Original subtitles

The ground in the Yukon is not gonna last that much longer.

Whoa.

[Parker] We need to find somewhere else.

The clock's ticking.

[Tyler] Wow.

Wild.

[Parker] Bolivia, from what we've seen so far, is pretty untapped.

Wow.

If the ground's good enough,

then we need to pursue, you know, anything that comes our way.

But, like, it's not for the faint of heart.

[automated voice speaking]

[bleep]

- [aircraft rattling] - [automated voice] Terrain ahead. Pull up.

Terrain ahead. Pull up.

- Terrain ahead. Pull up. - Whoa.

- [bleep] - [automated voice] Terrain ahead.

Pull up.

[Tyler] [bleep] That was close.

In the States or Canada, this would be illegal.

Why?

17,000 feet unpressurized.

[narrator] Parker Schnabel and his crew are in Bolivia, South America,

continuing their hunt for virgin ground.

- There's the jungle. - Yep.

[narrator] After striking out on Bolivia's high plains,

the 28-year-old miner

is pivoting his search across the Andes

to the Larecaja jungle region,

where a modern-day gold rush is unfolding.

He'll first land in Teoponte.

[Danny] Is that the runway there?

[narrator] Then they must make it the five miles to Guanay,

where Diego has a lead.

[aircraft rattling]

[pilot speaking]

- Thanks for the plane. - [Danny] Gracias, senor.

[grunts]

- [Danny] Boiling, innit? - It's hot.

[narrator] In the 1960s, Teoponte was at the heart of a Bolivian gold rush

that produced over 500,000 ounces of gold.

[Danny] Wow.

[narrator] Now, it's a machine boneyard.

[Parker] Is that a plane?

[Danny] Oh, yeah.

Oh, wow!

[Parker] That's [bleep] cool.

[Danny] DC-3, I think.

[Parker] I don't think that's a DC-3.

It might be a DC-3 but it's, like, some sort of very old

World War II era plane.

Are there still engines in that wing?

No.

- [Parker] They're gone? - They're gone.

Just needs a little bit of tuning up, you know?

[Danny laughs]

I would love to know the story behind these planes.

Like, why is it here?

What did it do?

[Danny] My guess is it's got something to do with gold.

Well, it said South American Placers on the other side.

Never heard of them before.

But they had their own plane,

probably multiple of their own planes.

- See? - Oh, yeah.

[Parker] So, it must have been pretty big.

[aircraft whirring]

[narrator] In 1959, US miners from South American Placers

struck it rich in Teoponte,

using dredges to pull in almost a billion dollars' worth of gold.

But by the late '80s, it was mined out.

Today, as larger operations chase the gold further into the jungle,

small operations pick over the tailings,

making a living on what is left behind.

- [Parker] Hola! - [man] Hola.

[Parker in Spanish]

[in English] Can you ask them when this was operational?

[speaking in Spanish]

[man in Spanish]

Was there a lot of gold here?

[man speaking]

Wow.

Is there a lot of mining up there that we can go check out?

[in Spanish]

It's in Guanay.

My friend is in Guanay.

[Parker] It seems like the right place to be.

It'd be really good to go out there and check out what's there.

[in Spanish]

[man in Spanish]

[Diego speaking]

[man speaking]

Muchas gracias.

- Muchas gracias. - [man speaking indistinctly]

Gracias.

[Parker speaking other language]

Buenos dias.

[man in Spanish]

[Diego speaking]

Si.

[Diego speaking]

[man speaking]

[Diego in English] $200 a week.

So, we can use him whenever we need to...

- [speaking in Spanish] - [Tyler] That's perfect.

[man speaking]

[Tyler] I need to sit down. I don't feel good.

- [Diego in English] Can I take a look? - [Tyler] Yeah.

[thermometer beeps]

The jungle is not a fun place to be sick.

[Danny] I know.

[Diego] From your vital signs and what you're telling me,

you are a little dehydrated.

- Okay. - But it could get-- could get worse.

- So, we have to be careful. Okay? - Okay. Yeah.

[motor starting and rumbling]

Oh, here we go.

Some mining going on.

They're doing some gold panning just there.

[narrator] Guanay is the gateway to El Camino Del Oro,

the famous Incan road of gold.

Part of a 25,000-mile trail that was used to haul tons of the sacred metal

from the gold-rich lowlands to Incan cities on the high plains above.

This looks like a town.

Pretty sure we're here.

Awesome.

Gracias, senor.

[Tyler] Muchas gracias.

[Parker] Where are we going here, Diego?

[Diego] We're going to try to find my contact, Ricardo.

Should be around here.

[Ricardo] Hey, Diego!

