[Above: Justin Mounts prepares to go skydiving on his 30th birthday.]

Journal by Justin Mounts

I walk briskly through the trees on the edge of the river. The leaves crunch under my feet as water slowly drips into the dust. A quick dart past the bamboo sprouts and thorny bushes leaves me scrambling down some bowling ball-sized stones into a small washout. Paddle in my hand, I hurry up the other side to the top of a large boulder to keep up with the team. Once on top, I gaze down to the rapids and look at a 12-foot drop off. Are we really supposed to raft that? The team shouts, “Geromino!” and we hurry back to where we started…

We are in Pucon, Chile -- the adventure sports capital of Peru. It is a town very similar to Lake Tahoe, California, with the exception of the pretentiousness. It is a place that is still developing, as is evidenced by the rows of new condominiums under construction. This place is very different to other Latin American locales we have found ourselves in recently. There are very few overtly visible signs of poverty, and this is a place where those with money in Peru spend their vacations.

Today is the last day of my 20’s. In a few short hours, I will turn 30 years old. In order to fully appreciate my last day of “youth”, several members of the team and I are going whitewater rafting. After a quick breakfast of huevos revueltos con jamon y queso (scrambled eggs with ham and cheese), we meet our river guide for the day, Rodolfo. He is a young Chilean in his early 20’s with a thirst for life and a love of the outdoors. He spends the Chilean summers in Pucon working as a guide to give touristas the best possible experience they can have with their short amount of time in Pucon. This coming winter, he will move to Canada to do similar work and to see more parts of the world.

Rodolfo load us up into the back of a small pickup truck, equipped with benches lining the sides of the bed. Seated military style, with dust blowing all around us, we head to the river where we will get our daily dose of adventure. When we arrive, several team members don pale pink and beige wetsuits that vaguely remind me of stretch pants worn by hair band front men in the late 80’s. Added to that are full life vests and small helmets which make us look like we are prepared to bounce off anything that comes in our path. We are truly a sight to see. Thankfully, none of us has brought a camera to capture this moment. We look ridiculous.

After a quick safety briefing, we put the raft in the water and shove off. We review some team paddling strategies and the commands that will be used today on the river. They are simple, and the team nods in understanding as our raft begins its one-hour drift down the river.

Today is the perfect day for this. The warm sun heats our suits and skin keeping us comfortable as the cold water splashes around us. As a wake-me-up, Rodolfo recommends that we jump (more like fall) out of the raft to enjoy the crisp, clear water. It is refreshing to say the least. At first, the water is a shock to the system, sending sharp sensations all over my body. I come up for air, the cold water boldly energizing my mind and spirit. Slowly, we climb back into the raft and charge toward our first group of rapids.

They are a small set of rapids used by the guides as a warm up, first to set the tone for the day and second to evaluate the skill of the paddlers. We pass the test with flying colors. As we turn around to look back up the river at the rapids we just crossed, we now change our opinions on having a camera along for this journey. We continue down the river, bouncing and splashing as we go. First over a set of rapids that sprays Colin and Todd in the front. Second, over a vicious set that bounces Todd out of the front and basically into Rolf’s lap one row behind and on the other side of the boat. The third set twists the boat in both directions sending all of us sprawling around the boat, but no one was lost.

As we pass each subsequent set of rapids, we all cheer and laugh, recounting the last several days of the expedition. The team has adopted the battle cry of “Geromino!” (yes, Geromino -- not Geronimo) -- an exclamation that made it’s way into our lexicon late one evening as we were discussion the smell of a local beverage. For the full story, buy me a beer sometime. It is worth recounting.

Rodolfo directs us to steer the raft over to the side of the river so we can conduct a reccie to survey a particular challenging portion of the river that most tourists are not allowed to traverse. We stand high on a boulder overlooking the charging rapids, our bravado quickly placed on the shelf as we witness how difficult this drop off is. In addition to a drop twice the size of anything we’ve covered today and a faster than normal water flow, there is a small obstacle in the middle of our path. A volkswagon-sized boulder splits the river in two. On one side, the safer route that ties back into the river over manageable rapids. On the other, a choppier set of rapids with a rip current that could potentially pin a person under the water’s surface if any of us are unfortunate enough to be pulled from the raft.

It is a gut check for sure. Rodolfo repeats that we must decide to ride the rapids or portage around them as a group, and that the risk involved with this portion of the river is sizeable. A quick glance around the group reveals the answer -- devilish grins and thumbs up. Let’s go!

