In the Americas With David Yetman

Belize has a decidedly different history and culture from the rest of Central America. English is the first language of this small nation, reflecting the its British ancestry, yet Belize retains deep historic connections among its many residents of Maya ancestry, and is proud of its strong African roots among the Garifuna people. Belize also has world-class archaeological sites, vast tracts of intact rain forest, and some of the world's richest marine treasures.

The explosion of craft beer brewing across the United States has created a widespread interest in the process of beer making. A beer festival in Tucson, Arizona, leads us to some local brewers and sends us on a quest to the origin of what makes beer different-hops. Nearly all our hops are cultivated around Yakima, Washington where we follow the annual harvest. We sample as many products of hop production as possible.

An hour or so distant from Panama's burgeoning capital and its great canal, a broad peninsula juts into the Pacific Ocean. The Azuero Peninsula is home to traditions, landscapes, and people different from those of the capital and its suburbs. Residents of Azuero celebrate what sets them off from the rest of Panama. And they are huge fans of baseball.

Argentines maintain that Patagonia begins at the Río Colorado in the Province of Neuquen. Traveling south, we cross that river on Ruta 40-Route Forty-in a volcanic landscape amidst a vast desert, the majestic peaks of the Andes always present on our right. Within the slopes of the Andes are myriad lakes and towns constructed by European immigrants-and expatriates, but never far from the arid, windswept steppes of Patagonia. More secluded are the Mapuches-Indians who resisted the European onslaught and today struggle to retain their culture.

The Wind River Range in western Wyoming is the state's largest mountain range, nearly one hundred miles from north to south. With dozens of massive peaks, it is also home to the wildest country in the lower 48 states. Much of it is protected in wilderness, which we commemorate on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. On arriving, we visit ancient foothill sites where Shoshone Indians left examples of their art, historic locations of Indian battles, and scars of mines and ghost towns before plunging deep into the wilds of the Wind Rivers.

A small state in Brazil's dry northeast, Ceará is home to a variety of traditions not found in the rest of the vast country. The inland bush, called the sertão, is home to cowboys and an odd rodeo, while the coast supports fishermen whose wooden boats are little changed over the last several centuries. Ceará is home to Brazil's most important religious shrine, its last lace-weavers, and a startling array of tropical fruit.

From the urban capital city of Bogota and its famous Ciclovía dedicated to bicycles, this sprawling nation offers a unexpected variety of cultures and urban landscapes. We hop from the mountains to the extreme southern tip of the country to see wildlife and to visit indigenous villages of the people who live in the heart of the Amazon jungle.

Argentina's nostalgic Ruta 40-Route Forty-passes along the base of the Cordillera of the Andes from the extreme north to the southernmost road in the nation. On its way Ruta 40 meets the famed wine capital of Mendoza, whose dedication to Malbec wine is recent, but whose wine production dates to colonial times. We linger in vineyards and bodegas, sampling the varieties of Malbec and Argentine food. Farther south Ruta 40 penetrates the northern reaches of Patagonia, a windswept desert bordered on the west by the incomparable Andes, and massive pre-Andean volcanoes.

The state of Oaxaca is Indian country, and its landscapes the most diverse of any Mexican state. Host David Yetman samples food in a traditional Zapotec market in the high valleys, navigates among crocodiles in mangrove swamps on the coast, and joins in the harvesting, drying and roasting of coffee in the cloud forest.

The shanty towns for which Río de Janeiro is famous (or notorious) play a pivotal role in the city's cultural history. Favelas, as they are known, rise precipitously from near the ocean far up the hillsides. Often bereft of minimal municipal services, they are home to a rich cultural life, their own social organization, and along the way in their history, have provided the artistic and dramatic talent for Brazil's most important international artistic contribution, Carnaval in Río. We visit favelas and speak with residents there.