Ah!

[both speaking in Spanish]

- [Diego] Ricardo, Tyler, Parker. - [Ricardo greeting]

[Parker in Spanish]

[Diego in English] Ricardo's a gold buyer.

So, I thought he was the--

- the right contact to get information. - [in English] Yeah, for sure.

If you wanna just, like, kinda tell him what we're doing,

you know, looking for operations,

um, looking-- see if there's potential for ground for, uh,

bunch of gringos to come mine.

[in English] Yeah.

[in Spanish]

[Diego in Spanish]

- [Ricardo speaking] - [Diego] Mariapu?

Why?

[Ricardo speaking]

[Diego in English] There's copper, gold. There's already operations mining in there.

So, really big potential.

[narrator] Mariapu is the latest hotspot

in Bolivia's modern-day gold rush.

It's estimated that in the last two years,

miners, including those from Colombia and China,

have pulled in over $100 million worth of gold.

[Danny in English] Oh, hello.

[narrator] And Ricardo sells Mariapu gold out of his shop.

- [Tyler in English] She's got some gold. - [woman speaking in Spanish]

- [Parker] Cool. - [Diego in Spanish]

[Danny] Nice.

[woman speaking]

[Tyler] Do you mind asking what kind of purity the gold is?

[Diego speaking]

[Parker] That's impressive gold.

[Tyler] Oh, yeah.

[Diego speaking]

[in English] He's saying that there's virgin ground.

[Parker] That's like a surefire way to get a gold miner excited.

[Diego in Spanish]

[Ricardo speaking]

What's the best way to get there?

Is it by boat?

I think that's probably a good a place to start as any, yeah?

What do you guys think?

- I think that sounds good. - Sounds great.

But we should probably stay here tonight.

Good job, Diego.

[bleep] Pro at this.

[laughs]

[Parker in Spanish]

- [Diego speaking] - [speaking indistinctly]

[Danny in Spanish]

[Parker in English] Feels good.

Definitely an area with gold in it.

And excited to kinda see what's here.

[in Spanish]

[in English] We're on the right track.

How was your night's sleep, Ty?

- [sighs] Not good. - Did you sleep well?

No.

Feel like I should've been better by now.

[thermometer beeps]

[Diego] You have a fever.

[narrator] Overnight, Tyler's illness has gotten worse.

I'm still going to the toilet quite a bit.

I feel nauseous, I've got a headache,

bad tummy cramps.

From one to 10, how strong is the pain?

It's pretty strong when it cramps.

Not a 100% sure if you should jump in the boat for hours.

I don't know if that's a good idea either.

[Diego] But you are not strong enough right now.

[Tyler] I feel a bit bad though.

Will you guys be okay?

[Danny] Yeah, we'll be fine.

You know, I think you should just rest up couple of days and...

we'll-- we'll forge ahead. We can leave you with a--

with one of the other medics keeping an eye on you.

[Tyler] I don't know why my body is not coping with it very well.

[Diego] The jungle is hostile always.

It's already hard to maintain yourself hydrated and refreshed,

and now you might be having a really bad diarrhea,

abdominal pain, cramp, fever and vomiting.

It's not a good combination at all.

Thanks, Diego. [sighs]

- Bye. - [Tyler] Bye.

And then there were three.

[narrator] With Tyler monitored by the support crew medic Rodrigo...

We're a member down, I think for the first time.

- Yeah. - [Diego] Yeah.

[narrator] ...Parker, Danny and Diego begin an 18-mile trip upriver

on the hunt for new leads around the gold fields of Mariapu.

[Parker] Rather her stay here.

There is absolutely no point in risking her in 100 degree heat.

- [Parker and Danny] Hola! - Como estas?

- [Parker] Buenos dias. - Como estas?

[boatman in Spanish]

Okay. Let's get out of here.

[Parker] On the Yukon, it's on the downhill slope.

You know?

Starting next summer,

our gold totals will drop, our revenue will drop.

So, we need to pursue, you know, anything that comes our way,

or anything that we can make come our way.

Back in the jungle.

[Parker] I love being on the river.

[Danny] It's nice, innit?

[Parker] Even if it looks like chocolate milk.

[narrator] On the hunt for gold, Parker, Danny and Diego

head up the Mapiri river.

[Danny] [bleep] Watch out.

[narrator] But after an extreme dry season,

water levels are dangerously low.

[Danny] No way, you're not getting up that.

That's way too shallow.

That is too feisty.

He's saying yes.

He's saying it's all right?

[in Spanish]

[continues speaking]

[motor revving]

[whistles]

[motor revving]

[whistles]

[motor revving]

[crashes]

[bleep]

[Danny] Oh, he's putting in the stick.