We load into the boat and charge the rapids. “STRONG! STONG!” the call comes from the back. Everyone paddles furiously to get up the speed necessary to keep from folding the raft in half as we approach the boulder. Feverishly, we paddle, echoing Rodolfo’s commands to the front men over the roaring sound of the river and the rapids immediately in our front. A rush of cold water sprays the team as we drop in and begin flailing at the mercy of the river. “RIGHT SIDE!” comes the call, and everyone on the left side of the boat slides to the right edge to keep the raft from tipping over. The chaotic movements of the boat cease, and the raft gently drifts in a counter-clockwise motion enabling all of us to see our accomplishments. With a final cry of “GEROMINO!” we raise our paddles over our heads to clack them together as a group, triumphant.

As we drifted down the remaining part of the course, I soaked in every drop of beauty around me, considering the option of jumping overboard to let the river carry me freely down the last part of the course. I leaned backward and drop into the water over the side of the boat for one last time. As I free floated in the cold, clear water -- out of control and at the mercy of the river, I was reminded of a phrase that has served me well in the past. “Only after you have let go of everything are you free to do anything.” And that’s so true, especially with life on the road. Sometimes in order to control over the things in life that truly matter, you must give up control over everything else in order to gain a fresh perspective. Bring on my 30’s…

Until next time, I wish you well from the far side of the world.

Justin
justin@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. We were to find out later that one of Rodolfo’s best friends passed away while kayaking in Chile the day we were out on the river. A not so subtle reminder that life may be short for any one of us, and that we should take advantage of every day we’re given.

Logbook for January 31st, Day 92
Start: Pucón, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 39* 16.518'
W: 071* 58.461
Finish: Pucón, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 39* 16.518'
W: 071* 58.461
Mileage: 000
Notes: The weather and the activities of the day were perfect. I had to wake up at 0630 to get ready and meet my climbing party at Sur Expeditions, which is just down the street. I've never hired a guide for a climb, and it's not my preferred method, but I didn't have a choice with Volcán Villarrica. I don't know the mountain well enough to go alone, and they don't let people climb without a guide, so I shelled out some cash to climb with strangers. It was worth it, though. I met a nice Dutch couple, Angéle and Menno, I made a new friend in Pedro, our guide, and I saw LAVA! It splashed violently out of a crater at the volcano's summit, and we all braved choking gases to peer in and take pictures. It was truly amazing to witness, and I have photos and mpegs. The volcano is only about 8400 feet high, but it took us forever to stroll up it. We arrived at the top at noon, and I had a 12:00 phone call to make. I broke out the Iridium satellite phone and called Paul Bryan's radio show in Chicago. It was my third call to Paul during the expedition, and I am to call my buddy Paul every few weeks to let him and his listeners know what's happening on our expedition. I became friends with him during the Land Rover G4 Challenge, and I really enjoy being on his program. Check it out "Drive Chicago" on Chicago's WLS News Talk AM 890, if you'd like, Saturdays, 9-10 a.m., Central. It was fun being on the air in Chicago while sitting on a ledge on a mountain in Chile. As we were sliding down in the snow on our butts (glissading), I realized the rest of my team was beginning their 2:00 descent of Rio Trancura with their rafting guide. Apparently, they all had a great time, and they were impressed with themselves and their teamwork abilities. I think they had a good, macho, guys'-day-out. We all arrived home at about the same time, and we swapped stories. Later, I watched The Pricess Bride with Colin, and the other guys went to the lake to chill out in preparation for Justin's birthday festivities. He turns the big 3-0 tomorrow... We hit the clubs at about 1:00 a.m., and the guys danced up a storm. Adam is an AMAZING ballroom dancer. You name it, he can dance it. Rolf and Chanda and I left after just two hours, because we were beat (and bored), but I don't thing the guys made it back until the wee hours of the morning. It was a great day. (N.O.)

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

[Above: Nancy Olson's photo of a crevasse on the Villarrica Volcano outside of Pucon.]

Journal by Colin McAuliffe

Well, it's Friday, my blog day, and the Drive Around the World team is here in beautiful Pucon, Chile. Pucon is a tourist town, centered on a picturesque lake and ringed by snow-capped volcanoes. Being here, I can't help but to be reminded of two other towns I have visited in my travels -- Lake Tahoe in California and Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. There is a certain vibe in these mountain lake towns that is very distinguishable, and I’m sure there are fifty more towns in this world that are very similar vibe-wise.

