals
is trying to make spaces in the songs
for each instrument.
("Coba Guarango" by Novalima)
* Coba coba
* Coba Guarrango
Novalima's music video for their song
Coba Guarrango was filmed in the small village
of El Carmen, not far from Pisco.
And this region remains one of the strongholds
of African culture in Peru.
Basically what they've done is taken
this rootsy traditional form
and updated it for a new generation.
And the sound they create is just really accessible,
really funky, really soulful,
but also very cool.
* Coba Guarango
(singing in foreign language)
Buzzing on great liquor and music,
leave the vineyards behind
and continue south toward the barren landscape
of the Peruvian coastal desert.
Thousands of years before the cultivation
of grapes and the development of Afro-Peruvian culture,
the indigenous peoples of Peru
literally made their mark on this region,
most notably, with the mysterious and magical,
Nazca lines.
(atmospheric music)
The best way to see the Nazca lines is from the air.
Researchers believe the lines were created
between 2500 to 1500 years ago.
The Nazca people dug shallow trenches
into the red desert floor, revealing a white layer
that gives the lines the contrast needed to see them.
They drew elegant, elaborate figures.
The Nazca lines are one of the great archeological
sites of the world.
They rival the pyramids,
They rival the coloseum and these other
ancient structures that were built by human beings.
And knowing how many thousands of years ago
they were created,
it's impressive just to think that the people
who made them knew,
that the only way to see them was from the air.
So who were they making these lines for?
This is a mystery that nobody really knows
the answer to.
One things for sure, when you're flying over these lines
and you see these beautiful drawings
that are created out of stone
in the natural landscape,
it really generates a huge amount of awe
and respect for the ancient people of this region.
While the Nazca lines are Peru's
most famous geoglyphs,
(uptempo music)
Alvaro tells me of another one worth checking out
in the nearby resort town of Paracas.
The town gets its name from the Quechua word for
sand falling like rain,
a reference to the area's many sand storms
and high winds.
Protected by a natural bay,
Paracas offers an oasis within the desert
of southern Peru.
It is a place where the desert meets the sea.
So you have this really unique environment
of dry, barren sand dunes,
barely a tree in sight.
And this incredibly beautiful bay.
Alvaro takes me
to the luxurious Hotel Paracas Resort,
where we meet Chef Rafael Piqueras.
Piqueras is one of Peru's top chefs,
and his dishes rely on simple, local ingredients
prepared beautifully.
- He's one of the best chefs in Lima
and he's very attached with the sea.
He's very close to Paracas
and he loves seafood.
- [Jacob] Peru has become renown
for its unique and diverse cuisine
and Chef Piqueras earns high praise from his peers.
- Rafael is a gentleman,
one of the most honest cooks that we have, I think.
- He is the elegance of Peruvian cuisine.
- [Pedro] He does a very pure and clean work
with his cuisine.
- Paracas for me is the best place to buy fish.
Any chef can get inspired in Paracas.
To cook with that quality of ingredients,
it's very difficult to do it badly.
You have to do it the less ingredients you can.
- [Jacob] And there's nothing that gets
Chef Piqueras more excited than ceviche.
Ceviche's considered an essential part
of Peru's national identity.
And Chef Piqueras makes some of the best
in the county.
- The best ceviche for me
is the one that is done with the catch of the day.
That's the way we cook in Paracas.
- [Jacob] One of his great passions is seafood,
which is why he offered to show us
around this part of Peru.
(dramatic music)
- Peracas has these amazing landscapes,
with these rock formations, this wildlife,
so the best way to experience this is by boat.
- And our first stop was this place called Candelabra.
(eerie atmospheric music)
- This is the Candelabra.
It's been out here 2,500 years.
- That's incredible.
Definitely a sign that it doesn't rain much around here
that it's lasted that long.
So El Candelabra, that means the candelabra.
- [Rafael] The candelabra, yes.
- It was just this really impressive ancient indigenous
design carved into the side of a mountain.
This ancient geoglyph is over 600 feet tall
and researchers still have not determined its purpose.
It's been there for a hell of a long time.
And it's still very very striking.
Just west of Paracas are the Islas Bellestas,
an amazing series of islands
that rise out of the Pacific Ocean.