Oh.

We might have to help here, boys.

Go and get out there, Diego.

[whistles]

[in Spanish]

[revving]

[boatman in Spanish]

[Parker] Go, Diego.

Oh, [bleep] hell.

[motor revving]

- [Danny] Nice. - Oh, yeah!

Well done.

- Blimey. - Atta baby, Diego.

[Danny] Well done, Diego.

Wow, look at that. That's cool.

[speaking another language]

In the right area.

[narrator] Legend has it the Incans hauled gold down the Mapiri river

over 500 years ago.

And today, the locals' primary income

still comes from the gold found around the river.

I will say there must be some pretty rich ground around here

for the amount of deep cuts I've seen.

[Danny] Really?

Yeah, look at that wall.

It's a-- What is that, a 150-foot wall?

You don't do that for a couple ounces of gold.

[children speaking indistinctly]

[Parker] Hola!

Family there.

[Danny] Yeah, should we get down and see what these guys are up to?

[Parker] Sure.

[boy speaking indistinctly]

[Danny] Hola!

[in Spanish]

- [clears throat] - [boy in Spanish]

[Danny] Buenas tardes. Correcto.

That's old me.

- Hola. - [Viviana] Hola.

[both speaking other language]

[Parker] SoyParker.

Viviana.

[narrator] Every day, locals Viviana, Daniel,

and their family come down to the Mapiri river to dredge for gold.

[Danny in Spanish]

[in Spanish]

[Danny speaking Spanish]

[in English] I love how all the family are getting right involved.

Very sweet, innit?

[Viviana] Hola,Julio.

[Danny laughs]

[in Spanish]

- That is the coolest dredge I've ever seen. - [Danny in English] Yeah?

The pontoons are just two inner tubes, like, cut off

and plugged on each end.

Everything's homemade except for the pump.

And you can buy them in the States or in Canada, like, you know...

all pre-built but nothing is like...

all homemade.

Well, there's not a thing on there that's built for

this purpose.

[narrator] The homemade dredge works like an underwater vacuum cleaner.

A water pump sucks up gravels and silt

to a sluice box floating on tire tubes.

As the pay runs across the riffles,

the gold is trapped by carpet and the tailings wash back into the river.

Get involved.

- [Diego] Si. - Si.

Si.What do we have to do?

[Diego speaking in Spanish]

Like this?

[Daniel speaking indistinctly]

And now there?

Oh, that's the pipe.

Oh, I've got it. I've got it down here.

I've got a rock. [laughing]

Can you ask, um, Vivian, what do they do?

Do they-- do they test as they go? Is that what they do?

Yeah, they-- they're for testing if the ground is good for gold or not.

Oh, so if they don't find anything in a-- in a pan,

then they move down a bit further.

Yeah.

[Parker] Wow.

[Danny] That's some confident panning.

[Parker] Oh, yeah!

Look at that.

We've been off the boat five minutes and we've seen gold.

- That's not bad, is it? - No.

[narrator] Gold rich mountains around Mariapu have eroded

into the rivers and valleys below.

Miners chase this concentrated source in the river with their dredges.

They wanna clean the mats.

[motor stops]

- Gonna pan it and everything now, are they? - [Parker] Yeah.

Wow! Look at that.

[Parker] Don't drop it.

Here we go.

[Parker] That's it.

Look at that!

Some gold around here.

[Daniel speaking in Spanish]

Three hours?

- [Parker] Is that how long they've been here? - Yeah.

Well, I think we're in the right place if they can do that in three hours...

on the side of the riverbank.

I think that of all the places that we've been,

Bolivia is, probably is the one with the most potential.

The nice thing is, from what we've seen so far,

it's pretty untapped.

He told me he was .5 grams per yard.

- Is that good? - Super [bleep] good.

- [Diego] Oh, okay. - Yeah.

We're at, like, .3 in the Yukon.

- [Diego] And that's decent? - That's-- Yeah, that's good.

[narrator] With gold returns amongst the best he's ever seen...

[in Spanish]

[narrator] ...Parker's eager to see more.

[Diego speaking]

[Viviana speaking]

[Diego in English] She's saying that she's gonna

- introduce us to Alicia, her aunt... - [Danny] Oh, yeah.

[Diego] ...and she knows a lot about the mining history of this area.

[Parker] Oh, sweet. Muchas gracias.

[Danny] That's amazing. Thanks so much for the information.

Cool. Let's go. Vamonos.

[Danny shouts in Spanish]

[in English] Wow, this is cool.

This is really cool.

The Incans found a lot of gold down here

and that's always intrigued me.

