The interior of Brazil's state of Pernambuco is a semi-arid landscape called the sertao.

Far inland from the cities, its inhabitants struggle to survive severe and frequent drought (those tracks are only going to get bigger) they rebuild against greedy landlords and indifferent governments.

We will travel from one end of Pernambuco to the other.

Ever present for us and for the natives is a famous river, the San Francisco.

Funding for In the Americas David Yetman was provided by Agnese Haury.

When most people think of Brazil, they think of jungles, the Amazon, or Rio de Janeiro, in between those two is the northeast, which is quite different.

I'm looking at the old city of Juazeiro in the state of Bahia and the river San Francisco.

Across the river from Juazeiro is the new city Petrolina.

The city of Petrolina is a wealthy outpost built on the waters of the Rio San Francisco; the rest of the state inland is very different.

Pernambuco is about the size of the state of New York; it's a thin horizontal strip about 500 miles long.

It's densely populated along the coast where the metropolis port Recife sprawls along the Atlantic; but only sparsely inhabited inland until the growing city of Petrolina at the Western end.

Meeting me there is my guide and friend Tacila Bezerra, a cultural historian, who grew up in Pernambuco.

Dave- You're taking me on a ferry across the beloved river.

Tacila- People use this everyday, if you need to work in Juazeiro you can go by boat, and if you work in Petrolina and want to go to Juazeiro, it is an everyday thing.

Dave- So we're here at the Southwest limit of the state of Pernambuco Tacila- Yeah Dave- You, a Northeasterner, are going to guide me through the state, all the way to the coast.

Tacila- Oh yeah.

Dave- And it better be good.

Tacila- Don't worry, it's going to be really good!

Tacila- Now, we're in the middle of the Rio San Francisco, or the Velho Chico, how we call it in the Northeast Dave- How do you call it?

Tacila- Velho Chico Dave- That means old man prances, old prank Tacila- Oh yeah.

Dave- So we've got a statue of a mermaid like woman, am I right that's my particular goddess Yemaya.

Tacila- Yemaya comes from the Africa, so people have to believe Yemaya is the queen of the waters, so you have to respect if you want to be in the water, and you have to make sure you know how important the water for your life.

Dave- So if she's wounded, that means the water is wounded, so she's suffering because of the pollution, the damming, the change in the water that allowed her to do, be natural.

Tacila- And here's a bridge, this is a big symbol in the countryside from the Northeast, this was divided Pernambuco and Juazeiro Dave- But it also connects them Tacila- Yeah Dave- I see.

The waters of the Rio San Francisco are now captured by a huge hydroelectric dam that provides electricity for nearby cities, and water for irrigation.

Not far from the dam is a modest farm made possible by the impounded waters of the river.

It just rained here 20 days ago, but before that we went 3 years without any rain.

This gentleman is a farmer on the edge of the desert, with limited water.

He's able to raise mangos here, we've got coconut palms, a fruit called caju, which is not known to us, and off in the desert he has a plant called umbu, umbu, which is a native desert plant, doesn't need any irrigation.

None of this here would be happening if we didn't have the San Francisco river, because thanks to the Rio San Francisco we are producing fruits here.

We export them to various countries, and provide them for domestic consumption as well.

Without the river, it would be impossible for us to live here.

Umbu is one of the native fruits we grow, it's a native crop that doesn't need irrigation, because it stores up water whenever it rains.

So the mangos need 250L water a day, which is, each plant, which is quite a bit, but then he has the desert plants that don't take any, so there's a balance here.

Almost all the rest of our production is irrigated by the Rio San Francisco.

I have never before visited anything like one of the weird features of nightlife in Petrolina.

The story goes that years ago in Petrolina goat was sold roasted on street corners the way taco stands are in Mexico.

There were so many of them that a mayor came along and said "why don't we put them all in one place?"

So today, we have the Bododromo around the curve it goes for another quarter of a mile.

Solid goat meat.

Tacila- So all those place you're going to see here, we're going to find goat, all different ways to do goat.

So this is the place we would call Bododromo.

Dave- I've been all over Brazil, and I've never seen a Bododromo or places serving a lot of goat meat.

Tacila- If you want to find a good goat, they know how to have a good farms with goat and they know how to prepare, and they know how to do everything, Dave- So this is good goat.

