[Above: Drive Around the World Land Rovers roll across the El Salvador border into Honduras.]

Logbook for November 30th
Start: El Tunco, El Salvador
Finish: Choluteca, Honduras
N: 13* 18.761'
W: 87* 11.415'
Mileage: 195
Notes: Team entered Honduras. Crossing took 4.5 hours.

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: A gorgeous sunset at El Sunzal beach, near La Libertad, El Salvador.]

Journal by Justin Mounts

Hello everyone,

The last few days have been really enjoyable. Everyone has been really curious about seeing El Salvador, especially since we're all familiar with how the country was affected by war in recent years. We had a beautiful morning drive yesterday through a lush, green valley full of corn, milo, and other crops. The valley was flanked on two sides by volcanoes, and we were lucky to see Volcan Fuego belch a puff of smoke into the air. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't really turn out. But just imagine a full 180-degree view with the morning sun peaking over the volcanoes as one of them erupts, almost as if on cue.

Crossing the border into El Salvador, we encountered groups of locals, all curious about who we were and what we were doing. It appears that the American tourism market in El Salvador is still behind other Central American countries. It is a shame, too, because El Salvador is the prettiest country we've visited so far. As we traveled from Antigua to El Sunzul, we dropped aver 5,000 feet in altitude and the temperature jumped from 75 degrees to just over 100 degrees. This is important because in order to improve our fuel economy, we're not using the air conditioners except for really hot days. And we haven't hit them yet. Those will come in Australia and India.

The border crossing took us 5 hours. A little longer than expected, but there's not much you can do. Border crossings are full of paperwork and lines. They're never really that busy, but they're never in a hurry to get you through, either. We met some young girls working at the border selling water and sodas. These girls, like so many others in Central America walk around with large bowls on their heads filled to the brim with whatever they are selling. And they have done it for so long, that the items remain perfectly balanced whether they are walking up or down stairs, hills, or avoiding objects in the street. I should mention that these girls were 6 and 9 years old. It truly is a different way of life here in Central America.

As we approached El Sunzul (about 20 kilometers west of La Libertad if
you're following along at home), the terrain became very tropical. Palm-trees and other coastal vegetation began to appear, and remarkably the roads in El Salvador are great. In fact, they are much better than many of the highways in California. They are only 2-lane roads, but they are very well kept. We wound up missing the turn off to El Sunzul, but we found a small bungalow hotel called Roca Sunzal on the beach just east of our target destination.

We spent a lot of today getting to know several of the local residents. Our host was a native El Salvadorian named Oscar, and he is a Los Angeles neon-sign-maker who now splits his time between the US and El Salvador. He was smuggled into the US when he was 14 by his mother. Once there, he began learning the trade and after dealing with some unscrupulous bosses, he eventually started his own business and became successful. He has returned in recent years to invest some of his earnings into the local El Salvadorian community.

I spent a good portion of this day with Luis, one of the workers at the hotel. He helped guide me into town to run some errands. On the way we visited about our families. He is married, but separated. This seems to be a taboo subject in El Salvador. But he has a son who is 17 and plays football (soccer) and a 9-year old daughter. He used to live in Los Angeles as an illegal alien to make money to help pay to raise his children. As a truck driver in the US, he made about five dollars an hour. In El Salvador, he makes five dollars a day. He was eventually deported, but is glad to be back in his native homeland.

I spent the afternoon learning to surf, and I had a chance to visit with local kids who surf every day. My wipeouts are the best -- so I heard. I am so beaten up, it’s not funny, but I did catch about 6 waves. The effort was very worth it. Our day ended with a typical El Salvador dinner -- rice and carne (meat). We watched the sun go down on another day and went to bed early. Tomorrow is another full day of driving, plus we’re crossing the border into Honduras. I hope you all are well.

Until next time,

Justin
justin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for November 29th
Start: El Tunco, El Salvador
Finish: El Tunco, El Salvador
Mileage: Rest Day

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Who is the real Colin "Corndog" McAuliffe?]

Journal by Colin "Corndog" McAuliffe

We left the tourist city of Antigua, surrounded by beautiful imposing volcanoes, watching the volcano known as Vulcan de Fuego erupt plumes of smoke. The majesty of that sleeping giant was impressive. Unfortunately we ended up watching this wondrous sight from the location of our breakfast break: the parking lot of a Guatemala McDonald’s that had hedges cut into the shape of the trademarked “M”. Strange feeling, but as my 2 Egg McMuffins disappeared into the depths of my stomach, so did my qualms concerning ingesting American fast food in a developing nation.

The day had started out early at 6am, the time we’ve set for days when we are planning to cross borders. On this day, we were planning to cross from Guatemala to El Salvador. We arrived at the border around 10am -- nice and early, and eager to move on. As usual though, the moving on part was the hardest. Personally, I’ve learned that one word rings truest at borders -- and that word is “patience.” There is tons of red tape and bureaucracy that takes place on the frontier between nations, and the only way to make your way through it is to kick back and enjoy the sketchy scenery that surrounds. I like to use the time to sit around to work on my Spanish, and who better to learn from than children.

Children in border towns often live sad lives: They spend the majority of their time panhandling or selling low-cost goods, mostly beverages, to the people in transit. On this particular day my most meaningful encounters were with two children in particular, Dennis and Mila.

I met Dennis as soon as I exited my car. He came up and asked if I needed any help (in Spanish) and I asked him if he could take me to a store where I could but some stuff I needed. Of course he could help, and off we went in search of a local tienda, at which I could buy what I needed. On the way, he asked my name, and when I told him, he couldn’t really pronounce it -- so I defaulted to “El Gringo Loco”, which immediately put a huge smile on his face. The store was found, and I used my change from my purchase to buy my newfound friend Dennis (third photo from the top) some candy. After that, Dennis was my best friend for an hour or two. We hung out and talked for a while. I used the Spanish I have to find out a little more about my new amigo. He was 13, had two brothers, had no girlfriend (although there was one girl he liked), he also liked soccer, and went to school, which he surprisingly said he enjoyed. Apparently, I had met him on the month of his summer vacation, and that was why he wasn’t in school. I asked which he liked better, school or vacation -- and as I figured, he preferred vacation.

Anyway, after some time spent in friendly conversation, Dennis’s friends came around, introductions were made all around, and when the others struggled with my name, Dennis informed the bunch that I was formally know as El Gringo Loco. Within minutes I had a bunch of little El Salvadoran kids yelling “El Gringo Loco” in unison, and just generally having a good time. They were an agreeable bunch of guys, so I bought them and myself an ice cream cone (the grand total for nine ice creams was one dollar). Now I had a little posse all my own. They followed me everywhere for a while, and I was having fun working on my Spanish and just horsing around. I taught them my “monkey dance” and Todd and Adam played some guitar so we could try and teach them some Beatles songs. I asked them all the standard “getting to know you” questions in Spanish and they all responded nicely: they all went to school and were enjoying their month off, and only one of them had a girlfriend, and her name was Roxanne (I tried to teach him the Police song of the same name, to no avail).

Eventually the guys started hounding me to give them stuff and I had to sit them all down and tell them all that begging for money wasn’t going to work, and that having fun in life was more important than money. That worked for a little while, but my fellow redhead Nancy decided to hand out some give-aways to some of the kids, and that started the begging all over again. At that point I kind of just wandered off and sat down on the curb.

So there I was, relaxing and trying to get away from the fray of children, when a little angel with a basket of beverages on her head walks up and sits down beside me. She asked me to take a picture of her and I was more than glad to. She told me her name was Mila, and we had a nice conversation about what her siblings’ names were, and if she went to school. She was definitely the most agreeable and cute out of all her peers at the border, and the whole crew took a liking to her. I spent a nice hour with her having simple discussions in Spanish and teaching her a little English here and there. We took some more photos with her sister for my “Cult of the Corndog” collection (see above), and she enjoyed seeing the images on my digital camera. Adam and I broke out our video camera and shot some interesting footage for our show, and then it was time to roll on to El Salvador.

When I first arrive at a border, I always have fun. The children are fun, cute, agreeable, and for me easy to understand and talk to. Eventually though, I always grow disheartened. It saddens me that these kids are out there begging for money for food. They always tell me they are hungry, and I usually believe them. I’ll never know if it’s true or not, because there is always the possibility that they just have nothing better to do, but for now, ill just assume that I am helping these kids out.

Colin
colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for November 28th
Start: Antigua, Guatemala
N: 14* 33.606'
W: 90* 44.252'
Finish: El Tunco, El Salvador
N:13* 28.978'
W: 89* 19.955
Mileage: 135
Notes: Team entered El Salvador. Crossing took 5 hours.

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Nancy Olson joins a candlelight procession on Thanksgiving night in Antigua, Gutamela.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

I learned a new phrase today: “Me faltan dos de mis pantalones.”

This morning, I awoke at 0700 to the sound of rambling buses and conversing roommates in a four-bed, summer-camp-style room on the third floor of “La Casa San Lucia” in Antigua, Guatemala.

Apparently, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was going to go back to sleep in order to try for the other side of the bed an hour or so later, but suddenly a harrowing thought occurred to me: “I don’t think the laundry gave me back all of my pants!”

I couldn’t lie there and sleep with such awful thoughts resounding in my brain, so I sprung into action and had a peek inside my duffel. Oh, fercryingoutloud! My two favorite pairs of pants were, indeed, MISSING! Now I would have to figure out how to ask the ladies at the laundry if they still have them.

You see, a few of us dropped our laundry off to be cleaned at a lavenderia yesterday morning, and we were told we could retrieve our things at 5:30 that night. When it came time to pick up our clothes, I was busy doing something else, and Todd said he’d grab them for me. Well, the bag seemed light when he handed it to me, but I didn’t really give it much thought until this morning. That’s when I felt an emptiness where my blue and my red pants used to be…

My fellow explorers were eager to help. Rolf pulled out his Lonely Planet Phrasebook and found something for “I am missing one of my _____.” (Me falta uno de me ______.) “OK, that’ll work,” I thought. “I’ll just fill in “two” and “pantalones.”