And so I'm really looking forward to

not only learning about that but then seeing it.

A-ha.

Alicia?

- [Viviana] YAlicia. - [Parker] Hola.

Mucho gusto. SoyParker.

[Diego] Okay. Gracias.

Perfect. Yeah.

[Diego in Spanish]

[Parker exhales]

[children speaking indistinctly]

Does she know a lot about the history of the area?

[speaking in Spanish]

[in English] She's telling me about the-- that the Incas

used to come here for gold mining

and the-- the conquistadores, the Spaniards...

Yeah.

...came here and took tons of gold.

- Really? - From this area, yes.

Wow.

[narrator] By the 16th century, the Incan empire

spanned 2,500 miles from Colombia to Chile.

But in 1532,

Spanish conquistadors landed in South America

hellbent on conquering the continent.

Within months, they had defeated the Incas,

and followed their trail claiming all their gold for themselves.

[speaking Spanish]

Her dad and also her grandpa

used to do rogue mining in-- in this home.

- [Parker] Right. - [Danny] Oh, wow.

In this area, yeah.

[speaking Spanish]

[Parker] Think that's exactly where we wanna go.

And is there, like,

some people here that she recommends we meet or...

Or a direction that she feels like we should go in

considering what we're here trying to do?

- [Diego speaking Spanish] - Mm-hmm.

[speaking English] There's a, like, a tunnel down there.

- Great. - [Parker] Let's go check it out.

- [Diego] Yeah? - [Danny] Let's go have a look.

- Gracias.Let's go. - [Alicia speaking English] Yeah.

[speaking Spanish]

[speaking Spanish]

- Si? - Mm-hmm.

[speaking English] She's offering us... [stutters] like, a space for us

- to put our tents and sleep. - Oh, sick.

- Gracias. - Awesome.

- Gracias. - Muchas gracias.

- [Parker] Are we going the right way? - [Danny] It's where she said.

Hey, this place has been [bleep] smashed.

[Danny] Smashed, yeah.

And must be for fair reason, right?

Yeah, it's just like, it's some of the largest scale mining

we've seen in the middle of nowhere for sure.

[narrator] The hills around Mariapu have been mined

for over 500 years, and are packed so full of gold

that to this day, miners still dig tunnels into the hillside.

This looks like something.

[Parker] Oh, yeah.

Hola!

Hola!

Hola.

There's nothing holding this up, man.

[Diego] No.

It's super [bleep] freaky in there.

I'll go in and get a panful.

Where is your pan?

Uh... There's one there.

Are we gonna just, like, steal a gold pan?

- Well, I mean, it's not stealing. - [Parker] And see there?

It's just having a look. We can leave the gold here.

But Diego has to stay out here and keep watch.

Would make complete sense that you stay out here.

- [Diego] Okay. - [Danny] We can scream if there's any big problems.

[Parker] You think we're gonna get in trouble for borrowing a gold pan?

All gold miners are pretty friendly to each other, aren't they?

[Parker chuckles]

- Eh, I just saw something swimming in here. - [Danny] Shut up.

- [Parker] I'm dead serious. - [Danny] Don't be stupid.

- It's muddy [bleep]. - [Danny] Oh, my...

This is [bleep] crazy.

[Parker] I don't really like being in here, Dan.

This is not cool.

Whoa.

What?

Ugh, something's crawling on my hand!

[Danny] Just take some [bleep] rock off the wall there.

Come on, let's just get it done.

[bleep]

This is very weird.

- [Parker screams] - [bleep]

There's a [bleep] bat flying in my face, Dan.

- [screams] - [Parker laughing]

[Diego] Guys, you okay?

[Danny] Yeah.

Real good.

This is probably one of [bleep] cheapest things we've ever done.

Yeah, it's up there.

[Carlos speaking Spanish]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[speaking English] Guys.

- Yeah. - [Diego] You have to leave.

[man speaking Spanish]

Yeah, we're coming.

[Danny] We're coming now.

[Diego] Guys, get the [bleep] out of there.

[Danny] Okay, okay.

Now!

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[men speaking Spanish]

Come on, yeah, we're coming.

[man speaking Spanish]

[woman speaking Spanish]

- [Danny] Come on, man, it's not happening. - [Parker] All right.

[Danny] We're coming, we're coming, we're coming.

[speaking Spanish]

[speaking Spanish]

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[speaking English] Si,sorry.

[Parker] Hola.

[man speaking Spanish]

[speaking English] Not even the-- the water pump

is-- is working right now to pump up the water, so.

[Parker] Water makes things unstable.

If you could just really apologize to these guys for us.

- [Diego] Si. - We're really, really sorry, it was actually stupid.

