for example by holding a summit of all member states with china and a meeting with the african states and so chancellor merkel concludes the year proc magically with concrete plans for the future employed there is still much work left for her to do. and you can watch the chancellor's address in seoul later today on the i man you can sneak in an end thanks so much for joining us. in charge of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebration alexander from the world's 250th birthday we're embarking on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on t.w. .

south america home to true veterans of the road we join them on a voyage of discovery from the state of go us in brazil to sao paulo and the state of sun to cutting out and finally to the small city of miss a dose in northeastern argentina cut. this means you can. maintain such as. these trucks may be museum items back in germany but are still valiantly rolling back the years on the roads of brazil cut cut nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing. cut our journey begins in the brazilian state of call us at a truck stop that's packed with old timers this one looks a little worse for wear head is definitely on the rusty side was fine how come

we're going to come covina if i want my way. i want to try and load up some watermelons here and bring them to sao paulo. and does he always go the same way. with the prophecy i've been taking the same route for 38 years from sao paolo to bellingham and from the south part of it would be one when i get back to sao paulo i'll have a 970 kilometer journey and hire me and i want the fish on my truck is still going after 6000000 kilometers on the clock although i have had to replace the engine a few times i spend more time caring for it then for my family. that. will might be my life is spent in the truck. i did go to school but i dropped out to fulfill my childhood dream which has now become

a nightmare. market but if you love roses you have to live with the thorns to write. love in a bad. song what are those throwing stuff. roberto if it ever does susa is no 64 years old. his truck has helped him take care of 3 wives and 10 children he says with pride. this is l. sounds a popular truckers diner in the area. roberto lovingly calls his truck i might allow the yellow one it's 40 years old. bloomberg keep your money else's husband was a truck driver too. that's him here with the 1113. there are load of them still on the roads of brazil 131-315-1320 extension 13 the 1st from

mercedes brazil good vehicles becoming a group of. highly happy. it's diesel not blood that runs through the veins of these men even their families get the bad. people thought here yes cut me open and you'll find these all. your truck driving is in our blood. bank. drivers can get a meal at el cells for 15 play ice the equivalent of 3 euros 50 party and affordable fair. treatment if i have the money to get a new truck it will be another mercedes you're not going to move through. the diner is located by the truck stop near sardine polish start a small town about 1200 kilometers north of south palo.

from here it's just a few minutes drive to the offices of a fruit wholesaler. the company purchases entire harvests from farmers and then sells the proteus at markets in the cities. roberto is hoping to get a delivery to sao paulo because it's close to where he lives. have faith in the lord with all your heart reads the company sign. joins other drivers sitting outside. while. they're all waiting to be assigned a delivery. of the little. league world over a little that way it can take hours if not longer. sometimes

it's 2 or 3 days depending on demand. at long last a company representative emerges and has deliveries to assign to come. out for $150.00 per ton of properties with that money you'd be broke by the time you got to sell palo but that's all she has to offer. but. it's all about supply and demand when there are fewer trucks available the price rises when there are a lot like now the price goes down market patience is a virtue in brazil and specially for truck drivers it's the only offer they receive all afternoon. you're looking maybe it'll work out tomorrow god willing is that. we want to keep. the middle class it is an easy.

little but. nonetheless plan to send them up to the to. elsa steiner the truckers can recharge their own batteries while also feeling ill. homesick. seems to. be a battle has been on the road for 12 days and today is his beloved wife's birthday . the 2 he sends her happy return stole the tug. to educate you live she told me tomorrow i'll probably be able to load a delivery and be in sao paulo on sunday. love

love love. love love. love the next morning there are even more trucks lined up outside the wholesaler. the cost of the competition and speculation among buyers is paid by the drivers. love. of it is going to be for trucks drive off without a buyer for the watermelons. they load up and set off but they don't know where they will ultimately be unloading. what the wholesale or fruit talk now does is try to find a buyer. i mean they then send a fax for the driver to print out at a gas station. that's the sales like sims which the driver needs to be allowed into

the market. to. the beer goggles to my d.q. steel but i don't set out until i know where i'm headed to avoid stress on the road he. loses it's us who are left with any. also is there the day it's our time that's being spent and money for food there's no point getting the union involved they might resolve your current problem but then you're blacklisted and you won't get any more jobs from anyone to go back to him which might explain why religious mantras are rare source of comfort also seen on the trucks themselves thank you all deals i can't say if i'll get on the road today we'll see about wake up thanks thad midday roberto decides to set off despite not having a precise destination for his delivery 1st he has to have his truck weigh it while

empty to ensure the weight of his load can be verified when delivered at the other end thad then he continues to the plantations to pick up 15 tons of watermelon. and. the state of going us is dominated by big landowners especially cattle breeders. they control the farming sector while also holding political posts in brasilia the connections they enjoy in the capital enable them to constantly expand their land assets they then lease their fields to local farmers. the farmers sell their properties to the wholesalers thanks.