Activities are similar in all of them. Lakeside lounging put aside; the not-so-fainthearted are offered many opportunities to get their blood pumping. Rafting, kayaking, snowboarding, mountain climbing, skydiving and the like are all offered at most of these towns and the tourists take the opportunities at every chance. I know the majority of our team will be going rafting tomorrow and I am very excited to get some long-needed adrenaline into my bloodstream, all this driving has been making me lazy.

Logbook for January 30th, Day 91
Start: Pucón, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 39* 16.518'
W: 071* 58.461
Finish: Pucón, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 39* 16.518'
W: 071* 58.461
Mileage: 000
Notes: Today was a work day our "film guys", Neil, Colin, and Adam, spent the day taking the sponsorship photos we still needed. They have a wonderful backdrop here with the volcano and the lake. Nick and Chanda spent most of the day readying and updating our webpage. Todd worked on our educational site. Rolf worked on his many articles and writing projects. Justin wrote a zillion press releases, and I wrote and edited. I also toured the town on my Santa Cruz. Tomorrow, most of the gang, excluding Nick, Chanda, and myself, will haul-butt down river rapids in a giant raft. Nick and Chanda will be working...I will be climbing the Vulcán Villarrica, which is a tiny little 2800-meter (8,400 ft) active volcano. It has been smoking since we've been here, and tonight, we saw its top glowing red with molten lava. I hope it doesn't choose to burst while we're in town! The weather here is brilliant. Warm and sunny. We all want to live here! (N.O.)

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

[Above: The Villarrica Volcano blows smoke outside of Pucon, Chile.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

We woke up drenched in mist this morning. Huddled up wagon-train style in the middle of a horse-and-cow pasture beside the ocean, we had allowed ourselves to drift off to sleep without securing our campsite or even zipping our tents. The tranquility of the previous evening and our lazy day seduced each of us into dropping our guard. When we awoke with wet sleeping bags, we realized our blunder.

You see, mist is a silent soaker. Had it been raining, or had it so much as smelled like rain, we would have properly staked out our window awnings and zipped up our doors. As it were, everything was left wide open so we could enjoy the cool breeze and the briny scent of the ocean. The previous evening had been misty, too, but nobody other than The Corndog, who sleeps in a tent on the ground, woke up wet. Heck, I had slept on the ground in a sleeping bag and bivy the night before, and I was fine. Who knew?

So, wet and sleepy, but without dampened spirits, we awoke and fired up the Coleman stove. We would have two huge pots of delicious Land Rover Café before packing up camp and heading out to the Autopista toward Pucon, Chile. As soon as the sun came out, the mist burned off and revealed a perfectly warm and sunny day. We had 460 miles separating us from our destination, and we were determined to get there.

Pucon is the adventure/outdoor capital of Chile, and we were ready to play. The speed limit on the Autopista is 120 kph, and our Land Rovers were chomping at the bit. We made great time, arriving in Pucon by 8:00 p.m., and our arrival did not go unnoticed. Actually, people practically lined the streets to witness our caravan coming through the small town preceding Pucon. By the time we’d arrived in downtown Pucon, people had heard of us.

As we were searching for a cheap hostel, somebody walked up to Justin and asked who we were. He said word had spread like wildfire, and the whole city was wondering who was driving the four Land Rovers. We also met a cute young river guide from Sur Expeditions, Rodolfo, who said he’d love to try to get the team a good deal on a rafting trip. He also said he’d see what he could do about discounting my guided summit of the Vulcan Villarrica. Villarrica is an active volcano overlooking Pucon, and you are only allowed to climb with a guide. On the night we arrived, it was smoking and glowing red at the top. I was in for an exciting view on the summit.

We found a nice deal at Cabanas Newen, a summer-camp style cluster of cabins just off the main street. We rented two for the nine of us, and I slept in the top bunk above Todd. Rolf got the single bed in our room, and Nick and Chanda were in the “matrimonio” next door. Justin and the “film guys” got the other cabin. Ours is an awesome little place with a kitchen and a small living area.