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[speaking Spanish]

- [woman speaking Spanish] - Mucho gusto.

Carlos.

- [Parker] Carlos. - [Diego] Hello.

[Parker] Mucho gusto.

- Matthias. - [Danny] Matthias.

- Matthias, soyParker. - Matthias.

[speaking English] What are we doing here? What are we trying to find?

Gold miners and gold mines.

[Diego speaking Spanish]

Is there a lot of gold in there?

[man speaking Spanish]

Seriously?

[Diego speaking Spanish]

- [Diego speaking English] One gram per cart. - Holy [bleep].

That's really good gold.

Yeah.

That's probably the best ground we've ever seen on this trip.

- Really? - [Parker] Yeah.

Or on any of these trips.

- [Danny] What? - Like, that's probably

an ounce per 20 yards.

Ten ounces an hour with a big plant.

[Danny] Wow.

What's that compared to the Yukon?

[Parker] Four times better.

- [Diego] Four times? - Four to five.

That's wild that there's that much gold here.

And is that the kind of ground that's like

where everybody around here is mining? Is it that good?

- [speaking Spanish] - [Diego] Si?

[Parker] Where?

[Diego speaking Spanish]

- Wow. - [woman speaking Spanish]

[Diego speaking English] Like, two hours that way,

there's big-- By boat, there's big dredges working.

We should go check them out.

- We should definitely check them out. - [Parker] Yeah.

- It's getting dark. - [Danny] Yeah.

- [Diego] Should we set a camp? - Let's go set a camp.

Mucho gracias.

- Gracias, signor. - Mucho gracias.

Mucho gracias.

Let's go.

Ground-wise, this seems like a phenomenal area.

Here. they're saying that they get a gram

in basically two-thirds of a yard.

Unreal. And the owner

was saying that a lot of the dredges

ground here is like that, and some of it's better. So...

Really intriguing area.

[Danny] Oh, look at this.

[Parker] Good a spot as any.

- You wanna spin 90 degrees? - Yeah.

Oh, keep the door zipped up.

Classic.

That's the first time this whole trip

that I've looked at you and you've given me that look.

- [Parker] The look? - [Danny] The-- the--

The money look?

[Danny] The "Oh, my [bleep], the ground here's amazing" look.

Gram a yard is like the dream ground.

[Danny] And that's over.

Like, if you can find that with any sort of volume

and a half decent strip ratio,

and you'd make [bleep] good money.

- Really? - [Parker] Yeah.

Jeez, we suck, Dan.

[Danny] Well, it wasn't-- It wasn't the best effort.

I've got-- I've definitely seen better. [grunts]

[Diego] Hi, Ty, how are you feeling?

[Tyler] Really bad, nausea, a fever and everything.

Are you puking or is it diarrhea?

- [Tyler] Diarrhea. - [Diego] Okay.

So abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever and body aches?

- [Tyler] Yeah. - Okay.

You're still sick, you haven't recovered as much as we expected to.

So I think the best idea

for you is to go to La Paz.

- Diego. Hmm. - [Danny] Diego.

We got you a Bi-cervecina.

Thanks.

How's your patient?

Tyler's [bleep].

- [Parker] Really? - She's not very well.

- [Danny] What? - [Diego] Yeah.

The abdominal pain has increased.

The diarrhea has increased a lot.

She has a fever now.

She doesn't feel well at all.

- Oh, really? - [Diego] Yeah.

[bleep]

That's not good.

Blimey. Is that-- Do you think that could be

her done for the trip potentially?

- [Diego] Yep. - Oh, [bleep].

[Diego] If it's something, like,

bigger than just food poisoning,

- she could-- she could spend a couple days in the hospital. - Hmm.

First time we've ever lost anyone.

Why do you say that?

I think there's a good chance.

[Sheena] We'll get you back to La Paz.

- [Tyler] Thank you. - [Sheena] Get you treated. [sighs]

[narrator] In the Bolivian jungle town, Guanay...

[Sheena] Rodrigo is gonna be with you,

he's gonna keep an eye on you.

[narrator] ...after two days of abdominal pain,

Dr. Diego has ordered Tyler to be evacuated

from the jungle to a city hospital.

- Bye, Tyler. - [Tyler] Bye.

[Sheena] Tyler's still struggling.

We thought initially that it was food poisoning,

and that she was kind of just, you know,

general traveler's belly.

But Diego and a kind of local doctor, Rodrigo,

now think it might be something more serious.

[narrator] With no flights to La Paz city,

the only way out of the jungle is a 7-hour journey

on treacherous mountain roads.

[man speaking Spanish]

They actually call the road the Death Road around here.