(majestic music)
As we approach, we realize this island
is teeming with life.
Thousands of sea lions line the shore.
Many of the females have recently
given birth to pups.
- You could see all these babies around
and the big males protecting them,
and it was funny to see how they were
so curious about us.
- They were coming right up to our boat,
check us out, just like we were checking them out.
We were able to get very close,
and just kind of watch how they interacted with each other.
You see the male sea lions marking their territory,
fighting each other, we see all these cute little baby
newborn sea lions, because this is where they come to breed.
(seals barking)
They sound so human sometimes.
There goes one right now, just like a death defying scream.
Just beautiful to see nature
and so much vibrancy.
To see so many animals in one place,
was really special,
because you never really get to see that.
You see animals one at a time,
or in kind of protected settings.
This was nature in its natural setting, you know,
untouched by humans, it was really beautiful.
The Islas Ballestras have been called
a mini Galapagos, and I can see why.
Here, life is abundant.
Hi atop one of the islands,
we're even able to spot a few Humboldt penguins.
Here we are in Peru, not that far
from the equator and I never knew
penguins came this far north.
So it was the first time I'd ever seen penguins
in real life and they're as cute in real life
as you'd think they would be.
And what's especially impressive
about these Humboldt penguins
is that they have to climb the rocks
in order to get to their nesting areas.
So you see these penguins way up,
just the striking picture of the landscape,
the rocks and the arches
and everything about it is incredibly impressive.
(water lapping)
(chill music)
It's finally lunch time.
And Chef Piqueras offers to prepare scallops ceviche.
- We met a local scallop farmer named Anahi,
who showed us how to harvest these scallops.
Some of Peru's best scallops
come from Paracas Bay.
- I'm a huge fan of scallops, I love scallops.
So for me, going to a scallops farm,
it was something really good.
(splashing)
- So this is an actual farm for scallops.
- Yes exactly and the scallop here
at the south of Peru, the flavor,
it's like a treat.
Very very nice, yes.
(cascading shells)
- Woo hoo.
- [Jacob] Oh wow, they're alive.
(laughing)
They move.
- Of course, they're alive.
So it was amazing to have Rafael Piqueras
there with us,
and so he made these quick ceviche with the scallops
that we all get to eat.
- Salt, lemon.
- [Jacob] So we had these beautiful fresh scallops,
Rafael's incredible ceviche spices,
in this beautiful setting.
It doesn't get better than that.
- Cheers.
- Salut.
- [Jacob] Paracas is known for its life on
and below the water,
but it's also known for one of nature's fiercest elements.
We experienced the wind first hand
at the Paracas National Reserve,
where we were to meet up with Rafael D'Angelo Cassabone,
a world class kite surfer.
- Beside Paracas, there's the national reserve,
and this is a place where I like to go.
It's good conditions for kite surfing on waves.
- So as the crew and I were driving out
to the kite surfing spot,
we head off the road and into the sands
to get to the beach.
And unfortunately our driver
got a little confused,
and he ended up getting stuck in the sand,
very very deep in the sand.
- I was really worried of course,
because I mean we were stuck
and we were behind schedule.
And the wind, and there was a lot of things
that could happen as a consequence of getting stuck.
- Nobody else in sight, no cell service,
no way to call for help.
This is like being lost in the Sahara Desert,
pretty soon we're gonna be dying of first.
- We have to get this van out of the sand,
so we get to unload the whole van
to make it lighter.
- [Jacob] Dig out the tires,
sand is getting everywhere,
in our teeth, in our eyes,
it's blowing into all of our gear.
Just another day in paradise.
- With the sun, it was gonna take us
more than what we expected.
(clapping)
(chill atmospheric music)
(ocean waves)
- Paracas means sand storm.
Here the winds can blow to 30, 40 knots.
I have been a surfer from since I was very young
and also a sailor.
And when kite surfing appeared,
it was a perfect match.
Kite surfing gives me a lot of peace actually.
(laughs)
It's strange, but since you have so much concentration
with the board, with the sail,
the mind will not think about anything else.
So it's almost a meditation.
(lively music)
- [Jacob] This guy has serious cajones.