I got all worked up and ran down the block to la lavenderia with Todd, certain that some lucky customer had arrived home with MY awesome pants. I needn’t have worried. You see, on this Thanksgiving Day in Guatemala, I had even more to be thankful for than I was aware. My pants had, indeed, been placed in another customer’s bag, but that customer had not yet returned to pick up his or her clothing. I had stared Defeat in the eye, and I had won! Halleluiah, I had my pants back.

We returned from the laundry adventure at about 0900, and Todd and Rolf left to go visit a farm with the film crew. I had big plans to catch up on my writing, but something emanating from my computer, perhaps it was the soft glow of the screen or the low, monotone hum of the hard drive, put me right to sleep. When I woke up again, it was 4 p.m. Luckily, this time, I had gotten up on the right side of the bed!

We had placed Thanksgiving dinner reservations for 7 p.m. at a local restaurant, so I had a little bit of time to kill. The film crew wanted to film Rolf getting his hair cut, and I decided it’d be great fun to go along. I was psyched because he was going to get it buzzed super-short. The Marine in me has been pining for the company of some of my peeps, so having a “short-hair” around, I thought, would make me feel more at home. Rolf has very angular features, and I was convinced the “Rolf Lundgren” look would suit him.

We walked a few blocks to a local indoor/outdoor market to look for some prize items and do a little filming before inquiring about a barber. This was where I found a cool Gallo (the local brew) t-shirt (camiseta) for $3 and a nice oriental-style blouse for less than $6 just yesterday.

This market was Amazing with a capital A!!! On the outside, it was rows and rows of little booths. You could get shoes, shirts, belts, hammocks, bootleg CDs and DVDs, toilet paper, sunglasses, fruits and veggies, and whatever else your little heart desires. Rolf and I shared purchases of fruit and sweets, and we headed out to ask about a barber. A local gentleman indicated we could find one just on the other side of the buses and up the street on the right. (The buses are old American school buses painted up like a box of Crayolas. A select few are au naturale with the original school and county names still visible.)

We found the barber, an authentic place full of locals and good vibes. Rolf and I hypothesized that a lot of town gossip probably transfers hands within its walls. The little place was humming, and it wasn’t just the sound of the Number 2 clippers I’d requested for Rolf’s head. A television was on in the corner, men were laughing and swapping stories, and barbers and patrons were commenting on the latest headlines. We, on the other hand, were giggling at the point-and-choose posters displaying drawings of the different hairstyles available. Apparently, ‘80s styles are still in fashion in Guatemala, and we wished Rolf’s hair were long enough for the Musico (a curly sort of mullet), the Serpentina (brushed back with wings), or even the Normal (a classic Beatles-looking bowl cut). Rolf got his buzz, I got my faux-Marine fix, and the film crew got some rich footage.

From there, we went downtown to see the women washing clothes in the square, and we also caught a glimpse of a church service that involved blue and white streamers and intermissions during which one of the guys would run outside into the street, launch a few mortars (giant fireworks), and run back in. We never did figure out what the occasion was, but the explosions could be heard throughout the duration of our stay in Guatemala.

At 7 pm, we all met at a restaurant called “Las Palmas” for their “Famous Thanksgiving Dinner.” (You can walk everywhere in Antigua, so that’s how we got around.). We toasted Nick and Chanda for the hard work they do to make this expedition possible, and we gave thanks for our new friends from Australia joining us at the table (Skye and Ben — two super-cool travelers we met two days ago in Santiago de Atitlan) and for each other.

The dinner was OK, but it wasn’t Mom’s. The good thing is, there were no fourths, thirds, or even seconds, and the pumpkin pie wasn’t good enough to eat, so I don’t think I gained any weight this Thanksgiving! It wasn’t the best dinner I’d ever had, but the turkey wasn’t dry, so we were happy. It was odd having that all-American family meal so many miles away from our families.

It didn’t take us long to wolf through the dinner, so we had a lot of time for conversation and staring at candles. Whenever there are candles at the table, Adam and I tend to play with the wax, and this was no exception. I decided to make one of my own out of a napkin and melted wax, and, by the time we left, I had a pretty good one.

Remarkably, we walked only two blocks away from the restaurant before happening upon a procession of local worshippers carrying CANDLES!!! We had heard fireworks going off, and had run excitedly toward the explosions and what we thought must be a wedding. All giggles, we screeched to a halt when we saw the somber faces illuminated by the flickering flames they carried. A little boy lit mine for me, and we stood there wondering what the occasion marked. (Do any of you Catholics know what is special about Nov. 27?) Fireworks exploded over the heads of onlookers and worshippers until the procession made it through the cathedral doors and out of sight. Minutes later, we, too, were out of sight down a dark side street.

We bid farewell to Skye and Ben at their hotel and walked the block back to our rooms at the San Lucia. Tomorrow would be an early morning departure and a border crossing into El Salvador! With a little luck, well spend tomorrow on a sun-soaked beach!

That about sums up our Thanksgiving. We’re most thankful for you blog readers; we’re glad you’re out there. And I am personally thankful for my friends and family (hi Mom, Dad, Eric, and Stace). I won’t name names, but here’s a shout out to my best friends in D.C., SoCal, Maryland, Texas, Mass., the Republic of Georgia, the Pentagon, and the Big Sandbox. You know who you are. Boy, I sure do miss you all. See you in eight months…

Logbook for November 27th
Start: Antigua, Guatemala
Finish: Antigua, Guatemala
Mileage: Rest day

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: A woman sells Mayan wares in the central square of Antigua, Guatemala.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

Antigua, Guatemala is situated in the valley of several volcanoes, including Pacaya, Fuego, and Agua. Fuego still spouts smoke lava and ash, which is an amazing sight to see. Agua’s claim to fame is that it wiped out the old city (the city in this city before Antigua was built), but not in the way you would expect a volcano to wipe out a city. It turns out that the caldron created within the top of the volcano was filled with water over time. After some heavy rains the caldron filled and spilled out upon the city below. The flood came with such force it completely wiped out the old village below. After this catastrophe, a new city was built near by and called Antigua.

This new Antigua soon became the capital of Spanish Central America. As you walk down the rocky cobblestone streets, you can see many of the ruined old cathedrals and buildings that have been shaken by violent earthquakes through the years. It is clear to see the effects of the earthquakes upon these buildings, but their dilapidated state bears a certain charm. The city blocks have narrow sidewalks with solid wall fronts on the buildings, most of which do not have windows facing the streets. When you look down a street it just looks like walls and narrow sidewalks line the streets. However the doors usually open into a large courtyard or a deep lot and the structures within these walls are very inviting.

Interestingly, Antigua owes is preservation to a historical string of bad luck. After a major earthquake, it was decided the capital was going to be moved to where it stands today, Guatemala City (northeast of Antigua). Following the move, an economic depression occurred. This dissuaded people from investing in the city, and thus the old structures were not torn down and replaced with new ones.

This city is amazingly beautiful, though it seems to be becoming quite crowded and the Burger Kings, American discos, and omnipresent Internet cafés challenge the once-used description of “quaint”. This a bastion of Spanish language schools, and in one sense you couldn’t find a better place to study Spanish -- but on the other hand the environment of Spanish-only speaking people is not what it used to be.

It seems as though a lot of changes have occurred since I first visited this place in 1997. Back then the streets were less crowded and you would have had to hunt for an Internet café rather then just fall in a certain direction to be in one. The addition of a Burger King was probably the most surprising addition to the city (although the façade of burger king was cloaked with the traditional architecture).

Who knows where the changes will lead. New revenues often lead to new possibilities as well as new problems. It will be interesting to see what will remain important to the People of Antigua as their city goes through these changes.

I still think the city is quite beautiful and there is still much to be explored and much I would like to do in this city. I will definitely return to Guatemala and Antigua in the future.

Although this city has many amazing sites I stayed back at the hotel for much of the day. It was truly wonderful to lie in bed and read about the places where we were going and some of the places we had been. The break neck speed in which we had been traveling, which now had been lifted, took the weight off our shoulders and made it possible to relax. We didn't have to pack and load up the cars, we didn't have a morning briefing; we were left to ourselves and that was just what we needed. Although each and every one of us has writing and other jobs to do, we now had time away from our jobs, companions, and the vehicles. I spent time working on the educational aspects of the trip and how to encourage more students to use the sights.

I was gathering information about El Salvador and Honduras as a rainstorm passed over our heads. I loved the storm as I had a roof over my head and a blanket over my feet.

This is Todd signing off.

Logbook for November 26th
Start: Antigua, Guatemala
Finish: Antigua, Guatemala
Weather Conditions: Sunny and warm, slightly humid, with afternoon rain
Miles traveled: Rest day
Breakfast: Chiliquiles
Dinner: Rice, beans meat and soup

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Todd Borgie relaxes on the peaceful shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

I woke up this morning on the majestic volcanic shores of Lake Atitlan, put on a pair of jeans and a shirt, and stepped out onto the front porch of the hotel. I sat down on a wicker chair and looked out upon a wonderful tropical garden and a bright shining sun. I reflected upon the day before and the some of the traveling fears we experienced in order to get where we were today. Travel warnings have been issued for Guatemala and many of us have heard of stories that would curl your hair. As to how much truth there is to these stories no one really knows. It is just up to the traveler to use their best judgment when analyzing stories and information about any particular place.

In any case, the uneasiness was behind us and I sat drinking coffee in the sunlight. Early morning thirst motivated me to walk to the Land Rovers to get one of my bottles of water. On my way I met a Spanish fellow who greeted me and asked me where I was from. Only half awake at this point, I answered his questions and asked a few of my own. Soon we found ourselves drinking coffee on a balcony overlooking the Lago de Atitlan. It was a crystal blue lake flanked by volcanoes. These volcanoes had been extinct and evidence of this was the fact that their cones had been covered in a blanket of green flora.

