Parkinson's patients undergoe physical therapy at the Parkinson's League in Santiago.

Journal by Adam Burgess, photo by Neil Dana

On our last day in Santiago the cars had been repaired at the dealership (minor repairs) and we had a stop at the city’s only Parkinson’s Clinic. I went there with Todd, Colin and Neil while the others picked up the cars. Todd wanted us to film an interview with Mr. Gibson, a dentist who had come down with Parkinson’s 15 years ago. He was in pretty bad shape with the disease, you could tell he knew what he wanted to say and where he wanted to move but his muscle control and the constant shaking of his head and arms was pretty debilitating. The interview suffered as a result and very little personal story was conveyed. This in part was due to the fact that a woman from the clinic came in as his sidekick and answered many of the questions for him.

We watched the patients do group physiotherapy exercises to the chants of an instructor and quickly it was evident at the different stages of degeneration amongst the group. As I watched I imagined that despite the fact that they were all headed for the same process of nervous destruction some must have been feeling better off than the people who could hardly move there in their chairs. Occasionally you’d see one patient slowly get up out of their chair and shuffle over slowly to help another pick up a ball or an elastic exercise band to start the next set of exercises. I tried to imagine myself sitting in those chairs raising my shaking arms above my head with every ounce of effort knowing how easy it once was and immediately every pain and complaint I had waned in comparison.

Logbook for January 27th, Day 88
Start: Santiago, Chile
Time: 0930
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Finish: Pichilemu, Chile
Time: 0200
S: 34* 25.787'
W: 79* 02.601'
Mileage: 189
Notes: We're on the coast. After a pleasant drive west from Santiago, we have arrived in the pea-soup-like coastal fog of Pichilemu. More specifically, we are in the middle of a cow pasture on a point called Punta Lobos, or Coyote Point (unless lobo actually means wolf, in which case we are at Wolf Point.). Haven't seen any coyotes, but we have seen a herd of horses. We picked our vehicles up in the morning, and morning turned into afternoon, and then we had a visit to a Parkinson's research center in downtown Santiago before loading up and driving out to Pichilemu. The waves are enormous. I can hear 'em, but I can't see 'em. They sound like a roaring freight train. Tomorrow, Neil and Adam will surf them....yikes... (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.