Justin, Neil, Adam, and Colin were the only troopers with energy enough to hit the town our first night, so the rest of us hit the hay. It was wonderful sleeping in a real bed, and I reveled in the chilly air and my warm blankets. The nights are nice and cool, just like I like ‘em. The latitude of Pucon is the same degrees south as Big Bear, California, is north. This place reminds us of home, and while that is a good thing, we all feel a little homesick for friends and family.

I fell asleep quickly, happy in the knowledge that just one day of work in beautiful Pucon separated me from a much-needed jaunt up a mountain. I can hardly wait.

Nancy
nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 29th, Day 90
Start: Pichilemu, Chile
Time: 0930
S: 34* 25.787'
W: 79* 02.601'
Finish: Pucón, Chile
Time: 2000
S: 39* 16.518'
W: 071* 58.461
Mileage: 460

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

[Above: Horses grazing near the beach we camped at in Pichilemu.]

Journal by Todd Borgie, photo by Neil Dana

We drove hard yesterday and this morning we woke up in the middle of a pasture, horses and all. The view was tremendous, ocean on three sides and a flat plain looking over the ocean below. It is always important to find flat ground when camping, otherwise we roll from one end of the tent to the other, which is truly uncomfortable for those involved.

We have been working really hard for the past couple of months so we decided that we could take the next few days easy and enjoy the sites of southern Chile. Olson was the first one up, after unharnessing her bike she went for a ride. I am not sure where she went, but lucky for us she returned with about 2-dozen eggs, ham, cheese and bread. By the time I rolled out of my tent the camping equipment was being set up. Coffee, as usual was the first thing on the agenda and Rolf and I got to it. Quoting the line, “ Sun is coming up, got cakes on the griddle”, inspired me to throw on my newly purchased John Denver album.

The film guys had made their exit, searching for the perfect wave, and Nick and Chanda had left on a little stroll, which left Nancy, Rolf and I to hold down the fort. Nancy did most of the work, making breakfast, but we kept her company.

The breakfast was one of the best we have had in a long time, and I for one kept eating as long as she was serving.

The rest of the day consisted of everyone doing what they wanted do, except Nick, who was beginning to get sick again, hopefully that won’t last long. I worked on writing up the recent Parkinson’s clinic visit, which inspired me and reminded me again what this expedition was truly about. We really want to publicize information on the various Parkinson's communities around the world; what they are doing, the challenges they are facing, and the global impact this disease is having. Also it is important for us to help assess whether the disease is growing or staying about the same percentage-wise in the population.

As night fell Nancy and Colin made a wonderful of dinner of pasta and red sauce. We watched the wet fog blow in from the ocean listening to Ravi Shankar and mused about whether Nora Jones was really his daughter. Soon the moisture became too much and we all took refuge from it, as one by one we slipped into our tents to escape the wet evening.

Todd
todd@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 28th, Day 89
Start: Pichilemu, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 34* 25.787'
W: 79* 02.601'
Finish: Pichilemu, Chile
Time: N/A
S: 34* 25.787'
W: 79* 02.601'
Mileage: 000

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

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

Journal by Adam Burgess, photo by Neil Dana

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

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

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

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

[Above: Welcome to Chile!]

Journal by Neil Dana

We have been traveling through all of Central America and quite a bit of South America, and it has been phenomenal. I have been looking forward to seeing and experiencing many Latin countries for most of my life. I have always been fascinated with cultural differences and the various ways people live in foreign countries. Not only are the people very different in these countries, so are the landscapes and architectural structures. Many people live out of wooden shacks in the middle of the desert, as others live in walls made of mud bricks in the Andes. Not only the countryside, but the cities are extremely different as well.

So it is a big surprise to come to Chile. I was not expecting the state of economic wellbeing. Chile is completely different than all the countries we have driven through so far. In fact, it is almost as if we just went through a distance warp back to California. Chile is a very close replica of California. The buildings are modern, the roads are perfect, the landscape is the same, and people are much more image-conscious and stylish. We are actually traveling the same latitudes as California, which explains why the climate and landscape is just like home. In the Santiago area, it is much like San Diego and L.A. climate, which is desert planted with vegetation. As we travel south, it is like going into Northern California with the rolling hills and trees everywhere. There are also tons of vineyards as well. And, the people are no longer dark, they are all very Caucasian, coming from European descent.

So to tell you the truth, Chile is the least interesting country I have been to so far, as far as culture goes. We are still heading south and I know that the landscapes of Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia and all the other majestic places will be filled with incredible beauty. It is like driving from Southern Cal up towards Canada and Alaska, intensely beautiful. It is just funny how similar the people are to home. It doesn't feel like a typical Latin American country.