- Yeah you have to be a little crazy for sure.
It's a sport for adrenaline,
it's a sport for practice, practice, practice
until you develop the skills
to do tricks and maneuvers.
- I kept thinking, man,
that wind is gonna rip his arms off.
I don't know how he holds onto to this kite,
but he does some amazing stuff with that kite.
The guy, he's crazy.
- [Pedro] The wind can blow you straight out of your socks.
It never stops until you put the kite down.
(water lapping)
- [Jacob] Evening arrives and Alvaro and I
head into the Huacachina Dunes,
mountains of sand blown inland,
by the powerful Paracas winds.
Our incredible day in Paracas continued
when we hopped into these four by four vehicles
at our hotel, thinking that we were just off
to a desert picnic, that's what we were told.
We're gonna have a picnic in the desert.
I really didn't know what to expect.
Nobody knew what to expect.
Next thing you know, we are off-roading
in the dunes of this desert in Paracas,
and it turns out that our driver is an insane person,
(uptempo music)
because we turn off whatever trail was there
and we're driving up these dunes.
It looked like no car could ever possibly
get up these dunes.
We're swerving, we're bouncing around,
jumping out of our seats,
wondering what, wait, where are we going,
this is really how you get to the desert picnic?
- I was just having fun.
I was seeing all these faces of surprise.
People were like man, what's going on here?
And they were like looking at me like,
Alvaro, what's going on?
I mean, it was not in the plan.
- And the best part is he pulls up,
he goes up this dune,
and it's like a mountain this dune.
It's the biggest dune I've ever seen
in my life.
And suddenly he pulls over the edge
of this dune, and it's like a 45 degree drop.
And he parks the car, puts on the emergency brake
and has the car hanging over basically a cliff.
Up until that point, it was all fun and games,
it was like oh this is fun,
oh wow, we're driving through the dunes,
this is crazy, what a nut case,
and then we get to this cliff
and it's like oh no, this is real buddy.
This is real.
I'm not going down this cliff.
Literally, we were terrified for our lives.
Eventually, our driver whose name
it turned out was El Diablo,
which means the devil, fittingly in this case,
convinced us this is what you do
on these dunes, so we all got back in the car,
turned off the parking brake, and down that hill we went.
(laughing)
And it was so fun, so scary,
but probably one of the greatest things
I've ever done in my life.
(atmospheric music)
As the sun dips below the horizon,
the warm colors of the desert transform,
to reveal beautiful hues of purple and blue
across the sky and sand.
(camera snaps)
We pull into this valley in the desert,
and off in the distance, you see a tent.
The tent is lit with candlelight.
And there are carpets under the tent and pillows,
and there's a crew with a bar serving drinks.
- We had amazing food.
Rafael cooked for us.
We had shrimp, we had meat,
we had chicken bruschettas, which were amazing.
We had some drinks and we had an amazing time.
- The stars were so beautiful.
We were far away from any light pollution.
You could see the Milky Way.
The Earth kind of spinning above us,
it was really really magical.
And now we find ourselves under the stars
amidst the dunes,
with the beats of Afro-Peruvian music
bringing the desert to life.
And there, giving a heart beat to the rhythm,
is the cajon,
the instrument created long ago
by the descendants of Africans in Peru.
Here in the Huacachina sand dunes,
the music helps us celebrate an unbelievable journey.
We went from the sea to incredible wildlife
to unbelievable dining
to the desert dunes, to Afro-Peruvian music and dance.
It was a pretty spectacular day.
- The Ica region of Peru
offers a glimpse into the past,
into a time steeped in mystery and magic.
On the surface, a desert may seem desolate
and barren, but we've discovered
that if you dig a bit into the sand,
it overflows with color, flavor, rhythm
and the vibrant expressions of life.
(Afro-Peruvian music)
- [Announcer] Funding for Music Voyager
provided in part by
celebrating culture,
encouraging communication,
Create 4 Change, a non-profit
for bridging cultures through film.
Look, listen, learn.
Additional funding for this season
of Music Voyager, provided by Prom Peru,
Commission for Travel and Tourism, Peru.
Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau.
Tauck, how you see the world matters.