Tacila- So this is the place, the place that you can find a good goat.

Tacila- Okay, ready?

Dave- Okay, Sopa de Bode Tacila- Sopa de Bode Dave- Goat soup.

Tacila- Yeah.

Dave- Alright, I'm eating this because I'm in Pernambuco, I would not eat this if I were in Ceara.

Tacila- I think I'm not going to eat it another place either.

Dave- Alright.

Tacila- Mmm, do you like it?

Dave- I think it's an acquired taste, but I'm acquiring a taste.

I'd soon had enough of goat, it was time to venture into the sertao, on the way to Recife nearly 500 miles distant.

Dave- Look at these, oh my goodness, melocactus, you can't get these in the United States and its illegal to import them.

But look, they've actually grown these themselves, and here are all the native cacti.

Tacila- E este aqui.

Dave- See?

Dave- We call that the Monk's cap, they're very descriptive with the names and the mandacaru is the emblem of the sertao.

The desert scrub is called caatinga and it seems to go on forever, until all of the sudden I perceive what must be a mirage.

Driving down the highway, all you see is caatinga, or dry desert vegetation, but right here we have a different situation.

We have almost three annual grape harvests, the only place in the region where this occurs and where we can grow the different stages of grapes at the same time.

Brazil isn't known internationally for its fine wines, but you have here a desert climate, plenty of sunshine, you don't worry about freezing, and with a little irrigation water, grapes are a logical crop.

And these vines are full of them.

We have planted 16 grape varieties.

All the water comes from the Rio San Francisco, it is only 2km away so we can irrigate the vineyards.

We have a partnership with the University of Lisbon in Portugal, whereby every three months researchers come here to take tests and conduct experiments.

We do our own fine-tuning so that our plants will be best suited to our arid climate.

And thus produce more, and yield a better wine.

We take cuttings from the best plants, and modify the grafts, and then plant them in other fields.

Tacila was kind enough to share some of her handpicked grapes with me.

And they're quite sweet.

I've never seen a Aragonês wine, but here's a store where they sell the final product, and now I can find out.

Here we have a young wine, a blend consisting of cabernet with a syrah, 50% syrah and 50% cabernet, makes a very well structured wine, full bodied and intense.

40% of our production is for export; we export to more than 17 countries.

If you asked me 25 years ago if cabernet sauvignon and other fine wines could be produced in the sertao in the northeast of Brazil, I'd have told you to go jump in the river San Francisco, now they've proved me wrong, this is very nice wine.

Just under halfway to Recife the sertao is interrupted by a bustling city of 80,000, called Serra Talhada in the hill country.

It was home to one of South America's most famous outlaws, his name was Lampião.

A museum narrates his life, and his death.

Cangaço is actually a bandit.

Celebration of bandits is very popular here in the northeast.

The reason is the history of Brazil, it one of a powerful coterie of landowners, who controlled virtually all of the land from the time of the conquest of Europe to the time of independence.

Those landowners gave themselves military targets, and controlled all of the people that were not in their own class, extracted everything they wanted form them, did anything they wanted, and there was no recourse that the poor people had.

And so we see the arrival of the cangaços, the social bandits in the northeast of Brazil.

By far, the most famous of the cangaçeros was a man named Lampião.

Lampião is the second most famous historical figure in Latin America.

Second only to Che Guevara.

Today, Lampião represents a cultural identity of the sertao, Brazil's northeast.

His DNA is in our culture, our handicrafts, our music, our dance, our poetry.

Our culture is stamped with this cangaço Lampião.

He was born here and as a teenager, he witnessed the murder of his father.

In those days, the poor could never obtain justice.

So he felt it was his duty to take up arms.

He formed a rebel force of young men and young women, and they wrought havoc in seven northeastern states, challenging the authorities, threatening the power, and striking the military.

Taking justice into their own hands.

He earned his nickname, which means lantern, because when he shot his gun it was so fast that the barrel lit up like a lantern.

We cannot tell the history of Brazil without recounting the story of Lampião.

He thumbed his nose at the entire power structure of that time, and gained notoriety in the media for his audacity and bravery.

Finally, federal troops were dispatched to capture him, and they killed and decapitated him.