Today, we didn't drive anywhere. We are in Santiago and our Land Rovers are being serviced. I was busy finishing up editing photos for our sponsors, and the rest of the team was busy doing other things as well. Whenever we have a change to have time in a city, we tend to get a lot of busy-work done. We were also waiting for Rolf to arrive from Cusco. He was sick and had to write some articles, so he stayed back a few days. We went to this Internet cafe that literally had about 50-75 big screen computers. The place would fill up with kids playing these computer games against each other. It was pretty wild to see. I guess it is our modern day arcade.

We ended up taking the subway, which is a very nice metro station, each one individually decorated with paintings or tiled walls, etc. We took it to a part of town called La Suecia, which is a few streets that are filled with wonderful restaurants and bars and discotheques. They are filled with people, and employees on the street trying to pull you in to each various establishment. We ate some tasty food and had some delicious milkshakes. This street is kind of like a mini-Disneyland, with themed restaurants and fun places to hang out. Everyone there was in their most stylish outfits. It was an evening out on the town, Santiago style.

Santiago is a very big city, and is spread out, like Los Angeles is, the main difference is that instead of having 6 lanes for cars, Santiago has 2 lanes for cars, and 3 lanes exclusively for buses!!! I have never seen so many buses; it is amazing. They have a great public transport system in Santiago. You can get from one end of the city to other for 45 cents.

Well, we are leaving Santiago soon to go south and I am looking forward to hitting Pichilemu and going surfing, as well as heading all the way south into the deep countryside. I think it will be some of the most beautiful nature we have seen yet.

Until next time,

Neil Dana
neil@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 26th, Day 87
Start: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Finish: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Mileage: 000
Notes: I'm not sure about the rest of the team, but I sure had fun today. Nick and Chanda spent ALL DAY on their laptops in the internet cafe. Todd, I know, had a blast with his Chile family, with whom he spent a lot of time several years ago when visiting and working in Chile. He had a nice reunion yesterday and today. I rode my Santa Cruz bike to Land Rover. On the way, I stopped in a bike shop and had an excellent conversation with Jose, the owner, for about 40 minutes. He admired my bike, and we had a great discussion about bikes in general. Oh, how I love bikes. He was saying I should look into the international bicycle industry. Travel, decent money, and BIKES. I'll consider it. I continued my ride through the perilous city streets of Santiago after bidding Jose a fond farewell, and my round trip ended up being about three and a half hours. Well, that's what I call a good day. The team had a mellow evening. Nick and Chanda had Indian food at Best Western, Justin and I had sushi at a local joint, and Todd saw his Chile family. I haven't seen much of the film guys, so I'm not sure what they were up to. IMPORTANT NOTE: Rolf is back with the team after spending much time in Cusco, Peru, writing some articles. Poor guy, though, the only person he saw all day today was me. He saw me leaving and returning. Tomorrow, we all head to the beach! (N.O.)

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

Nick and Chanda sit at their laptops in an Internet cafe in Santiago. Working, as usual.

Photo by Nancy Olson

Logbook for January 25th, Day 86
Start: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Finish: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Mileage: 000
Notes: Today was basically a "do what you need to do" day for the team. Most of us slept late and then went to work on the programs for which we are responsible. Most of the team spent much of the day in the awesome local internet cafe. I've a sneaking suspicion that some played the cafe's hugely popular computer game, Counterstrike, which is available at their webpage at www.frag.cl. The place is packed with young boys screaming and yelling as they shoot things to bits. Justin visited a museum and spent some time wandering the city. I spent most of the day writing in my room and in the cafe. I apologize for the boring entry here. Tomorrow might be much of the same...Oh, one note of warning: If you go to Domino's Pizza, especially in a foreign land, DO NOT order the Americano. That means "extra cheese." The last thing anybody needs is extra cheese. It's about two inches thick on top of your pie... (N.O.)