Jose, the Spaniard (who I later found out was the owner of the Bambu Hotel in Santiago), answered my questions about Guatemala and allayed many of my fears of traveling here. He had traveled all over Latin America and finally settled in Guatemala about 12 years previous. During the course of conversations he mentioned that during the Reagan years American Travel to Latin America had drastically declined. He knew there had been travel warnings, but was not quite sure why they had been issued. This is something I will have to think about.

After awhile a couple from Northern Ireland came down to the lakeside balcony to have breakfast. We all talked together about where we were from and why we liked travel. It is so much fun meeting people and sharing perspectives on things. You can always learn interesting things when you listen to people.

As time went on the rest of the team showed up. It was so nice that we could have the morning to ourselves, not having to be anywhere. I was learning a lot in an incredibly beautiful place. It was like the day took my hand as I left my room and has been acting as my guide ever since. Everywhere I looked I saw something beautiful; everyone I met seemed to be interesting, and the coffee was wonderful as well!

Later, Miguel, a man who worked at the restaurant came and talked to us. He told us some history of the area. He spoke Tjutil (one of the native Mayan languages spoken in the region) to us, which has a fascinating sound to it.

As noon was approaching we were packing up to head to Antigua and an Australian couple came boating up to the dock. We became chatting with them and decided to have lunch with them in the town of Santiago. After lunch we parted, but continued to shop our way back to where we parked our vehicles. In the middle of a purchase Skye and Ben (the Australian couple) came running up and asked us if we could take them back to Antigua. We said we had plenty of room and they would be welcome to join us.

After making our way back to the vehicles we spent the remainder of the daylight hours weaving our way out of the hills and into the valley where Antigua is situated. We saw unbelievable scenery as we looked from the hilltops, switchbacks and up from the valleys. We saw livestock small farms, families walking in a row with hoes slung over their shoulders. The kids as well as the older folks work in order to put enough food on the table. It was an amazing drive.

These kinds of days are what traveling is all about. I had no idea what was in store for me when I woke up. However, by the time the day was through I had made a number of new friends, learned an incredible amount about Guatemala, improved my Spanish, and saw some incredible scenery.

When you are traveling your days will never be the same twice. You always have opportunities to meet new people, see new sites, and gather new perspectives. These are the trophy days of traveling and why I recommend traveling for everyone. I believe if everyone traveled and sought to understand and listen the world would be much more peaceful place.

Logbook for November 25th
Start: Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala
Finish: Antigua, Guatemala
Mileage: 75

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: The DATW Land Rovers are lined up at the crossing-point into Guatemala from Mexico.]

Journal by Neil Dana

So today we awoke in a small pink drive-in motel in Tapachula, about an hour away from the Mexico/Guatemala border. We all geared up and headed off to the airport to drop off Cristina, our new friend from Guadalajara, to head back home. She was with us for 5 days and we had a great time. She and I met a year and a half ago in San Francisco at a bar during the World Cup Games. I was teasing her since we, the USA, had just beat Mexico – but she later forgave me for my teasing and we became friends. Anyway, we dropped her off at Tapachula, and headed towards Talisman, the border town on the Mexico side of the border crossing into Guatemala.

And of course, we ran into the run-around. First, we passed by some the agricultural inspection and a bunch of kids jumped on our car and told us we needed to cancel our Mexico sticker, which we have on our vehicles. The stickers are our temporary permits to drive in Mexico. And we did need to cancel our permits, however trusting a bunch of children who are all yelling at you with instructions in the middle of nowhere an hour west of the border isn't the most comfortable situation. So we heeded their information that we needed to go to a bank called Banjercito to cancel our permits, but we pushed on closer to the border looking for a Banjercito. When we finally did find one, they told us the only place to cancel our permits was the one back at the agricultural inspection where all the kids had jumped on our car!

Oh well, we turned around and drove back and went across the street and cancelled our permits and received the appropriate documents to hand over to the border officials in Guatemala. While we were doing this, we bought some delicious empenadas with cheese and a spicy sauce, and some peeled pineapple, papaya, watermelon, and cantaloupe. The food in Mexico, especially when in the tropical south, is fantastic!

So onward we went until we finally arrived at the border. When we arrived there, there were two signs, one pointing towards the right, which was for cars without documentation, and the other was for cars with documents. We weren't exactly sure at first, then 15 or so kids jumped on our car as we were turning towards the right. I finally was able to tell them all to get off the car and just let one guy speak so I could understand what they were saying.

He told us to go back on the main road and head towards the border with him. If we went the other way, we would have to pay off officials and wait in a very long line. So we decided to listen to this guy, since the kids at the last passing earlier were correct as well.

Sure enough, this guy was our savior. He took us right into the border, and I grabbed all of our passports and we just went to a window with no line, got our exit stamps, then went to the other office, and got our entry stamps, and then to the copy machine to make copies of our documents for our vehicles. Each process cost us a few quetzals, which is the Guatemalan currency. And getting the quetzal was a funny experience.

The exchange rate was 7.9 quetzales to the dollar. When we told the guy we wanted to change $100, he would punch some numbers on his calculator, then show us the calculator and press 100 X 7.9 and it would come up as 690. And he kept doing it and I kept telling him, in Spanish, that this was nonsense. So I took his calculator and did it myself, and of course it came up 790. The silly guy would press -100 first, then show people the calculator and do the multiplication. I guess some people fall for it.

We then proceeded to the office where we needed to get our Guatemala car permits. Luckily, the letter we had from Mexico, which was notarized by a lawyer, worked here too. I assume it will work through the rest of Central and South America. So after a couple of hours of waiting for paperwork, we were through the border and into Guatemala. All in all, we paid about $60 for everything, not bad at all.

On to Guatemala!! Guatemala and Mexico are completely different from each other. We are in the intense tropics now and the people are definitely more of a Mayan descent. The people are very small as well. The children are so cute it is unbelievable. I love taking pictures, though it is known that some Guatemalans don't like their picture taken, so it is a fine line I was playing with, and filming them for our project is interesting as well.

The people here wear very colorful clothing. The women wear lovely dresses, filled with various color patterns, that cover most of their body and the men wear these striped wraps that are a cross between a sarong and pants, along with a Guatemalan shirt.

The people here walk around carrying fruit and supplies on their back with a blanket that is wrapped around their back. Many women carry baskets filled with bread or fruit on top of their head, balanced without the use of their hands.

Guatemala is extremely rich in culture and heritage. The people here are very traditional and preserve the way of life from their ancestry. Guatemala is also very poor. Driving towards Santiago de Atitlan, which is a huge crater lake amongst three volcanoes, we passed through many villages that were very poor. These villages have houses or shacks that are falling apart and barely standing. Guatemala is rich in culture, yet however, being very destitute, has been known to be dangerous as well. And driving through this country in our 4 new Land Rovers definitely turned everyone's head. We are a spectacle, there is no doubt about that.

And as we were driving towards Atitlan, we were approaching dark, and we still had an hour or so to go. We pulled over to the side of the road and had a very serious discussion about whether to head on or to stay where we were at. Some areas of Guatemala are known to be dangerous at night, and we had also all previously decided not to drive at night in Central American countries.

Early on in the trip we created a game of “firsts” – for example, who will be the first person to get sick, or the first to have diarrhea, or the first to get their foot run over by a Land Rover, etc. One of the categories was who would get angry and have a “meltdown” – and it looks like Rolf won. As we were having our meeting at the side of the road, Rolf got angry and said that the reason we were driving at night – the reason we didn’t arrive at Atitlan hours ago -- was because we never leave on time in the morning, and we waste a lot of time at gas stations and food stops. Nick insisted that leaving on time is really not that important, and Rolf just lost it. Holy cow, I have seen movies where people go nuts and the look of rage comes to the surface, but in person, I haven't witnessed this pure anger in a long, long time. It was fantastic!! He was yelling, throwing dirt, and everything!! Everything eventually got worked out and Nick admitted that we’ve been sloppy about wasting time, but all Rolf’s yelling was quite a spectacle! I’d say it was a healthy release and comedy for the rest of us, and something we can all tease Rolf about for the rest of his life.

So anyway, all us of voted to carry on to Atitlan at night. As we did, we drove on super windy roads up through small villages and into the beautiful volcanic mountains of Atitlan. We made it unscathed and drove through Santiago de Atitlan looking for a place to stay. This very traditional town was bustling, with a local soccer match going on in the town square on cement, and people all over the place walking around and enjoying this fine Monday evening. Guatemalans don't have much material wealth, but they do have an abundance of heritage and a zest for life.

I love being here and find it extremely interesting and full of authentic Guatemalan people. We have not seen many tourists at all. Guatemala is a place that people must experience in their lifetime. It does remind me of Peru and Bolivia in many ways. I highly recommend it.

Well, we ended up at a nice hotel on the lake, and half of us spent the night in our tents, and the other half in one big room. Tomorrow, we are heading to Antigua, which should be amazing. I wish we had more time to spend in each place we visit, but that is not the nature of our expedition. At least we get a taste, and can always come back another time. Until next Monday, ciao.

Best,

Neil Dana (A surfer who has sacrificed surfing for a fantastic opportunity to see the world and help Parkinson's Disease. Yikes, I have only surfed one day in the last month!!! However, in two days we are going to La Libertad in El Salvador, and those of you who know, KNOW how great that place is for surfing!!!!)

Logbook for November 24th
Start: Tapachula, Mexico
Finish: Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala
Mileage: 175

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

Today we drove, drove, drove and then drove some more to get from Oaxaca to Tapachula, Mexico's largest border town. The drive was a bit uneventful today, which is always a good thing, so I'm including some scenes from the road.