to play. live. love. love. this is the best part of the journey when the trucks loaded up and we can finally get going. whatever the young ones can do so can the. 15 tons of

watermelon on board headed for the state of south. it's a 1200 kilometer journey from here which will take him 3 days. over half of all goods transported in brazil are delivered by truck along very poor roads roberto has his own motto adorning his precious truck for the sake of life is worth living but it. does.

we should. know you know if you make the most of. the end. a year after that film was shot german car maker mercedes-benz opened a factory on farmland just 20 kilometers outside sao paulo the factory would make diesel trucks and later buses to. almost half of the trucks and buses on the roads of the country were built by mercedes benz told herself but despite the company's high profile our film crew were not allowed inside the factory gates here in south . pole. but a privately run museum in the town does open its doors specially for this man

a nice surprise for 80 year old quality engineer of the scented dungeon level who used to work at mercedes so personal on. this in the mail this one's from my time at the company it has the heart of mercedes. although the body was made by nicola fadia soon you call. it there so i feel nostalgic. but somehow i really miss that time. mason the workers used to call the company bomber sadie's had on my mind there sits. in my time there were 15000 people working there he was the there were 3 cooperative stores for the workforce you could buy everything you needed for one month he would even clothes and house or appliances and at the end of the month it

would be taken off of your wages for it by me but it was way cheaper than regular stores because the company bought it and all of them are bastards. i mean if you also had excellent medical care provided in house for staff and their families i missed this and the company also had a football pitch for staff and a club where we could have dances to celebrate the festival joining us we were there all the time on friday we go home but on saturday we'll be back again. and say an office i feel. mom a mercedes since now a distant memory priscilla's facing a serious economic crisis demand on the truck market has slumped a mercedes benz brazil has already seen redundancies and severance packages perhaps it's no coincidence that the management are not keen on a foreign t.v. crew taking a look around. its day

to have roberto's trip to south. india. follow the money. love to it. than a week i love that. song. that the old trucker songs hope to keep the spirits off while he's on the road. in a haze. love. to give but. the love playing. badly behaved. live. band.

came to a large that it lasted. done. for them all who wouldn't fancy something new and better in life. but given the chance to swap i'm not sure my heart would be enough so when the only thing we've been partners for so many years and my trucks never made me unhappy oh it was well it meets my expectations it's a really sound truck no bill got there it's perfectly happy when i drive slowly well the get up but when i step on it because i have a deadline to make also no problem a good of doc i get enough to eat that i can't help it i like it. i feel comfortable with it even when i'm asleep busy been thinking here.

let's. listen to the sleep. eat. that. every cent account says roberto you have to watch your budget to end up with any money in your pocket that means only getting gas where he can get a discount. diesel here costs $0.70. a coupe of the moment lose 3 re isolator but i get a discount we don't mind chasing come. home to me at the. top. of. the money we have to cover highway toll charges then everything else

ourselves the companies don't pay a cent. as long as the drivers are on the road the wholesalers. and distribution companies continue to play the market and the drivers. roberto goes to ask if a fax has arrived for him. he's expecting one his delivery order from the company through talk. and of course i still don't know where i'll be taking the watermelons these are the forms of the strong and the will be. the only information he does have is the approximate direction he's heading with his 1513 model truck and its 15 time load of melons.

to fill. it if you. want to see his journey takes him through the state of maine arise past an ending sugarcane fields. the lights on the horizon are not a city they belong to the enormous sugar refinery is. another tiring day at the wheel comes to an end. it's friday and bankers short and patrons is looking forward to the weekend he's checking the weather. and. where in the state of pa and in the southwest of brazil. showdown lives here on a farm belonging to his mother in law together with his wife letitia. and and his

many mercedes and their city leo 600 make. you feel old. so you can please excuse me. for the. year is $23.00 jordan is $24.00 the couple are sprucing up a small framed truck for their sunday excursion said. jordan bought it secondhand and restored it himself. for mercy's sake. but i've always been crazy about mercedes. you know when i was 16 i made a paper model of this truck which i still have today. yes. it's an old

love. the top hole and is taken from my father's 1st truck for half on childhood memories and that's that i see some to that it was really difficult to find the original parts for the restoration. i spent 2 years searching for the white protective hub cap for example. now they're going to sit in the 1970 s. and eighty's people thought that chrome elements would bring good luck and more jobs. this number plate holder was already made like that by mercedes to sort your feet from or say it's an original part that i found and restored. in the t.c. i got married in december during the summer in brazil mars and there were 3 of us in our truck for christmas i. planned every little detail.