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

Logbook for January 24th, Day 85
Start: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Finish: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Mileage: 000
Notes: Right now, we are as far south of the Equator as California is north...Today we slept in and then woke up to begin working on our individual task lists. I was going to do a lot of writing, but I rode my Santa Cruz mountain bike, instead. Todd paid an educational visit to a pre-columbian art museum, Nick and Justin had an interview at Land Rover with the popular local news network, and everybody else did their own thing. I rode for two hours, picking my way through the city streets to wind up at the Land Rover dealership. There, I hung out with Nick and Justin for a while, and then the three of us got a ride to a local mall to eat. It could easily have been a California mall. Same shops, same prices, same weather. We had our first Starbuck's coffee since the expedition began, and then we caught a bus to the metro to come back to the hostel. We rested a bit before jumping back on the metro at about 9:30 to meet Francisco from Land Rover for some dinner. We had sort of a weird night out before returning to the hostel. Santiago's party scene wasn't as great as we thought it'd be. Tomorrow, more work. (N.O.)

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

[Above: The cityscape of Santiago, Chile.]

Journal by Colin McAuliffe

Latin American cities. At this point I've been to a lot of them and I'm kinda sorta getting bored of them. Yeah, there's lots to do at night, but what of the day? I'm not really one for museums, so they're out. What's left, parks? well I've seen enough of those to last me a while. Usually, i just end up in internet cafés writing my blog, and then spend all night out on the town. Take yesterday for instance. I got up, I ate. I read my book (Solomon's Song) for a long time, and then I went out on the town until six something in the morning. Today, I slept it off until 4:40, although I think I was still sleeping off that 40 hour drive we did to get here. Anyway, the city thing just isn't doing it for me; I definitely prefer towns. Contrary to popular belief, there's actually usually more to do in towns. Or at least, those things to do are a little easier to find. Anyway, hopefully, Neil and Adam and I will be heading to the beach for two days tomorrow while the team waits for thier cars to get out of the shop. It's about time we had a little beach time, its been a while.

Logbook for January 23rd, Day 84
Start: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Finish: Santiago, Chile
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Mileage: 000
Notes: After driving until 0330 this morning, we got a couple of hours of sleep before having to be up to move our vehicles at 0730. We are so not firing on all 8 cyllinders, mentally. The visit with Land Rover was a good one, and our vehicles are there receiving the once-over now. Adam and I came directly home to our hostel after Land Rover, taking advantage of Santiago's fantastic public transportation system. Their metro is ultra-modern and super-clean. I put my head on my pillow at 1:00 p.m., and I didn't wake up again until about 9:30 the next morning. We may never catch up on sleep from our two days of nonstop driving, but I'm certainly going to try. (N.O.)

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

[Above: Nancy Olson's shadow reflected on the floor of the Atacama Desert.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

My mom always taught me, if I don’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. The problem is, today is my journal day, and I have to say something. My job is to tell you fine people what is going on here on our little road trip. So, with that in mind, I will search for something nice to say. Hmm…let’s see…something nice…

I can’t think of anything nice, so that’ll have to come later. I’ll keep my whining to a minimum here. I’m angry because we just drove all night. I mean, we got up, started driving, ran out of gas because we haven’t filled our Scepter jerry-cans since emptying them to ship the Land Rovers to Ecuador, and then just kept right on driving through the night. For that reason, my journal starts just after midnight, at the very birth of Thursday. Gosh, I wish I had something nice to say. I could torture you all with an ultra-marathon of a journal.

After running out of gas and scrounging enough liters off the locals to get us to the next station 90 km down the road, we had a “team meeting” to discuss whether we would press on or camp. It was one in the morning by this time, and we had a whole lot of desert ahead of us. Oh, and don’t worry; we still haven’t filled our jerry cans, so there’s a good chance for more high-drama in the future.

I wanted to make camp, and, apparently, so did Justin. We have 1000 km to Santiago, and we don’t want to get there on the weekend. We need to get there before the weekend so the local Land Rover dealership can start performing routine maintenance on our vehicles. (Also, we’re running Mobil 1 in each of our vehicles, for the whole 34,000 miles, without changing our oil, and we are supposed to send back oil samples for testing every 10,000 miles. We’re going to draw those samples in Santiago. We like participating in this test, because it’ll be fun to help prove what we already know: that Mobil 1 is great.)

So, we put it to a vote whether we would camp or push on for another hour. Knowing full well that we would never stop after an hour, and feeling like it’s wiser to camp at a known, secure position to sleep and then wake up fresh, I voted to stop. Justin voted to stop. Todd was duped into thinking we’d actually stop after an hour and voted “go”, as did the rest of the team. We decided that getting to our destination is more important than sticking to our safety procedures. Decisions such as “not driving at night” are pre-made, written-in-stone decisions. They are made ahead of time so that the expedition members don’t have to risk making a poor decision later on when they are affected by lack of sleep or are caught up in the excitement of the moment. Putting the destination ahead of the safety and common sense is not acceptable, in my opinion.