This is my husband and favorite car mate, Nick. He and I took turns driving to Tapachula. It was a long (15 hours!) and beautiful drive.

When you see this sign, slow down immediately or brace yourself for topes are coming. Like speed bumps, topes serve to slow traffic down through cities or residential areas. The two bumps on the sign really do not capture the magnitude of the topes. Topes are usually taller than they are wide, making the car shimmy and your teeth rattle, even at the slowest speed, as the car traverses each bump.

Some of the women have seen in Mexico can carry large baskets of food, laundry, and many other items on their heads.

Pigs. Occasionally, we meet up with fellow travelers on the road. Oink.

Another important road sign. This one indicates a winding road ahead. Much of the road we drove on today were mountainous and windy.

Livestock crossing. This road sign is important because much of the livestock in this part of Mexico roam free and occasionally make their way onto the roads. We had to stop twice for cow crossings.

That's all for now...

Peace out,
Chanda
chanda@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for November 23rd
Start: Oaxaca, Mexico
Finish: Tapachula, Mexico
Mileage: 380

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Chanda Baggarly caps a day of driving with some Internet catchup in Oaxaca.]

Journal by Justin Mounts

Hello again, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying reading about our LONGITUDE expedition. We have just completed the first three weeks, and are rapidly approaching the Guatamalan border. The last few days have been very busy, and they have taken their toll on the team. We could all use a chance to catch up on some sleep and laundry.

Today, our route takes us approximately 240 miles from Cuernevaca (just south of Mexico City) to the cultural center of Oaxaca, Mexico in the southeastern region of Mexico. As we descend further toward the equator, we’ve been fortunate to have some beautiful days for driving. Ample sunlight radiates in our cars as we continue counting down the miles toward Colon, Panama where we will catch a ferry to Ecuador. At the same time, everyone is still conscious of our friends and families back home, as well as the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. So, on Thursday, if you have room, think of us and eat just a little extra turkey.

Before talking about today, I should mention that Cuernevaca, where we stayed last night, seemed like a really nice city. We were fortunate enough to stay as guests at the home of our third Take Me With You! guest. Several members of our team decided to soak up some of the local culture in Cuernevaca by attending a nightclub to dance with some local Oaxacans. The rest of the team decided to entertain themselves by creating a somewhat silly game with a tennis ball. As they played catch in the living room, they began charade-like antics where each person would reenact some projectile-type behavior to act as the catalyst for passing the ball to another team member. I sat outside in the cool night air and enjoyed watching the team and their antics.

We had an early call today (the time when someone goes around to wake everyone up -- usually me) at 6:30 so we could get started driving around 8:00 am today. Anytime we have a high-mileage day planned, we try to get an early start to allow enough daylight driving hours. One of the hardest things about the expedition are the times when we have to convoy around at night. On the whole, it taxes everyone’s endurance more than normal daytime driving, plus there are numerous hazards that are on the road. It seems that all Mexican highways are full of “topes” or speed bumps. They tend to pop up out of nowhere, and there’s absolutely no consistency to their size or frequency. There are other things to look out for as well -- pedestrians (even on freeways), bicyclists, dogs, cows, donkeys, and other drivers.

We loaded into the vehicles and made a quick stop at a convenience store to grab Bimbo donuts, muffins and some coffee for breakfast before heading for the highway to Oaxaca. Shortly after we left Cuernevaca, we were able to see the Volcan Popocatepetl, one of the highest points in Mexico. It would’ve made for a beautiful photo, but the morning sky was very hazy and made it difficult to fully take in the beauty of the mountain. From there, we continued onward with the Sierra Madre range flanking us on the right most of the way to Oaxaca. Along the way, we passed some very curious looking cacti. At the base, they looked like regular trees. However, they didn’t have any arms. Each cactus pointed straight up into the sky with no arms. Very different than the cacti I’m used to seeing. They were so remarkable, we pulled off to the side of the road to take some photos by them and film the team chatting with a local hombre and his donkey. The donkey didn’t have much to say, as I understand it.

After the photo session was completed, we continued into Oaxaca and arrived around 7:00 pm at our hotel. After checking in, the team was off to the Internet café to take care of business. A few people went their own way for dinner, myself included. I wandered down to the zocalo via the Alameda de Leon. Just past the majestic main cathedral, I found a hot dog vendor. Dinner was served. I treated myself to two bacon-wrapped dogs covered in chilies, tomatoes, and onions with a little bit of mustard, catsup, and mayo. Man, they were delicious. As I sat on a little park bench, I was able to soak up a little of Oaxaca as night took over. Dozens of street vendors were packing up their wares for another day, while on a bench to my right, a young Mexican couple sat kissing. The square was full of teenagers enjoying their Saturday night out while Tejano rock ballads played in the distance. The air was cool, but refreshing. It was a perfect Mexican night. It was exactly what I needed to unwind from the day and get ready for the next adventure.

I hope you all are well. Talk to you in a week.

Logbook for November 22nd
Start: Cuernavaca, Mexico
Finish: Oaxaca, Mexico
Mileage: 240

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Expedition leader Nick Baggarly channels the Aztecs at the top of the Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacan, Mexico.]

Journal by Colin McAuliffe

Friday was a crazy day. We’d spent ALL of Thursday, I mean like 16 hours of it, driving from Tequila to Mexico City, where we promptly got horribly lost. Finally, at 3am, we pulled into an interesting motel in Teotihuacan, where in the morning we would see the famous pre-Aztec ruins. Morning came, and with the morn also came my good Mexican friend Rebekka, who I originally met in Tulum on my last Mexican Journey.

The pyramids were cool. Old, huge, and imposing, and stained with the blood of a million sacrifices (though the detail about the sacrifices could just be a legend). We spent a few leisurely hours wandering amongst them, enjoying all they had to offer, and we shot some good video footage for our program. When we were done, we all hopped back in the cars and Rebekka guided us through the madness that is Mexico City. There was only one small snag: We didn’t know that if you had a license plate that ended in 9 or 0 it was illegal to drive in Mexico City on Fridays. This is all part of a program to cut down on urban traffic and pollution. So there we are, sitting on the side of the road while some of us ran into a computer store to pick up some doodads we needed, when who rocks up, but the fuzz, or the policia as they are called here.

The two cops initially told us we had to pay six hundred dollars and leave our cars with them over night. Of course there was no way that was going to happen so we started exploring other options. Neil started his “we’re good guys, we’re raising money for Parkinson’s Disease” schpiel. At the same time, Rebekka was turning on the “I’m an innocent, beautiful girl, please don’t do this to us” charm. Eventually, the officer said something along the lines of “Well, maybe you could help me out with a soda” -- which in laypersons terms means “Bribe me please”. Apparently there are many different levels of bribery, and asking for a soda is the least. Asking for beer is the next step up, and your really in trouble if the cop says anything about helping pay for his kids college. So, this “soda” cost us ten dollars, and we were free to leave. After the fact, our other Mexican travel buddy Cristina informed us that the usual going rate for a “soda” is more like thirty dollars. This made a fair amount of sense because when Rebekka smoothly handed the policeman the hundred peso note he said, “Well, I could really use three sodas” She just said no, we don’t have that money and we left the scene of the crime. So Rebekka facilitated our first bribe of the trip, and I’m glad she had he honor.

After the whole bribing thing was done, we headed on to Cuernavaca, where Rebekka had a condo-type place where we could all stay. Once again, there was a slight snag when our beastly vehicles could not fit through the gate, so we went through a little rigamorole finding some parking around the corner. Once situated, we hiked up the hill to Rebekka’s place to relax. The original plan was for the whole crew to go out and party like rock stars in some swanky Mexican clubs, however, the exhaustion factor kicked in, and of the crew, only the three amigos, Adam, Neil and I, headed out for some fun. Of course Rebekka and Christina were with us.

We got to the club and we went through the usual waiting at the door until the guy you know comes out and says you’re cool thing, and during that time I realized that I might as well test out my new persona “El Gringo Loco”. The place was packed full of middle-class Mexicans, dancing their kulas off to an interesting blend of American and Latin pop. I hung out for a while and met some of Rebekka’s friends and then wandered off for a while. I was repeatedly stopped and asked various questions in Spanish that, because of the insanely loud music, and my only OK Spanish, I completely didn’t comprehend. So I just pretended to understand.

Mexican Girl: blah blah blahblah blah?

Colin: Si

MG: blahblah?

C: Si!

MG: Bla?

C: Si Bueno

At this point I would just shrug and say “Soy el gringo loco” which means, I’m the crazy white guy. After a couple of gringo locos the free drinks started rolling in. I spent the rest of the night dancing (not very well) with various Mexican chicas and having a blast.

It felt really good to get out of those cars for a while and do some socializing. Getting up the next morning at seven was a little rough, but I somehow managed. We all said goodbye to Rebekka -- and I felt bad for leaving her place such a wreck -- but the team was waiting so I couldn’t stay around to help her clean. It was great to see her, hopefully next time we meet up we’ll have a chance to hang out for a little while longer in a less hectic setting.

Rock on from Mexico,
El Gringo Loco

Colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for November 21st
Start: Teotihuacan, Mexico
Finish: Cuernavaca, Mexico
Mileage: 98

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Filmmakers Adam Burgess and Colin McAuliffe pose with the Mexican police who provided us with an escort outside of Mexico City.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

Preface: AHA! My Spanish is improving, bit by bit. I took several semesters of Spanish in high school (Carroll High School, Southlake, Texas) and college (U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland), but I’ve forgotten most of it over the years. It is slowly creeping back to me. Sometimes, words and phrases will pop into my head, and I’ll have no idea what they mean. Conveniently, my A-driver, Todd Borgie, is a master of languages and translates for me when I ask him the meaning of the latest Espanol to pop into my brain. “Todd, what does ‘entonces’ mean, again ? (It means “well,” or” then”, and is used as a sort of connector) “And what the heck is ‘por su puesto?’”(It means “of course”, “certainly”, or “for sure.”) So, why am I telling you this? No reason, really, it’s just on my mind. We’re really immersed now, and we will be for the next few months. (ITALICS indicate undercurrents of thought within my wee brain.)