i had my dress on with slits down the side to make it easier to get in and out. when you made a little truck for our. people here we were so happy that day. many of the people in the region are the descendants of european settlers and economic refugees families with now been here for 5 generations. to come even the most of the city my forefathers come from true here in germany they started to farm the fields here back then the brazilian government gave away land to immigrants since in the. immigrants who settled all the way down to floaty are no police on the coast of santa catarina state they also included many italians such as the forefathers

apollo luis. there's a little film playing in my head when i look at this vehicle my father used to drive it i learned how to drive while i sat on his lap. when i was 14 i started helping him at the wheel although i didn't have a license. polo is now a building contractor and a collector of vintage mercedes-benz models. areas today covered with tower blocks used to be dense forest land. back then we were given permission to cut down trees. we would load up a truck like this with timber 4 times a day and then take it to hospital as a shop some floor not us for heating fuel.

paolo has tracked down veteran mercedes models only for the country he's now restored 8. is. also. a good. look his most recent acquisition is this l p 312. and it was already 10 years old when i was born i was born in 67 and the truck in 57. trucks like this helped to build the roads in brazil by transporting materials . this was the 1st mercedes model the engine brakes tires and axles are all original parts. don't want to take it for a drive 1st to see if you like it says his mechanic. the starter the clutch they're all from 1957 they're. going to hear they do.

you think you know there's no secret to these engines with a pair of pliers and some wire you'll never have a breakdown like this one. will start it up and we'll see. thank you all those veterans are not exhibition items they're used for their original purpose thank you. they're in good shape and because they're more than 15 years old and i don't have to pay any road tax. the maintenance costs are really low to. those mises i

use the flat face as we call the 320 want all the time insurance for a new one to be too expensive plus there's no place a new model can get to get this baby care out of the my good. book. let me. build small pin to buy the sound when i knock on the tires tells me whether they have enough air in them to think i would like to. but there might be a puncture from a nail somewhere was it wasn't until this that he had a tire like this currently costs $800.00 re ice which is too much. like it so after a while i swap the front tires to the rear and then get them retreaded. it's just

a recent key that only costs $550.00 s. . to the fun of it for me and i'd love to give it a general overhaul but earning so little and having a pay for all those things while on the road means you have to choose. either get the truck restored or feed your family so i'm constantly having to postpone it and in the meantime the rust is getting worse to my. oh. it's sunday and roberto is around a 100 kilometers away from some follow up and was. about to. go on but.

a lot of. the. casual mailbox man these guys were most posed to go with these melons got the old. south pole and the sprawling metropolis that never sleeps the main wholesalers market is located in the downtown area it's late by the time roberto arrives and he still has no delivery order but he heads down to the market nonetheless. the woman at the gate wants to know what goods he has on board having no delivery order means roberto will have to leave his truck by the entrance to the car park. it will be safe there she assures him.

roberto is now just 50 kilometers from home but he's worried that parking his truck unload there would put them at risk of being stolen. night and day trucks roll up here from all over brazil $12000.00 a day in total. was. many of the drivers have been waiting several days to unload their deliveries not a good sign for roberto. their patience man but sometimes the truck drivers get fed up especially when they see their fruit beginning to rot sometimes reports roberto they open their truck bed side panels and dump fruit onto

the street but unloading their anger like that will only hurt themselves he says they're basically throwing away their own pay just yet but you can often wait for $4.00 days or more at the market and no one is paying for your meals let alone all those last days so. some drivers resort to trying their luck in the lottery. but. the baritone has had enough and goes looking for the representative of his customer for talk who he was supposed to meet here would know that he. was and this is where the city supermarkets and other retailers buy their property is. against the backdrop of the economic crisis crime is a growing factor there have even been robberies at the market itself the newspapers have almost daily reports of trucks being stolen and their drivers abducted many do

not survive says roberto. was going to the market is a good shooting location for pay now is thought out on a t.v. show. that caters to truck drivers oh good god no no up to date on the bare toes vocal in his praise of his beloved truck but silence about the conditions he has to work under. he finally tracks down his fruit tax contact. to hold or if the man is still making calls to find a buyer salvi i just want to unload a little bring them to a company warehouse in about 2 hours of all predicted that they're not going to get all i want is my money. and all i have left is 2 and a half 1000 re ice about 640 euros for a journey of 6000 kilometers and 13 work days to the easiest one of the.

