
Access to this video is a benefit for members through PBS Passport.
Back to Show
The Desert Speaks
Ageless Mud: Adobe Homes in the Desert
Season 17
Episode 1710
Adobe not only has a remarkable period of longevity but also has thermal capabilities, making it ideal for the hot dry desert. The team spends time at the San Xavier Mission to watch a restoration crew repair and restore an adobe exterior. Near Marana, Yetman visits a commercial brickyard to see how these “desert building blocks” are created from start to finish.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
In Chile’s Atacama Desert people have lived for thousands of years in a land without rain.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
We trek inland to examine a cross section of the Patagonia desert into the Andes.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Venture across the spectacular and colorful Argentine Patagonia.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
We travel to central Chile to the vineyards that have made Chilean wines famous.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Tracing the San Andreas Fault.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Exploring the isolated ecosystem of Catalina Island.

26:20
Travel along the coastline of Espiritu Santo Island with host David Yetman.

26:20
The famed Sea of Cortez boasts the greatest marine diversity in the world.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Continue the journey through the gorgeously diverse Patagonia landscape.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Travel with host David Yetman through the Patagonia landscape.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Trace the Rio San Miguel through Sonora, Mexico.

Unlock with PBS Passport
26:20
Travel around Chihuahua, Mexico with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Jesus Garcia