Thursday was an epic day for the LONGITUDE team. It started out routinely enough, but it eventually developed sufficient twists and turns, ups and downs, plots and climaxes for even the most scrutinizing adventure junky. It included Revolution, police escorts, breakdowns, lost roads, crooked cops, thieves, and adult television. Yep; it was sprinkled with a little bit of everything. Have I got your attention, yet? Good! (You have my permission to skip to the good parts…)

After a good night’s sleep in Tequila, we left the hotel at around 0730 to head for Teotihuacan [tay-oh-tee-hwah-kahn], near Mexico City. (Teotihuacan is the site of some awesome, pre-Aztec pyramids. You can learn about it on our education page.) Joining our team as our second “Take Me With You!” guest was Christina, a native Guadalajaran and a friend of team member Neil Dana. She is an awesome chick with superior language abilities and a pleasant disposition, and we were, and are, psyched to have her with us.

We were proud of our on-time start, but we got delayed a little bit by some photo opportunities in a blue agave field on the way out of town. This expedition is full of necessary delays, because we’re trying to gather information and photos for you fine people…heehee.

November 20th is La Revolucion in Mexico, a national holiday marking the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. The city of Tequila was all abuzz with celebration, and the significance of the day shown in the costumes, smiles, and decorations lining the streets. Little girls wore traditional dresses, and the boys were in white shirts and pants, red waist sashes, and huge sombreros. They carried toy rifles slung across their backs, and, to my great joy, even the tiniest boys sported big, Magic-Marker, Federale-style moustaches. The whole scene, from the dusty, cobblestone roads and flat-fronted plaster architecture, to the townspeople on horseback, looked like something out of a spaghetti western.

As we drove out of town on this cool, sunny, perfect Tequila morning, a parade of young adults carrying red and white balloons and wearing cheerleader uniforms and t-shirts of the same colors drifted by on the way to a celebration. It would have been fun to have joined them, but, like the traveler in the Robert Frost poem, “…I (we) have promises to keep, and miles to go before I (we) sleep, and miles to go before I (we) sleep.”

Little did we know, the anticipated “miles to go before we sleep” for this day would turn out to be greatly underestimated…

The drive to Guadalajara was uneventful enough. Todd drove while I took a catnap. On the way through the city, Nick spotted a Land Rover dealership, and my vehicle and his did a U-ey toget some photos of our vehicles in front of it. The photos will accompany the press release I wrote for Land Rover Certified’s marketing team. We often go out of our way during this expedition to grab good photos for our sponsors, and that, too, is a source of delay. It felt good to see the familiar green oval of the Land Rover logo. It’s funny how the distance between the team and home can be made smaller by the similarities between home and here that we encounter along our route. A welcoming smile, shared laughter, or even a familiar green oval can make the world seem very small, indeed.

From Guadalajara, with Todd at the wheel so I could eat my salad, we continued southeast toward Teotihuacan. A hundred or so kilometers from the city, we passed by a huge lake off to our left (north). Our Lonely Planet guide book said it was Lago de Putzcwaro. Irrigation and other diversions feeding off of the lake will, at its current rate, cause the lake to be gone in 50 years, it said. It also said “You may notice the lake looks prettier from a distance than close up. Swimming in it is not recommended.” About 40 kilometers prior to Putzcwaro was Mexico’s largest lake, also rehearsing its disappearing act.

Just a few kilometers beyond the lake was a toll plaza (The toll roads are called “cuotas”, and the free roads are “libres.” Cuotas are way expensive, but they’re about a zillion times faster and better than the libres, so we use ‘em whenever they’re available.) with a pit stop for bathrooms and food. At most of these stops are little kids with squeegees who assault your windshield as soon as they can. I had a “conversation” with one of the little girls while waiting in line for a sandwich (torta). I asked her if she was hungry, and we ended up splitting one. She seemed pleased with the Hella (the awesome sponsor who provided us with rack lights for each vehicle and little keychain lights to had out) keychain light I handed her on our way out.

On the outskirts of Mexico City we came to a police checkpoint. There are A LOT of these police and military checkpoints sprinkled everywhere throughout Mexico, and most of them just wave us on through. This one did not wave us through, so the four vehicles pulled over to answer the question of “Where are you coming from, and where are you going?” “Tequila, and Teotihuacan,” we answered. And the uniformed cop moved on to the next vehicle.

As the trail vehicle, we had no idea what was going on, but la Policia Estatal were out of sight talking to another vehicle, and it was taking too long. Eventually, we were informed that these guys wanted to escort us through Mexico City, or to Mexico City, or just through this neighborhood…we didn’t really comprendo which. The reason, however, was that this was a sketchy stretch, and the policia, supposedly, were concerned about banditos hassling us and causing problems along the way. Personally, I am quite convinced that they just wanted to have some good fun, demonstrate their authority, and take advantage of an opportunity for some good training. Nothing wrong with that, right?

I really liked these guys. The very young lieutenant in charge reminded me of so many Marines I’ve worked with. He was sharp, neatly pressed, professional, helpful, and authoritative. His name was Omar, and he and his esposa were expecting their first child in a month. Omar and his men would ensure we remained safe.

With that said, please understand that I mean no disrespect with the perceptions I am about the lay out here.

From my rookie assessment, there was no real presence of danger, and we needed a police escort just about as badly as we needed a flat tire. I suppose, since we were neither hijacked nor ambushed, they succeeded in their mission. They also succeeded in slowing us down by AT LEAST two hours…AND they are responsible for the pitiful state we were to find ourselves in several hours later of driving around in circles through the skeeviest parts of the city…

They drove way under the speed limit, and cars were ripping around us at a really nice clip -- a clip at which we would have been happily traveling had these guys not felt it necessary to help and protect us. In addition to driving half the legal speed, they pulled the whole convoy over every 15 minutes or so at a new jurisdiction line to transfer the privilege of leading 4 cars full of gringos to the next set of cops and cars. Each exchange took roughly 10 minutes. There were about four of these.

At the turn-off for Mexico City, we were driving along and suddenly had to come to an abrupt halt to keep from smashing into the third vehicle of our convoy, who had stopped behind the second vehicle, who was stopped behind the first, who had stopped behind the police car that had suffered a catastrophic engine failure in the middle of the off-ramp on the other side of a blind curve. We were there, with our rear-end hanging out in highway traffic, for several minutes before everybody scrunched forward enough for us to move up a bit. I was furious -- nervous and furious. They finally got the car started again, and they continued on beyond the off-ramp just a hair. It was a hair shy of the amount of space required to safely pull the trail vehicle (mine) out of harm’s way. I screamed at everybody to pull around IN FRONT of the cop car, since he’s the guy with flashing lights and the ability to scare civilian drivers into not ramming into his rear bumper. It was done, and finally the guy got back in front of us and drove away. A few kilometers down the road, he was parked at an off-ramp, waving at us to continue along the highway toward Mexico City. We were finally free of La Policia Estatal. No hard feelings.

The only issue now was the fact that they had lead us INTO the city, and we had intended to go AROUND the city. Driving through it is hell. Take Washington D.C.’s beltway and L.A.’s 495, remove one lane, combine the havoc, make the lanes narrower, paint graffiti over all of the exit signs, and imagine trying to maneuver not one, but FOUR big cars through lane changes, and around reeling buses and construction zones. It doesn’t work very well.

To make matters worse, we were receiving radio interference from some Mexican drivers using our same channel. Justin, in the lead and frustrated, came on to ask us to please keep the radio-chatter down so they can navigate in peace. “Justin, that was Spanish…I think we’re sharing this channel,” I said. A few minutes later, a male voice with a thick accent said something about “Land Rover Discoverys”, and another said, “Pienso son gringos.” Great, now they’re talking specifically about us, and they’re using derogatory terms. There went the last thread of my security blanket.

Because the signs indicating which exit leads to which road and city are all blotted out by gang tags, it’s difficult to find the correct exit. It is so difficult, in fact, that we ended up driving around the city in a huge circle, through tiny barrios and mountain roads, for about six hours. (As a side note, we reached a peak altitude of about 10,300 feet in the hills around Mexico City, which itself has an altitude of around 6,000 feet.)

At around midnight, we stopped at the Walmart (the same one we had passed by several hours earlier, darn it) to regroup, eat, and use the bathroom. We got on the road again, and this time the correct one, and were eager to traipse on toward our objective, now a mere 30 clicks (kilometers) down the road. Ah, but before we could reach our destination, we’d have to cross several precarious intersections. At the spookiest intersection of them all, we were pulled over by some very suspicious-looking cops. They were NOT La Policia Estatal, but rather some rent-a-cop version. As Chanda noted, it looked like all three of them were sharing one uniform. One guy had the jacket, another had the pants, and the third had the boots. We have to be very leery of bandits posing as cops, so we were a little nervous. Christina, our Mexican friend, ensured us these were real police. I asked her if it is OK to ask them for some identification, and she ensured me that it was OK, that she had, and that they were the real deal. I wasn’t convinced, because these guys just looked like such clowns.

Apparently, the reason they pulled us over was that we had failed to use our blinkers to change lanes. Whatever! I was driving, and I know for a fact that I and the vehicle in front of me had used our turn signals. How do I know? Because I had just commented on how important it is, when convoying, to signal your intent so that the vehicles behind you can keep the convoy in a tight formation. Oh, and get this: THE POLICE CAR WAS MISSING A HEADLIGHT!!!