He and his followers, including his girlfriend, were beheaded.

Their heads were displayed in the state of Bahia, for 20 years.

The northeasterner identifies Lampião with a dream of bravery, the dream of resistance.

Tacila- Maria Bonita, it's the Lampião's wife, and she was really really brave.

The saga of Maria Bonita and her role as a courageous female bandit is a beautiful story.

She played an important role in our history and the life of Lampião.

She was a strong, independent woman, a warrior, a fighter, struggling to survive during that era, a very difficult time period.

Living in the midst of a group of ruthless outlaws, she must have been very strong.

Dave- Would I pass for a cangaçero?

Tacila- Yeah.

Dave- Good, I think I have a new career.

I like this.

This wall is decorated in memory of Lampião.

This saying here says "men were never born to be stepped on, to be trampled."

Not far away is where Lampião grew up.

Dave- So they say this is the house where Lampião was born.

Tacila- I think its when everything started, you know about the culture now, and the way they received the sertao.

Let's go inside, let's go.

Dave- Alright, let's see if its warm.

Temperature.

Tacila- Hundred?

Dave- Well this is a small house, he didn't actually grow up with brothers and sisters in this house, it was a different one, but its small enough.

Tacila- Yes, it's pretty small.

It's one bedroom.

Dave- No electricity.

Look!

Look, here's old family photographs up here.

Tacila- Uh, this is Virgulino, Lampião, his grandma, his dad, his mom, and two brothers.

Dave- It's hard to imagine, but this was in times when they had very good photographs already.

They had automobiles.

There was mechanized traffic.

They had modern weapons.

This was not something 300 years ago.

This was just less than one decade before I was born.

Dave- You know, we saw the irrigation works by the Rio São Francisco, the vineyards especially, how green everything is, then you come out here in the real hard core sertao, and they had a rain three weeks to a month ago here, but the soil, look, it's already cracked.

Tacila- Yeah, we call it the terra rachada.

This is the, the land of the sertao.

It's always like this, without any.

Dave- And those cracks are only going to get bigger.

It might rain someday.

Another couple of hundred miles closer to Recife we stop in Caruaru known as a market center for a huge area.

Tacila- We're in the famous Caruaru.

Dave- All this is the famous market, yes it is a market.

Boy, there' s all sorts of handmade stuff in here too.

Hobby horse.

Tacila- Only in the famous Caruaru have everything.

Dave- All this neat handmade stuff, this little truck down here, look at it, it's all made by hand.

Tacila-This is a cordel was a literature from the countryside.

Because in sertao, people don't have money to buy books, and they don't even have a place to buy it.

So they start making cordel.

Dave- They're little poems about history?

Tacila- Yeah, about what happened in your day life.

So the beginning, it's always an introduction, okay, here you are, reading something about cordel.

So now we going to be talking about Lampião and how was your life, and the Serrha Talhada.

So it's pretty much a history.

Could be a history book, but it's not.

Dave- I'm afraid to move in here, I'm afraid I'll break something.

All this exquisite stuff.

Tacila- It's Louis Gonzaga.

Dave- He's the most famous singer ever here.

Tacila-This is retirantes.

Dave- Retirantes.

Tacila- Yes, it's people who emigrate from, because of the catinga, it's really dry without any food or options, they move from North to South to better opportunities.

Dave- So they come out of the sertao because life is too difficult there.

And when the drought comes and they have to find a place they can live, so they move south.

Tacila- They move south.

With all the goats you see in the sertao, it's not surprising that you see hats made out of goat hide.

They just call these the cowboy hats from the sertao.

Let me see if I can put on one, or if I can find one that I can get off.

So I don't know why you would wear this, I wear this for comfort and for shade, but this doesn't give you much shade, little bit.

I think I got it on wrong, I think I have to turn it around.

You put the strap in the back.

It's more a symbol than anything else.

It does keep your head covered if you're going through the brush and you get spines in your skull, but it's more a symbol than it is actual protection from the sun.

People from the northeast love their tapioca.

I know it only as a pudding, but this is the real stuff.

And they make this into various cakes, tortilla-like breads they eat, and all sorts of things.

And it's the basis of their diet.

When they leave, they can't get it, they miss it, it makes them homesick for the taste of tapioca.