But unfortunately, that road's the only way

we can get Tyler to safety at the moment.

[man coughing]

It's like you're freezing, aren't you?

- Just, like, cold sweating. - You [bleep].

- [Danny] I'm fine. - [Parker] You're not fine, Dan.

I don't-- I don't know if Diego and I can

do this without you, Dan.

- And if you go down-- - No, no, I'm okay. I'm not going down.

[narrator] Eighteen miles upstream of Mariapu,

Parker, Danny, and Diego are looking for the massive river dredges

rumored to be pulling millions in gold out of the Mapiri river.

Gonna say all those dredge tailings behind us

came from something quite fresh.

[narrator] Packed with some of the richest gold in Bolivia,

the river is a destination for miners

from all over South America.

[Parker] Bucket dredge.

Wow.

[man] Hey!

Where is everyone?

I'm sure something's broke.

- [Danny] No way. - Where there's-- Where there's a dredge,

there's a breakdown.

What have we got down here, guys?

Diego, do you think we can go on that boat?

They seem friendly. If they can hear you,

can you ask if we can come aboard?

[narrator] With no contacts, Parker's only hope

is to convince a crew to let him onboard

to check out their operation.

And determine if the ground is as rich as everyone claims.

[whistles]

- [man] Gringo! - [whistling]

[Diego speaking Spanish]

[speaking English] No?

[narrator] But more than half the dredges operate illegally.

[men shouting]

[narrator] And crews have been known to throw dynamite

at uninvited guests.

- Do you wanna tell the driver to keep going down? - [man speaking Spanish]

Let's get out of here.

- Yeah, let's get out. - [indistinct shouting]

[indistinct]

[man speaking Spanish]

- [radio beeps] - [man speaking Spanish]

I don't wanna press our luck.

Everybody's been friendly but it's not worth risking.

There's obviously money here though.

Even buying things used, you--

You'd be into that for half a million.

[whistles]

He thinks these guys will let us visit them?

[Diego] I hope so.

Yeah.

- Yeah? - [Diego] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Parker] That's an 1100.

110-ton.

[narrator] The 1100 excavator

is 35 tons heavier

than Parker's biggest excavator in the Yukon.

[Parker] Oh, there's an electrical cable running through the water.

Wow!

This is quite an intense place.

What do you think?

This is [bleep] cool.

[machinery whirring]

- Hola! - Hola.

[Diego] Diego, mucho gusto.

[in Spanish]

[Parker] Parker.

[Diego] Como estas?

This is [bleep] sick!

Everybody in the Yukon

- would love this. - [Danny] Really?

My crew and all the other crews.

This is wild.

This is like

Star Warsmining.

[sweeping instrumental music playing]

[narrator] The super-sized excavator,

is welded to a barge,

and scoops pay from bedrock,

60-feet below the water line,

dumping it on a wash plant welded to a neighboring barge,

where two manually operated hoses,

shooting water at 600 gallons-a-minute,

wash the paydirt down

into the sluices.

[machinery groaning and rattling]

[in Spanish]

- [in English] Hello. - [in English] Hi! You broke your finger?

[in Spanish]

[exclaims] Oh!

No bueno.

Chopped his finger off.

- [in Spanish] - Ah, okay.

Diego, I wonder how it works?

How these guys are employed?

[in Spanish]

[somber instrumental music playing]

[narrator] Bolivia's gold claims

are controlled by cooperatives.

Locally owned companies,

who informally lease out the ground to foreigners,

and take a percentage of the profits.

So that'd be an interesting way to do it.

It's like, found some people that you like,

to add some ground, you just lease it from them.

And then you've got, they get a cut of the gold,

then they... you've got locals involved,

and these are the kind of operations that

I'm interested in.

Can you ask if their mining is deep as they can dig?

And are they following that rock?

[in Spanish]

Yes, a rock that goes 18 meters

under the... underwater.

And the gold's the best on the bottom?

[man speaking in Spanish]

- Yeah. - How much is there?

- How much? - Yeah.

I really want to find out what they do,

like, ounces an hour or, like, grams a day.

[man chuckles]

Might kick us off.

They might run us through the wash plant.

[speaking Spanish]

Average is one kilogram every 100 hours.

[Parker] 1,000 buck an hour.

This is [bleep] cool.

- [Danny] I'd dig it. Yeah. - Yeah.

[narrator] With much lower running costs that the Yukon,

if the gold is as good as they say,

it could be the place for Parker to make a deal.

Every dollar I would spend in Alaska,

probably goes, like,

five times further here.

And the gold don't [bleep].

Gold doesn't care whether it's coming

from Alaska or Bolivia,

or the [bleep] ocean, or the [bleep] moon.