I find it impossible to sleep in the passenger seat while somebody else drives at night, so I drove while Todd slept. Shortly after sunrise, we pulled over for a driver change. I crashed hard and barely mustered the gumption to wake up for lunch. We hit an Internet café and grabbed some chow. The fish I had was so good, I think I want to eat fish and only fish the whole time we’re in Chile. (There! I did it! I said something nice!)

Shortly after getting back on the road, I fell asleep again. Because we drove through the night and I am completely wrecked, I won’t have too many pictures of Chile. At nightfall, I took over the driving again, and we drove until we arrived in Santiago at about three in the morning. Oh! Woops! I guess that means it’s no longer my journal day! It’s Friday, so I’d better stop writing. One more positive item: Santiago is beautiful. It’s clean. The people are nice. Chile is reminding us all of California, and we’re all homesick now.

I’m not mad; I just need some sleep.

Best to all,

Nancy
nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 22nd, Day 83
Start: Somewhere in Chile, 0715
S: 25* 53.620'
W: 70* 27.993'
Finish: Santiago, Chile, 0330
S: 33* 26.913'
W: 70* 40.034'
Mileage: 599
Notes: This is Day Two of our maniacal marathon drive to Santiago. I will never be able to recover from two all-nighters on the road. I slept some during the day while Todd drove. And drove. And drove some more. I'm missing much of Chile, but I'm learning a lot about the back of my eyelids. The part of Chile that I wasn't asleep for looks a lot like southern California. We drove from the desert highlands to the coast, and everybody agrees it is California-esque. We stopped at a mall today to eat, and I'm happy to report that consumerism is alive and well here. I's a shock being back in a wealthy nation after traveling through the 3rd World for so long. Something tells me we'll have fun in Chile. We arrived in Santiago at 3:30 in the morning after fighting the sleep monster all night. I wonder if we'll ever recover. Tomorrow, we have an appointment at Land Rover Santiago to have maintenance done on our vehicles. (N.O.)

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

[Above: DATW Land Rovers in Chile's Atacama Desert.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

Yesterday was cold and rainy, and we were all short of breath. Today the sun is shining, we are in shorts, and we are chillin' in one of the driest places on earth. We are in the mighty Atacama Desert, an area of mineral and metal wealth, and a contested area between Chile, Bolivia and Peru, who are not the friendliest of neighbors. This area was the sight of a war (War of the Pacific) from 1879-1884, which Chile won. Bolivia lost its only access to the sea and Peru lost some land. You can tell by the graffiti on the bathroom walls that irritated feelings still persist. Final disputes resulting from this war were finally resolved in the year 2000 when Chile and Peru finally came to an agreement over the use of the Port of Arica, now Chilean territory.

It was wonderful to be in Chile again and it was nice to be down at sea level. Even though it was warmer than we had been used to, at least the slightest effort would not make us breathe hard. As we rolled into Arica last night, one of the major hints that Chile was a fully developed country were the pet-food billboards we saw. If a country is advertising pet food it has got to be doing OK.

As I mentioned, the Atacama region of Chile is one of the driest places on earth. Yet, the temperatures are not oppressively warm. Actually, Arica is one of the hot spots for Chilean beachgoers. We saw the crowds, as it is currently summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Although rainfall occurs only two to four times a century, the area gets quite a bit of fog as caused by the thermal inversion layer that comes off the ocean. A thermal inversion layer is defined as a layer of air in which the usual rule that temperature of air decreases with altitude does not apply. The ocean current (the Humboldt Current) passing by this area is directly from Antarctica, thus the water is cold. The cold current produces a layer of cold air that lies on top of the cold water. This layer of air acts like a wedge, pushing the warm air from the land up while the cooler air is trapped below (thermal inversion). This phenomenon produces fog and also monitors the temperature, preventing incredibly high temperatures.