The rent-a-cops, or parking lot attendants, or whatever they were, (El Transito Municipal) were demanding 1000 pesos per vehicle. You’re kidding me! That’s $100 bucks each, and transit cops shouldn’t have the authority to write tickets, anyway. They said we could pay 1000 per vehicle, and we’d have to come back tomorrow to do it (yeah, right), or we could just give them 500 pesos per vehicle right now. Our Spanish speakers, Neil and Christina, negotiated for 30 minutes or so. They explained our cause: That we’re driving through their beautiful country on our way toward a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Neil told them, “People are dying throughout the world.” It took some doing, but somehow, eventually, the guys let us off. WOW! I never would have believed it.

As we pulled back onto the street, the lead vehicle blew through a red light…wups…but I guess the coppers missed that one, thank God.

Eventually, we made it to the city of Teotihuacan. All we had to do was locate a hotel with secure parking. We did so in record time, and we were checked in and parked by 0253. The motel was gorgeous, each room had its own garage and hot tub, and there was free HBO and (of all things) adult television.

Our epic day was over, and the next one had already begun by the time we got to sleep around four in the morning. But the beds were comfortable, the vehicles were safe, and tomorrow we would see pyramids that were almost as old as the human race itself. Life is good.

Logbook for November 20th
Start: Tequila, Mexico
Finish: Teotihuacan, Mexico
Mileage: 463

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: The team samples tequila in the basement of the Jose Cuervo distillery in Tequila, Mexico.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

"Are you kidding me?" I thought as Justin rattled the side of the car a little after 5:00am. We needed to rise early in order to hit the town of Tequila early enough for an educational visit/tour of a tequila farm and factory. We knew early morning call was coming, but that does not make the rude awakening any easier. We had our morning briefing and departed from the lovely beach and pleasant sound of the waves lapping upon the shore.

We made it through Matzalan and onto the toll roads without issue. Travel in mainland Mexico was quite different from traveling down the Baja Peninsula. First of there are many more trees and bushes, and much fewer towering cacti. The roads were good although you pay and arm and a leg to travel on them. The toll roads offer a luxurious four lane divided highway, clean bathrooms, roadside assistance and a respite from the sometimes crazy traffic.

The reason for our pre-dawn departure is we are behind schedule. We have a boat to catch in Panama in early December and there are many miles between here and there. Justin is currently figuring out what we are going to have to do in order to make our ferry to Ecuador. Unfortunately I think this means sacrificing some much needed rest days. To make matters for us today, we lose another hour as we drive east toward Mexico City.

While we drive through towns around the world one thing that is very interesting to me is the various statues I see. Public statues represent what cultures value. In the United States, military statues are the most common, in Mexico I have seen an overwhelming amount of statues dedicated to workers. I will continue to look at statues on our journey. Today most of the driving was an uphill climb. Tequila is situated at about 5,000ft above sea level. As we drove we snaked over and around the various hills and mountains. We saw fields of corn and we were finally excited to see the distinctive view of the blue agave fields. Tequila must be near!

Operating from just a Lonely Planet book we knew that there were tequila factories to tour, but we were not sure exactly where they were located inside the city. We headed to the Petron Distillery, whose front gates looked pretty regal for what I thought should be a factory. We asked them when the next tour was to take place, they said that the would resume in two days, since tomorrow will be a national holiday, the celebration of the revolution in 1910. However, they said that the Jose Cuervo factory, down the street, could possibly accommodate us. We headed down the street, hoping that things would work out. We strolled into Jose Cuervo at about 3:45pm and they said the next tour would be starting at 4:30pm. Perfect!

The tour began with a short promotional film describing how important the tequila industry was to Mexico. It was a real marketer’s dream. After the film ended we got down to learning about the process of tequila making. Although, I have been calling this a factory it looked more like a what I would call a Spanish winery. The place had a regal quality to it -- plastered yellow walls with contrasting dark brown trim. It was quit clean and very orderly and it's hallways often opened up into landscaped or ornate patios. There were multiple open buildings that also reminded me of architecture found in the southwest of the United States.

As we walked through we saw where the “pineapples” (the agave hearts) were baked, cooled and juiced. We saw the large vats and modern equipment used to test the products contents and to insure its purity (for more information on the tequila making process please refer to the educational section about Tequila). We ended up in the family storage and tasting room. We had to go down a couple of flights of stairs into the rock-lined basement. I felt like we were in a “Pirates of the Caribbean movie” with all the barrels lined up around us. At this point all the tour participants were placed before three different glasses. This was a taste test to show the difference between the various ages of Tequila. The three samples we tried were silver, gold, and rested tequila. The difference between these is the aging process. The silver tequila is straight from the distillation process, the gold has been given oak barrel flavoring and the rested has spent a significant time in French Oak or American Oak barrels. The team had various favorites, but my favorite was the rested. Unfortunately it is the most expensive. After we tried the various tequilas they had us sample the Jose Cuervo margarita mix as a final marketing push. Everyone departed the factory in good spirits.

The team was excited about the prospect of staying at a hotel this evening, since we had been camping for the last three nights. The hardest thing about camping is the shower situation. Although it is possible to shower when camping, the experience is just not as easy as standing under a faucet of warm flowing water. The team was eager to wash hair and just do a good thorough once over.

The Cuervo people recommended a good hotel (with parking) and Neil's golden Spanish abilities got us a good price. People are often really impressed with the camera and thus are willing to wheel and deal. It was a great hotel, and I even managed to watch and episode of the Simpsons in Spanish.

We rallied for dinner and ate a delightful meal. However, it seems like everything is served with Tequila in this town. We made friends with the restaurant owners and the treated us to a refreshing lemon tequila drink.

After we began a search for a place where we could by a shot of Tequila. We felt that since we had driven all the way to Tequila we need to cap off the event. We found a place, however, we felt they wanted a bit too much for their product. We decided to go back to the hotel, where we sat around and chatted until our second "Take me with you" participant showed up.

Weariness over takes me -- adios from Tequila.

Logbook for November 19th
Start: Mazatlan, Mexico (Cerritos Beach)
Finish: Tequila, Mexico
Mileage: 254
Elevation differential: 5000 ft
Weather conditions: Clear, high wispy clouds; cool to warm
Notes: First day with no rain

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Expedition leader Nick Baggarly takes care of an early morning satellite phone call (courtesy of our sponsor, Iridium) as the Sea of Cortez vehicle ferry nears mainland Mexico at Mazatlan.]

Start: Mazatlan, Mexico (ferry terminal)
Finish: Mazatlan, Mexico (Cerritos Beach)
Mileage: 27
Notes: In a much needed “rest” day, the team drove off the Sea of Cortez ferry, and – on the advice of some surfers – drove to Cerritos Beach, north of Mazatlan, to put in some relaxation time. Some team members chose to use the time to get some Internet work done in the “Zona Dorada” tourist section of Mazatlan, while others took advantage of the sun and surf. Veteran surfer Neil Dana caught some waves with Adam Burgess, then gave some afternoon surfing lessons to native flatlanders Justin Mounts and Rolf Potts. The team spent the night on the beach in their Hannibal safari tents, lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean.

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Drive Around the World vehicles finally make their way onto the ferry bound for Mazatlan.]

Journal by Neil Dana

The ferry, the ferry -- the dang ferry!!! I guess from all the traveling I have done in my life, I shouldn't have expected anything less than our wonderful experience at the ferry terminal in La Paz. As you read yesterday, we couldn't get on the ferry because our vehicles were all under Nick's name. It is the law here in Mexico that as a tourist on a tourist visa, you may only drive one car in Mexico. We have four, and they are all registered and owned by Nick, so they wouldn't let us on the ferry. After trying to talk to the officials and deal with them all day yesterday, we came to the conclusion that we had to get three documents signed by a notary stating that Nick gave us permission to drive the other three vehicles. We could have also just transferred the title over, but by the time we figured that out, the person who gave out the car permits was already gone for the day.

So anyway, today, Monday, I awoke in our roof tent to a very gorgeous sunrise and the wind blowing about 15 knots right through our tent. It was a refreshing breeze, keeping away all the gnats, no-see-ums, and mosquitoes, and blew in through the front of our tent and on out the back. It was a slice of heaven, about 65 degrees outside, and the sounds of the lapping ripples of the Sea of Cortez filled the air. I had just awoken from a wild adventurous dream of swinging on vines through foreign lands and chasing down the evil in the world.

So there I was, just gazing into the sea and white sand and soaking in a few minutes of the blissful surroundings. A few moments later, Justin walked up and said hello and told me that we needed to get ready soon to head into La Paz and deal with obtaining our notary signatures. This was our agenda for the day. It seemed pretty simple, go to La Paz, find a lawyer, hand her over the papers, get the stamps, and go to the ferry terminal and get on the boat.

Well, in Mexico, nothing is simple -- or then again, some things are so simple that people don't think to send you in the right direction ahead of time, thus carving an extravagant maze out of what should have been one single square hedge.

Nick, Nancy, Justin and I drove to La Paz and headed toward one of the plazas in the center of town, looking for a lawyer's office. One police officer told us there was one in a building nearby, which of course wasn't correct. But after going into the building and interrupting a meeting, the perturbed lady told us where we could find one. So off we headed, and of course didn't find that one, but finally spotted another and walked inside. The woman inside of this office told us to go down the road another few blocks, where we would see a notary office. We got back in our vehicle and we finally did spot the notary. Yeah!!

We were excited, and we were on schedule and things were going well. Once inside, the lawyer, a woman, came up to us and I explained to her what we needed and she looked at our documents. "I am sorry, but you have to have these documents in Spanish." Now, the frustration really started to settle in our veins. Not only did we have to translate our documents, we couldn't do it there at her office. And we were on a time crunch!

Luckily, there was an Internet cafe a block away, so we ran over there and began to translate our documents into Spanish. This was going well -- we were a bit stressed about time, but it was going all right. But then we hit the print button, and the printer didn't work. Are you kidding me?! This is too funny. The two ladies at the counter tried unsuccessfully for ten minutes, then their boss came out and after another ten minutes, he finally got the printer running.