This seems like a crazy amount of gold.

Be interesting to spend more time here

and see if how much gold

they're actually finding.

We've burned a lot of the day sitting on that boat,

do you wanna ask if it's okay if we come back tomorrow,

- and spend some time here? - Yeah, sure.

[speaking in Spanish]

- [Diego] Yeah? - [man] Yeah.

[Diego] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Muchas gracias! - Muchas gracias, senor.

[adventurous music playing]

[Parker] We definitely need to come back here.

There an 1,100 excavator,

welded to a barge

in the middle of nowhere.

Got a 110 tons.

[music swells and fades out]

[birds chirping]

[Parker] Is this our camp site?

[Diego] Should be close to here.

[Danny coughing]

[continues coughing]

- [bleep] - [Parker] What's wrong, Dan?

Every random few breaths, I go... [inhales]

And then I get this, sort of,

sort of, tight pain.

I think you're having heatstroke.

[Danny] What?

Um... the chest pain,

where is it located?

Right here.

[Diego] Okay.

[Danny taking deep breaths]

[Diego] Again. Out.

Keep going.

[intense music playing]

Your temperature is 103.

[narrator] 103,

is a high grade fever.

If it continues to rise,

it could cause deadly organ failure.

[Parker] Dan, we're not gonna be able to stay out

with you like this.

I've worked with Dan, for like... 11 years,

and never once seen him like this.

If anything, when everybody else is going down,

he's the one that's fine.

So, it's very weird.

We should leave for now.

- Let's get the [bleep] out of here. - Yeah.

- [in Spanish] - [boat motor revs]

[music swells and fades out]

[suspenseful music playing]

[doctor speaking]

[Tyler] Okay. Yep.

Absolutely exhausted.

The drive today was insane.

The IV really helped.

The medications really helped.

In the jungle, your body's just constantly working to

stay alive.

I'm just really tired. I just need to go to sleep.

I'm done.

[music swells and fades out]

[intense music playing]

- [Diego] How're you feeling? - [Danny] [bleep]

[Danny coughs] I had a rough night.

This bed was [bleep] drenched.

Literally, I was lying in a pool of [bleep] water

at one point.

[narrator] 38 days into his hunt

for gold rich ground,

Parker Schnabel's crew

is falling apart.

Crew member Tyler Mahoney,

was hit with a salmonella infection.

And now, Danny is fighting off a high fever.

[beeping]

Still fever. Aah!

Ah-aah!

[Danny] What's that?

- I can see the ulcers you talked to me about. - [Danny] Ah.

[coughing]

My God.

[Diego] The jungle is the most hostile environment ever.

The jungle usually wins.

Could be heatstroke.

And could be malaria.

If he doesn't get better,

mmm, no, he can't continue.

It's risky. It's really risky.

[Danny] Just a... chill, really.

[Diego] If you get a fever and you go out again,

you will get... really high fever like yesterday.

I like, I lined up a interpreter.

- So, you can stay here. - Okay.

[narrator] With Danny showing signs of getting worse,

Diego stays behind.

[Parker] Just gonna go, hang out on that dredge.

[Danny] Oh, yeah. Just gonna go see those guys.

Well, those guys said that we could come back.

[Danny] [bleep] now, I can't believe that you're going out

on your own. [chuckles]

[Parker] The jungle does not give a [bleep].

And it's pretty indiscriminate

when it comes to victims, you know.

I mean, we all wanna keep pushing,

but I don't like it when Dan's not good.

And it's a shame to,

kind of, watch time slip through our hands

because of this stuff.

[singing] ♪ There's a mountain of gold ♪

♪ And there ain't no snow ♪

♪ And the wind will blow ♪

[narrator] Yesterday,

Parker met a Colombian dredge crew

on the Mapiri River.

Now, he's on a solo mission

to find out more about their operation,

and see if the Mariapu area

is worth staking a claim.

[machinery rattling]

I've never seen anything like this before.

Your only moving part is the conveyor belt.

There's like, one 10-horse power motor

on this whole plant.

Crazy.

[man] You're looking at the... the plant.

[Parker] Yeah, it's a really good setup.

Muy bien.

[narrator] Leading the Colombian team,

is dredge boss, Victor.

The production's crew member, Gonzo,

steps up to translate.

Is there still a lot of ground that... to be mined?

[speaking Spanish]

Saying all this area is full of, like, gold.

It's a gold area.

[speaking Spanish]

[Gonzo] You wanna have a seat inside and work?

[Parker] If that's okay?

[speaking Spanish]

It's your turn now.

[upbeat music playing]

[narrator] To help the crew with a two hour test run,

Parker hops behind the controls

of the biggest machine he's ever run.

