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The Desert Speaks
Cactus Capital of the World
Season 13
Episode 6
Villages in the Valle de Tehuacán and nearby Oaxaca have endured for centuries in a desert environment. One of the staples of this environment was and still is the cactus, which formed the basis for their material culture. Today eighteen species of columnar cacti grow in the valley (as opposed to three in Arizona, eight in Sonora), all of them used one way or another by native peoples.
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26:12
A trip through the Valley of Tehuacán to the ancient city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

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26:12
The Gila River in Arizona and New Mexico is rapidly drying up.

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26:12
The wild, frigid desert of southwestern Bolivia is full of natural treasures.

26:14
Visit the the historic village of Santiago de K, high in the foothills of the Andes.

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26:14
Our journey to the highest desert in the world begins in Potosi, in southwestern Bolivia.

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26:14
San Ignacio Lagoon is the home to the peninsula’s most famous visitors—the Gray Whales.
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