So we printed one off, and I ran off to the lawyer's office to make sure this document would do. When I got there, it was a madhouse. There were four ladies walking around, one with headphones talking to someone on the phone and trying to appease a customer at the desk at the same time. The other ladies seemed to be occupied with other things, like telling one of their sisters what groceries to buy. Literally, there were people waiting, and some woman walks in to the office, past the entrance, wearing tight sweats, and the lawyer stops what she is doing to hang out with her friend and discuss groceries.

The lady who I had spoken with earlier kept looking at me, but did not acknowledge me. Finally, after waiting patiently I asked politely, and loudly, in Spanish of course, "Could you please just let me know if this document is OK so I can go tell my team to finish the others?" Thank goodness, it was legitimate.

I ran back over to the Internet cafe and told Nancy we were good to go. She finished off the documents and we all scurried back over the office. Once inside, the lady came up to us and took our documents and asked us for some other forms of I.D. and the process began. Now I thought that getting a few notary stamps would take a few minutes, but of course, we are in La Paz and things move at a much slower pace here. So after 20 minutes of waiting, she told us it would take until the afternoon to finish. I didn't accept that and told her we needed to be at the ferry terminal 30 minutes ago already!! She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a helpless look, then turned to her superior, and yee-haw, she said they could do it in 15 minutes. Well, the next 30 minutes that it actually took seemed like eternity, as Nick fell asleep sitting up in his chair, and Nancy chewed on her sugarcane she picked up out front, and Justin sipped on his warm Coca Cola while writing in his journal. I started taking photos, and the lawyer got embarrassed and smiled and lightened up a bit. Deep down, she loved to be on film -- who doesn't? It was funny.

So finally, we paid $100 for the three notaries and we were off, about 2 hours behind our original plan. When we arrived at the ferry terminal, we went up to the window to receive the car permits, and there were actually no problems. However, we then learned that the ferry that was supposed to run wasn't running anymore. They had decided to clean it today, since the cargo wasn't that large. Are you kidding me? Oh well, I guess we will just have to stay our third night in La Paz and chill out and drink more cerveza.

As luck would have it, at the other end of the docks there was another cargo ferry that was leaving in a few hours. I went a researched it and sure enough, there was a ferry leaving at 5 pm. Perfect.

So we all proceeded to eat some roadside tacos, yummy cookies, and wait another hour to get through the car permit line. Then we passed through customs, paid $200 per vehicle, $40 per person and drove onto the ship.

We were all so stoked to be on this ferry. It would have been another day's delay otherwise. We have to be in Panama on a certain date, and each delay we have cuts into our days off for relaxation.

The ship we are on is a big cargo ship. There is one room inside the boat on the third deck with airline seats set up like an airline, literally. There is a TV at each end of the room, and they have DVD's they play. We started with American Pie 2. We each received two meals with our ticket purchase, which is nice. We had beef, rice, beans and tortillas for dinner.

I went out to the front of the ship and watched the crewmen reel in the anchor and started talking to them and taking pics. They invited me up to the "bridge" where the captain and some pretty ladies were. I hung out up there for a little while and chatted with some Pazenos. About two thirds of the team were set up in the airline seats writing and working on their laptops.

Colin, Adam and I are drinking a few Modelo's and chilling. We are about to go throw a ceremonial "dreadlock" off the edge of the boat into the sea, as Colin spreads his locks all over the globe.

So that’s it for today. I could write more, but I think this is too long already for our daily blogs.

Monday is my journal day -- cheers to Monday!

Logbook for November 17th
Start: La Paz, Mexico (Tecolote Beach)
Finish: Mazatlan, Mexico
Mileage: 30 (driving only; ferry cross the Sea of Cortez)

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: The ferry terminal in La Paz, Mexico, where we spent the good part of a day trying -- unsuccessfully -- to get our papers in order.]

Journal by Chanda Baggarly

No one at this morning's briefing would have known that at 2:45pm today Justin, Nancy, and Neil would become the proud owners of LONGITUDE Expedition vehicles.

We got up early this morning with a plan. We would rise at 9am at our beach front camping grounds, pack up our Hannibal tents and head down to the Port of La Paz. Today we ship to Mazatlan. This would be the first of many ship dates for us.

Some of us had shipped vehicles from La Paz before. We knew that the process was pretty straightforward…you drive up to the port, show some official-looking paper work, weigh the vehicles, pay, and board a giant colorful ship that would float you for 15 hours across the Sea of Cortez.

Most of that did happen today. We drove up to the port and showed our official looking paperwork. While Nick, Todd and Neil were showing off this paperwork to the port authorities the rest of us hung out in the Port of La Paz parking lot. There we met a friendly globe-trekking Canadian couple who told us that they had been trying to ship their vehicle for three days but because of unexpected paperwork and lack of proper rubber-stamped pages, they had been turned away each day. Every day a curve ball was thrown their way, and today’s curveball required a stamp on their tourist cards from, of all places, a bank.

Even after hearing the plight of the Canadians, we didn’t think that we would have a problem boarding today, we had, after all, called a head for reservations and made sure that our paperwork was in order. Or did we…? We even sent in the ‘big guns’ to negotiate the shipping details---Nick, our charming and persistent leader, Todd--our good will ambassador and negotiator, and Neil--our bilingual ace in the hole.

The ship to Mazatlan sails everyday around 3pm, it was noon and we were still waiting for Nick, Todd and Neil to emerge from the Port Authority office. No problem though, we had 3 hours before the ship sails. Around 2:30pm, just when those of us who were left to amuse ourselves in the parking lot started to get a little antsy, Todd came bounding out of the PA office and headed straight for the “office box“. The office box is one of Nick’s ideas, it’s a large box with all of our office supplies, including all the little stuff like paper clips and scissors, it also includes software and cables, and, holy cow!, a color printer. It was one of those ideas where you know it’s silly and impractical but you smile and nod just the same thinking the one behind the idea will come around to your way of thinking on their own. Anyway, Todd was headed full speed to the office box. A curve ball had been thrown and now we had an assignment.

The vehicles are registered to Drive Around the World, and only the registered owner of the vehicles can drive them on mainland Mexico… makes sense in a way, but who knew? Our assignment was to create and print up official looking documents that authorized other members of the team to drive vehicles that belong to the organization. The documents were created in minutes -- they included authorization from Nick, driver names and passport numbers. Only twenty minutes to go. Time to print. A statement that is, in my experience, easier said than done -- especially when you are printing out of the back of a car in a Mexican sea port parking lot. It was as if the printer sensed our urgency and panicked. Each page out of the printer looked like the baffles of an accordion. 15 minutes and three Drive Around the World printer repair technicians later, we had our official looking documents.

Todd ran them into the PA office with just minutes to spare. The documents were perfect, we got the thumbs up from the PA folks and they would have accepted them had they been notarized… ugh!

It was Sunday and all of the notary offices were closed. 5 minutes before the ship departed, most of us had resigned ourselves to staying in La Paz an extra day and being another day off schedule…until Nancy suggested that we sign over the vehicles to three team members. Brilliant! Off we went back to the PA office, pen in hands.

The PA supported this plan so we signed the vehicles over to Nancy, Justin, and Neil. Ran the paperwork over to the Banjercito, which is across the parking lot. The Banjercito is the only place in Mexico that is authorized to approve temporary import of vehicles into Mexico. All of us crowded around the walk-up window of the Banjercito expecting to find a friendly Mexican lady waiting to help us and not the red and white plastic sign that read “Cerrato”. The Banjercito closed at 2:30.

Okay, so we sail tomorrow…or do we?

------------------------------------------

Travel tips:

For temporary vehicle import into Mexico, the following paperwork is required:

--Original vehicle titles foreach vehicle (+ 3 copies)
--Vehicle registration (+ 3 copies)
--Three copies of each drivers passport, driver license, and tourist card
--One copy of each driver’s credit card
--Notarized letter, authorizing each driver to drive the organization’s vehicles (+ 3 copies)
--This paper work must be provided to Banjercito. The fee was 336.50 pesos per vehicle.
--The Banjercito closes at 2:30pm.

Logbook for November 16th
Start: La Paz, Mexico (Tecolote Beach)
Finish: La Paz, Mexico (Tecolote Beach)
Mileage: 37

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: Drive Around the World videographer Colin "Corndog" McAuliffe washes a vehicle near Ciudad Insurgentes, Mexico.]

Journal by Justin Mounts

Today started as any other day with Drive Around the World — running late. Although the team had plenty of time to rest up overnight, the ability to execute our schedule on time seems to elude us in one way or another every day. We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in the quaint town of Loreto, Mexico. A sleepy bungalow village of approximately 10,000 people settled in the mountains on the western edge of the Gulf of California, it is a place I would like to visit again in the future. The roads leading into and out of Loreto are a dream ride. After we complete the expedition, I would like to bring my motorcycle down here for at least a week. The gentle curves are embraced by rocky terrain and the blue water in the distance plays peek-a-boo with the guests on the highway. It is enough to take your breath away. The village itself is subdued. Quaint restaurants and curio shops line the streets of the main square, and an old church serves as a sentry guarding the town center. Perhaps it is the beauty of the places where we are staying that holds us captive and unwilling to depart without a long last look. Perhaps.

Our route today carries us further south on Mexico 1 to La Paz, where we will catch a ferry to Mazatlan tomorrow. All told, it’s a relatively easy drive of 220 miles today. Rolf and I start by strategizing how we can make up time and better manage logistics so the team operates more efficiently. It’s a conversation we’ve had before. In fact, we were still having it as we pulled into La Paz for dinner about an hour ago. Just a quick example of why being efficient is so important — we have 9 members on the expedition. The expedition is roughly 270 days long. If we waste 20 minutes every day of the expedition, we will have wasted 810 hours. That equals one month. You can see why this is so important to us.