[Parker] They run Cat controls,

or do they run Hitachi controls?

- Hitachi. - [Parker] Oh, [bleep].

This is the weirdest thing

I think... I've ever done.

Like, running a 110-ton excavator,

on a barge, feeding a wash plant on another barge.

I can't believe they're letting me do this.

I got water into any of the dirt moving operation,

it gets extremely dangerous

and complicated, and... risky.

Whoo-hoo!

This is so sketchy.

So scared I'm gonna swing into the plant.

Here we go.

[clattering]

Oops!

Just dropped it.

Little bit on the deck.

Is the barge moving a lot more when I'm running it,

than those guys? [chuckles]

[chuckling] Yeah, yeah. I think so.

I'm a little jerky.

Whoo-hoo!

[bleep] awesome.

I'm definitely over the moon, right now.

I know half the crew is out sick,

but we're here to find gold, and

learn how the people are mining here

and this is the best place to do it from.

They're making money in the middle of nowhere,

because they're mining smart.

[in Spanish]

Can you tell him, that was one of the coolest things

I've ever done?

[speaking Spanish]

[Parker] Thank you so much.

- Muchas gracias. - [triumphant music playing]

We've done a lot of [bleep] on these trips,

we've blown a lot of stuff up.

I've ran a lot of different equipment.

I don't think anything compares to this.

From a mining, dirt moving,

cool [bleep] standpoint,

this takes the cake.

So wild.

[man speaking Spanish]

[in Spanish]

[Gonzo translates] You did it very well.

- Muy bien. Si. - [Parker chuckles]

[in Spanish]

Perfect! Si, bien.

[sweeping instrumental music playing]

[speaking Spanish]

[Gonzo translates] That's the camp.

Oh, wow.

[narrator] After helping the Colombians dredge

for two hours,

Mine boss, Victor, brings Parker to weigh

the gold from his shift.

[Parker] Nice spot for a camp.

Do they have power in their camp?

[speaking Spanish]

- [Gonzo] They have a generator. - [Parker] Generator.

And here we have the bees.

- [Victor speaking Spanish] - Ah!

Beehives.

Fresh honey! That is cool.

Hmm?

Mmm! So good. Muy bien.

[Victor speaking Spanish]

[Gonzo translates] Let's see how much good luck

you brought to us.

[Parker] Hopefully, some.

[narrator] Parker's Yukon operation yields

one ounce every 100-yards.

To relocate across the world,

and mine in Mariapu,

the gold here must be better,

[gold clattering]

[suspenseful music playing]

[in Spanish]

[Parker] Just under two ounces?

[narrator] The ground here,

is no richer than Parker's back home.

So... are they... happy or?

[in Spanish]

[Gonzo] We're gonna keep going.

[Victor in Spanish]

[Gonzo translates] Like Parker, always wants more.

[Parker] Always.

[speaking Spanish]

Ah, Victor, mucho gusto.

Thank you a lot, for showing us the operation.

Letting me run that excavator

is like, a highlight of the trip.

[in Spanish]

[Parker] Victor and his crew are super cool.

It is crazy, Mad Maxmining... and I love it.

For us to be involved, I'm looking for something

that's obviously good.

And this isn't obviously good.

[somber instrumental music playing]

But, I had, like, one of my top days

ever... anywhere.

[Danny] I wonder how his day's gone.

I hope it went well.

[Danny] Yeah, right.

[Parker] Hi.

- [Diego] Hey. - [Danny] Ah!

The wanderer returns.

I'm like a kid that went to Disneyland,

and got super excited, and then...

- [Danny chuckles] - ...crashed.

[Danny] Oh, really?

How was the ground?

Uh, it seems reasonable,

but... they're not doing a ton of gold.

It's not good enough.

I know we can't stay,

but... I was very excited in the excavator.

It's very cool.

- How are you? - [Danny] I'm all right.

Yeah, I've just got a sore throat now.

I'm glad you're better.

- [Danny] I'm good. - I was worried about you.

Any word from Tyler?

Just a bad food poisoning, or gastroenteritis,

- or something like that. - [Parker] Is she better?

Yeah, she's better now.

[Parker] It's been a week,

took a lot out of everybody,

and I want to keep this team together.

So, we're gonna go meet her in La Paz

and regroup and go from there.

I think that's a good idea, actually.

Get ourselves 100% for the last push.

Right now, I just want a street steak.

- Steak. Rest. La Paz. - La Paz.

We start with steak?

- [Diego] Yes, please. - [Danny] Yeah.

- [bleep] Let's go - Okay, man.

[Danny] Wicked.