Dave- Well I recognize cashews when I see them, and peanuts, but I don't recognize anything else here.

So, what is the colored stuff in it?

Tacila-This is the, the cheese, like the burning cheese, you know.

Dave- Oh, when they, when they cook it.

Tacila- Uh huh!

You wanna try some?

Dave- Oh yeah, well sure!

Heck yeah when there's cheese.

Tacila- Mmmm.

Dave- That's very good!

Very, it's good cheese.

Dave- They're ants!

Oh my god.

Tacila- And see it, look.

Dave- Tanajura Tacila- So see?

Dave- So we just eat them with in the sun.

Tacila- Yeah, just eat them.

Dave- Health, cheers, surprise!

Dave- It tastes like chocolate.

Tacila- It's rich.

Dave- Really rich.

Tacila- One kilo is like 100 reais Dave- Reais, like twenty dollars a pound.

Dave- Well, no market is complete without the herb section.

Tacila- So, here's if you're sick, if you have any deceased, you just come to this place, and you're going to figure out what is the best herbs to make you feel better.

Tacila- It's like chamomile, ya know.

Yeah, and many people believe you can't be at home without a ruda.

Dave- Ruda the same plant is used in Mexico.

Tacila- Yeah!

Dave- For the same stuff.

Dave- So its powers are widely recognized.

Nearby is a small village known throughout Brazil for it's ceramic figurines.

A famous sculptor, and a local singer, made the sertao, until then unknown to most Brazilians, into a nationally celebrated region.

One personality known to almost everyone in the state of Pernambuco is the great ceramicist Mestre Vitalino.

He not only was an artist of the first rank, but he elevated ceramics, realistic ceramics, to a level previously unknown.

He celebrated the life of the sertao, he founded the industry here in the town of Alto do Moura.

One of his sons continues his line of artistic creativity.

I am a son of Vitalino, the creator of this art in Brazil.

This is Vitalino's house, which is a museum today.

He fathered six children, and all continued the work he began.

This includes me and my children, my cousins, and a community of artists that live here.

These wonderful works that Vitalino left us, depict the day to day struggle in the lives of the Nordestino, the people who live in these parched lands.

For example the travelers, who immigrate to the south in search of a better life, bands of musicians, the baleiro the historical figure of Lampião, troubadours, the pifeiro, the fife player, and many ordinary people living their daily lives.

This work represents the first house Vitalino lived in, here in the city of Alto do Moura.

In front of the house we see the Mestre Vitalino, with his family, six children, and my mother.

So here on the other side is a wooden boat, a chicken coop, a fire pit, roasting corn, a Sao Joao festival, and so on.

It took five days to make this piece, it was a full week, 18 days per working day.

The cultural figures my father created raised awareness within Brazil's rich, urban, southern states.

At that time, Brazil was almost divided, each state with it's own distinguishing trait.

Pernambuco was destined to be a poor state.

My father created northeastern art and Louis Gonzaga sang northeastern song.

Showing off our state of Pernambuco.

So today, we have a rich Pernambuco, thanks to God.

And this culture represented in my father's work forced our national politicians to recognize the importance of the state of Pernambuco and its culture.

And so because of this, we are valued.

Our culture is valued.

This is one of Vitalino's sons showing me a sculpture that his father, and he was justly famous, made at the age of six.

The hunt.

Six years old.

The state of Pernambuco lies in Brazil's coastal heartland.

This is the city of Recife, where a majority of the state's people live.

The edge of the sertao is a hundred miles to the west, and almost in another world.

And yet, the spirit, the living presence of the sertao, still pervade the thinking and the culture everywhere in Pernambuco.

Join us next time In the Americas with David Yetman The southern coast of Brazil was once covered by a tropical rainforest that biologists consider the richest in the Americas, the Mata Atlantica.

The emerald green setting of Rio de Janeiro is part of it.

Today over ninety percent is gone.

Many Brazilians now realize that the ten percent that remains is a national treasure.

People who live in it know that even better.

Dave- Okay, goat they call him a bode.

Tacila- Bode.

Dave- That's a male bode (laughs) You're very good at handling goats.

Tacila- I like it!

Dave- I'll meet you later on in Petrolina.

Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Agnese Haury.

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