We stopped for a bathroom break after about 90 minutes of driving. As we were stopped, we started thinking about the upcoming Agricultural inspection that we’ll be subject to in Mazatlan. Now, if you’ve ever been through one of these (this will be our second), you know it’s pretty much crap. The officials look at your car, spray it with some unknown fluid (which smells awful — hold your breath), and charge you a fee for passing through. I’ve seen plenty of scams in my life, and this one fits the description on all accounts. One thing though, when entering into another country, it seems that the cleaner your car is, the less likely it is that you’ll be hassled. Normally for our crew, that’s not a problem since the cars stay pretty clean. We’re always showing them off to people, and we like to represent our mission well. But now that we’ve left the states, our standards are slightly lower. Yesterday morning, just for fun, we decided to take the vehicles off-road through some mud for the benefit of the film crew and our own guilty pleasure. These things are filthy. Mud caked on, in, under, and around just about every conceivable place. So, now we have to wash them. Thanks to some directions from a small boy and a bicycle escort from him and his friend, we found ourselves at a Mexican car wash. Basically, a garden hose. About an hour later, we were off again.

Just south of Cuidad Insurgentes, a question crackled across our radios. “Has anyone noticed the large grassy balls growing on the power lines outside?” We both stopped mid-sentence. “What?” we thought. So, we put our conversation on hold to peer out the window at the power lines whizzing past our vehicle. Sure enough. There are these round, grassy growths on the power lines. There’s no real consistency to their placement or size, but there they are. “What could they be?” we wondered aloud. Suddenly, everyone’s guesses are broadcast for the team’s enjoyment. “I think they’re bird’s nests,” someone offered. “I think grass seeds are left on the wires by birds after they poop and grass grows,” someone else joked. Rolf and I offered our own thoughts, which included theories with termites, cows that projectile defecate, and others silly thoughts that don’t warrant mentioning here. At last, Nick and Chanda offered something along the lines of birds building nests in those locations because the wires are slightly frayed and it offers additional heat for the baby birds. “Hmm….makes sense” we both said. Then Adam made the same suggestion. As did Rolf. The battle was on to claim ownership of this idea, when in fact I don’t think any of us really knows. If anyone out there does, please email justin@drivearoundtheworld.com. I’d love to add this bit of information to my endless collection of useless trivia.

So now, it’s 9:17 and we’re in La Paz. We’ve actually been here for over an hour and as soon as we wrap a few more things up, we’re going to head north of the city to camp out. We’ve had dinner (tacos again), seen parts of Forrest Gump in Spanish, written some emails, stepped in dog crap (well, that was just me), and seen a wedding party and the cake in the back of a pickup truck go by. Tonight, we’re camping on a beach called Tecalote. Which means it’ll probably rain. At least, that’s what has happened the last 3 times we’ve camped at the beach. I wonder at times if we aren’t rain gods. So, if you live someplace on a beach where it’s not raining, let me know. I’ll be right there with 8 of my friends.

Oh, and if you serve us dinner, we’re up for anything. Except tacos.

Logbook for November 15th
Start: Loreto, Mexico
Finish: La Paz, Mexico
Mileage: 225

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: The Drive Around the World team is all smiles after offroading near Mulege, Mexico.]

Journal by Colin "Corndog" McAuliffe

Whatup folks?

So, I'm chilling down here in Mexico in a town called Loreto, having a blast. Pretty soon we'll be heading across the sea of Cortez to Mazatlan for a day and then head across to Mexico City, where hopefully we can pick up my friend Rebekka and then see some more Mexico, with a Mexican to guide us. Anyhoo, i have to run.

Rock on.

Colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Editor's note: For an mp3 audio update from Colin "Corndog" McAuliffe, click here.

Logbook for November 14th
Start: Mulege, Mexico
Finish: Loreto, Mexico
Mileage: 75
Notes: Drove south along the Bahia Conception past stunning desert scenery. Spent several hours filming and off-roading. It was our first low-mileage day since entering Mexico, and we were able to enjoy a night on the town in the sleepy burg of Loreto.

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.

[Above: DATW vehicles camped on a beach south of Mulege, Mexico.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

Hello, blog readers. Nancy Olson here. I’ve requested Thursday as my day to write blog entries during this expedition, so -- seeing as that they have obliged me -- you’ll catch my chitchat right here each Thursday…

As you may already know, if Todd mentioned it in his Wednesday blog, we pulled into camp last night at around midnight-thirty. The night driving and winding roads, combined with the late hour, meant nobody was really up for anything more than popping the tents and hitting the sack. I fell asleep to thoughts of a warm shower (as promised by signs posted in the camp ground) after a brisk run along the ocean. We set up our tents in a place called Guerrero Negro, in a camp ground next to some Mexican military barracks. The nights are pitch black here in Baja, but I was pretty sure we had parked only a few hundred yards from a serene beach.

We’d agreed to hit the road at 0830, so I had set my alarm for 0715 in order to run. Every day since we started this expedition, Todd has said to me, “Oh, you ran? I thought about running.” He had stated his intentions so many times with zero follow-through that I figured he was a lost cause. But he surprised me today.

At 0530 this morning, we were awakened to the sound of a crazy mariachi band’s horn section practicing ruffles and flourishes for about an hour. After some broken sleep, we were again awakened at around 0700 to the familiar (to this Marine, anyway) sound of troops counting cadences. Exercicios, anybody?

I did get up when my alarm sounded at 0715, but, had I somehow managed to sleep through it, Adam’s arrival at the door to our roof-top tent with camera in-hand would have rousted me. He was filming our sleepy wake-up for the documentary…he definitely captured the real Nancy — puffy morning-eyes and all.

I stuck my head out of the tent to realize with horror (ok, it wasn’t horror, exactly, but I was definitely surprised) that we were nowhere near a beach, or even a body of water, but smack in the middle of a vast desert. Ugh. Where would I run without fear of being kidnapped for ransom? Around and around the camping compound?

To my surprise, Todd asked what time it was and then said he’d like to run with me. We took off down a dirt road toward what turned out to be a tiny little pueblo. It was his first run of the season, and we were both tired, so we agreed to a mere 20 minutes. Eventually, I tricked him into running an additional 24 minutes by suggesting it would be a good idea to see if we could make it all the way to the cement barrier at the end of our dirt road. “I like goals,” he said. What a great sport he is! We didn’t make it, but we did cover some valuable extra distance. On our final leg to the finish, Todd and I agreed that I will do a “Brandy Chasteen” victory hurrah to celebrate my 50th run of the expedition. I’ll run into camp, strip down to my sports bra, and throw my arms up in declaration of my #1 status, simultaneously dropping down to my knees in victory while the significance of the moment overwhelms my senses and sensibilities. I can hardly wait. It will be very, um, spontaneous.

We started driving at precisely 0830 — an amazing accomplishment for this team of late sleepers, dawdlers, and procrastinators. I barely made it in time, because the warm shower I had been dreaming of turned out to be ice-cold and miserable. I couldn’t stand the cold long enough to wash my hair, so I ended up washing it in the sink…

Todd and I (we are in command of Vehicle D3) had a lovely conversation about the meaning of “a sense of urgency.” (His take: “Not something that’s real important to me a lot of times. Depends on what it is.” My take: “It’s absolutely critical to survivability and mission accomplishment.” Our take: Move on to a new subject, promising to resume the conversation later, and knowing full-well that Nancy will continue to avoid it from now until the end of time.)

At about 1040, we passed a Mexican gentleman broken down in the middle of the road, and Nick announced over the radio that he was turning around to help him. We had decided that no vehicle was to go anywhere solo, so Todd and I announced we’d go with Nick (Todd is a mechanic).

We quickly radioed the other two vehicles to continue on to a town called San Ignacio and await our arrival. Ten minutes later, after dumping half a jerry can into Luis’ empty Chrysler, we were back on the road and heading to San Ignacio to rendezvous with the crew.

Three hours later, we were still trying to rendezvous with the other two vehicles…We had blown right past San Ignacio, not realizing the little buildings and taco stands along the side of the road were the city, and ended up in San Rosalia on the coast…about 75 kilometers beyond San Ignacio and our team. After a loop through town to scout for their vehicles, we turned around and drove all the way back to San Ignacio. Man, those guys were going to be pissed. We prayed they’d decided to have some cervesas and margaritas.

The trouble was, there was no sign of them in San Ignacio. So we turned around and drove all the way back to San Rosalia. Still no sign of them. We were feeling pretty hungry by then and pulled into a roadside restaurant along the main drag for some tacos. A few minutes after we ordered our tacos pescados (fish tacos), D2 and D4 pulled into the lot beside our vehicles. What a happy moment that was! Everybody was safe and sound and back together. To our surprise, they were coming from the direction of San Ignacio.

We’ll never know how we missed each other, but the good news was we were reunited at last. Surprisingly, nobody was too mad, and nobody tried to point fingers and place blame. They had had tacos in San Ignacio before driving back to where Luis’ car had been stranded, and had finally decided to head on down the road to our destination for the day, Mulege. Meanwhile, we had figured they were probably already drinking beer on the beaches of Mulege. It would have been awesome to see a bird’s eye view of the four vehicles doing circles and narrowly missing one another at every turn. I’ll bet it would be pure comedy to see from above.

We finally got on the road again after gassing up and bickering over what we perceived to be an overpayment scandal at the pumps in San Rosalia. The time was almost 1730, and 1.5 hours separated us from Mulege. That meant more driving at night on winding roads. Our intended protocol called for no driving at night…

We found the campground fairly easily, and we were excited to have a strip of beach and a private lagoon all to ourselves. Life was good! We were in the rack by 2330, and my alarm was set for a 0830 run. Tomorrow would be a late departure, with just an 80-kilometer drive to our destination in Laredo on the slate for Friday. Life is good.

Logbook for November 13th
Start: Guerrero Negro, Mexico
Finish: Mulege, Mexico
Mileage: 250

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking 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-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.