I have made four films in the past 10 months, all in different parts of the world, which means I have woken up in some very strange places. Recently I woke up in a tent in the African desert, and the only thought I had in my head was: “Do not roll around.” Sometimes snakes can crawl under your tent at night, and if you roll on them, they do not like it.

But today I woke up in LA, which is the place I call home when I am not working. I like to get up early if I can — this morning, it was 6 — but not because I have a plan. There is no schedule, no rhythm to my day. I do not even know what I am going to have for breakfast. More importantly, I do not care. I will eat what everyone else is eating. I do not like preparation. I find it much better to walk onto the film set or walk into the kitchen without knowing what’s going to happen. Whatever is on the table is what I will eat. In Africa, I had maggots. The tribesmen were slurping them down like oysters and… well, I did not want to offend.

LA is the home of healthy people, but exercise is not part of my day. The only exercise I get is when I’m on set. There I am on my feet all the time. I have never had a director’s chair — they are an abomination.

I do not even go to the beach. In the 12 years I’ve lived here, I’ve been to the beach twice. And that is only because photographers dragged me there to have my picture taken.

LA is my home because this is where I got married. I am not here because of work. I am not here because of the red carpet and the awards. I am not part of LA life and it is not part of my life. Most people do not even know I am here, and that is how I like it. Please do not think I am miserable. I am not unhappy.

I have the most wonderful life, the most exciting life. But life is life. It is as it is. It is out there and all around us. It is not dependent on where I am or what I have to eat. You want to know what I have for lunch? I do not know! If I am in a hurry, I will have a sandwich. If I am not, I will have something else. But not soup. Soup and I do not go together.

If I have to pick one thing that gives a small routine to my day, it is correspondence. Every day, I check my computer to find out what is happening at my office in Munich, and I have piles and piles of letters to read. Letters are one of the main ways people get in touch with me.

I usually ignore the phone at home and refuse to have a cell phone. The producers of one of the films I did last year insisted I had a cell phone, but I turned it off and disabled the mailbox. If people really want to get in touch, they will find me.

Unfortunately, that also means some of the wrong people find me. Over the years I have attracted some clinically insane people.

If you look on YouTube, you can see footage of me being shot while I was doing an interview with the BBC. So I am always aware of who is behind me on the street. I refuse to live in a bunker, but I have to take certain precautions. If the doorbell rings unexpectedly, I will not answer. I do not know why I attract these people — is it me or my work? Who knows? It is as it is.

At night I like to get together with friends. I might cook a fine steak or some game or fish. Usually, my wife [Lena] takes over in the kitchen. She makes wonderful food. When we have guests, I never take pictures. I never even pick up a camera unless I am working. Why would I want to take pictures of my friends having dinner? I remember it in my head. It is just a dinner. It is real life. It should not be viewed through a lens. What I see through a camera is completely separate to what is all around us. This is real — it is life.

After dinner, I will turn on the TV.

I never watch films — well, maybe five or six in a year. I do not trust the news, but I watch it. If you watch all the news channels, you can usually pick up some of the truth from the conflicting reports. I also watch football. I get the Bundesliga from Germany, the Premier League from the UK and La Liga from Spain. I am not a huge football fan, but I like watching it, because it connects me with home. It reminds me of where I come from. Especially if I have a Bavarian beer in my hand.

Sometimes, I have to force myself to sleep at night. I know I need to sleep, because I have been working hard. I do have dreams, but I never remember them. My best dreams are during the day, when I’m awake. Sometimes I can keep them going for five or six hours and, at the end, I realise I have been directing the story all that time. How that happens I do not know. But I like it

Werner Herzog’s film Encounters at the End of the World is on Discovery Channel on June 24 at 9pm

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