great competitive in book video shot of cantina news. meant that i could all see some fabric of the us every. hollywood decided. it was the auto makers 1st factory in latin america mercedes-benz argentina was founded in 1951 specializing in trucks and buses. its management would later face accusations of having collaborated with the military dictatorship in argentina but its products are to this day i don't live by many in the country.

this is northeastern argentina. the heartland of the country's cowboys and rangers the gaucho. yes. this small city in his province with a population of $45000.00 just so happens to be called missing it is going to. be out of my. mind out. of the region is the birthplace of the gauchos but also has strong associations with the national drink tonic week i met a team 1st consumed by indigenous peoples. mercedes the town that doesn't take its name from the card which it predates by several decades. is

a name given to girls in spanish. a mercedes means our lady of mercy in the months dedicated to families she comes to visit school children at home. public transportation in the city of my saddest comprises a fleet of old buses all of that vintage mercedes benz models. that is drunk everywhere including at this family run car workshop. we saw god and his 19 year old son for condo are the owners of the buses used to ferry macedonians all across their city. and if i am going to be here i perform i think it was our work that you will never sell them. and they're part of our family heritage and i want to see it you know imagine something handed down through the generations my father was

a bus driver and i've carried on the tradition and hopefully my son to. see him put him out we've only ever had mercedes they're easy to repair and are super reliable and that. a comfortable ride for the passengers. here. they're also a very affordable ride for people from the countryside come to work in the city. and they go. according to my mother when i was 4 months old she would put me in a basket to write on the bus with my father. and i would always fall asleep i was like a swing and the noise from the box like a lullaby. for the youngest passengers it's their school bus.

and the other. when one of them drives past i can tell from the sound which model it is. that it. was. the suckers have 3 bosses which set out from the main square in 3 different directions . and his province was also one monk the destinations for european settlers in the 19th century such as the soccer family. whose family jassim feel we have swiss german roots. the solders host reunion events a few years ago we had a gathering of $600.00 solders so. i checked our family tree and i'm the 5th generation here in argentina in fact now that's young.

to love and to care for till god in west parts say the sagas and when the seats for the passengers have reached the end of their tether here in my state is people give the aging trucks and new lease of life. no these eggs weren't broken by the bumpy ride that happened while we were loading the truck say the 2 men up front there are the sons of the city's main vegetable trader who say be a down to. the convenience store is also

a family run enterprise. this is their boss their father and save you don take. the wheel i bought this off the solders. it was the 1st public bus in our city and now i've had it for 24 years it's never had a breakdown of. just normal in the world. but i would never sell it i would imagine such a great boss are going to. look at me. when i go back in brazil. it's sunday and the young bankers and his wife leticia a town official are all fun a day trip to the coast and then on to the mountains. it's

a region with scenic landscape that the roads are lined with pine tree forests. giovanni. claims it was his work but i'm sitting at home when i turned 18 i told my father that i wanted to be a truck driver you see the day my father said no way you can't make a living out of that but they don't you know me i'm grateful that he said no i could just see i really like being a banker as i was and i would also fancy working with a truck the old cars that are coming out. right i drive during the day and you at night myself i reckon we'll do that one day.

joining the couple on their day out is pound the least from floating. there touring the. region and the foothills of the settled. range. pollo is eager to prove that his elbow 312 built in 1957 will have no problem scaling the 1500 metre high 70. 2 hours which it

does passing by a new truck that appears to have broken down. and indeed a tow truck soon comes to the rescue. the old timers on the other hand reach the top in top form where they have a fair share of admirers to the delight of the proud owner pound of. which. both good trucks donate they just change owners who they are going to really really really leverage and they never let us down unlike the new trucks that have to be towed and you've seen the proof of the fuel. in every and they're not

all there antiques veterans and we didn't. meet. gil into the top in opera is not for the faint hearted. a fantastic voice alone just isn't enough anymore the wages and hard work for dr singers could sing an aria about.

my 1st by say most sawing machine. where i come from the. when they're bound by this motion towards the middle of something as simple as learning how to write a bicep those isn't. since i was a little girl i wanted to have them by saying they lost my home but it took me years to been there. finally the game bob invention by me on bicycles but returns people sewing machines sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than rising i'm biased as now i want to meet shall feel those women back home for bones by their duties and social norms and inform them of all the basic rights my name is the about of people homes and i work at somebody to.

blame. blame. blame blame. blame blame blame blame blame. blame blame blame the law. this is a v.w. news live from but it is hello 2020 in new zealand of the kiwis welcome and the news media you can see here the country's biggest fireworks display and lighting up the city's sky tower. shut while new zealand celebrates its thousands are trapped on beaches came to.