Due to its dryness, we did not see much vegetation as we drove down the center of Chile.
Being in Chile was like a mighty embrace. Chile was starkly different from the previous places we had been to; it was a completely developed nation, and it made us feel like we were back in the States. I felt like we were rolling through the Mojave Desert and I would soon be home in Los Angeles with chocolate chip cookies waiting for me at my parents' house. I loved basking in that feeling that I was almost home, but then again didn’t want to wake up to the heartbreak, that California was 10,000 miles away. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in Chile, but after 3 months on the road it is not unusual to miss your family and home.

The day mostly consisted of us driving through the mountains, the dunes and the rocks, with not a plant around. Railroad tracks came out of mining areas, and rocks and sand seemed to be dumped randomly throughout the landscape. To pass the time we debated as to whether the piles of stone and sand were creations of the desert, mining creations, or military embankments. We never really made the determination, but we passed a couple of hours talking about it.

We stopped at a variety of agriculture stations. They wanted to make sure we did not have any fruit with us, as the Mediterranean fruit fly, amongst others was a definite threat to Chile’s large agriculture industry.

The desert was expansive and it lulled us into its rhythm, perhaps too much so. Not used to the large expanses of nothingness between towns, we failed to take our gas stops seriously. We pulled into an agricultural inspection stop, with gas lights just beginning to pop on. After a few, questions it was determined that the next large gas stop was 250km away, Uffda! After a few more questions we realized it was possible to get some gas from a small town 5km away, phew!

The four Land Rovers rolled into the little town and began our search. Unfortunately, one of the two gas venders was off getting more gas (nobody knew when he would return) and the other vender had run out of gas as well. The good news was that there was a town only 90km away that had a 24-hour gas station. Night was approaching and we -- Neil and I -- began canvas the area for gasoline. We bought a gallon from one guy and another 30 liters from another. 20 liters from another guy, and we were looking for 20 liters more to make us comfortable. We discussed the option of filling one car and having it fill up all the jerries, but we were going for broke and were going to attempt to take all four vehicles to the gas stop.

Neil and I found someone that could give us 10 additional liters, but we after a few attempts of siphoning, and a mouthful of gas, we decided that the costs were too high.
The group reconvened about 10:00 p.m., and we distributed that last of the gas and set off into the night air, not knowing how many vehicles would make our desired destination.

Todd
todd@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 21st, Day 82
Start: Arica, Chile, 1100
S: 18* 29.003'
W: 70* 18.907'
Finish: Somewhere in Chile, 0715
S: 25* 53.620'
W: 70* 27.993'
Mileage: 590
Notes: Well, we're stopped briefly at an internet cafe on our way to Santiago, so this'll be brief. It's the 22nd, and I'm writing about the 21st. We just drove all night, and I'm not too happy about that. ANYWAY, we left Arica yesterday to head to Santiago, more than 2000 km away. On the way, it was decided that we needed to do a marathon drive in order to get to Santiago in time to do some work before the weekend. So...we were driving and driving and, I'm so embarassed, we realized wouldn't make it to a gas station. The town we were in didn't have one, and it was 90 km to the next one. We spent hours trying to buy liters of fuel off the locals. Finally we had enough for all four vehicles and pressed on, just barely making it to the pumps at about midnight. It was there that the team voted to press on rather than camp in the perfectly good location we were in. Justin and I, by the way, voted to camp and then continue in the morning for safety's sake. Everybody else felt like pressing on to the next town. We ended up pressing on all night, and we are still pressing. It's almost noon on the 22nd now. We're all doing fine, and we're about to go grab chow. Don't worry, we'll stop the minute somebody gets too tired. That's the benefit of having enough drivers to swap out with. We now have another 900 km to Santiago. Talk to you when we get there. (N.O.)

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

[Above: Llama-like Alpacas on the Bolivia-Chile border.]

Journal by Adam Burgess

To the left and right of northern Chile's two-lane highway is the most peculiar terrain. Its like fields of the largest dirt clods you’ve ever seen for as far as the eye can see. My mind can only imagine another ancient civilization left their impressive mark by growing gigantic oxen, tying them to telephone-pole-sized ploughs and had them churn up the desert floor endlessly. The dirt here is a pinkish tan and nothing grows. We spent the day driving through the End of the World’s largest gorge. I’m glad to be down, safely.

For hours our cars followed the path carved into the side of the dunes. Over the roadsides the sand face continued its sheer drop for thousands of feet down into a slightly green valley. Every few turns another wreath-covered cross or little house inscribed with names appeared where one’s fate entailed tumbling helplessly for 4000 feet, almost as scary as plummeting with women and children in an airliner.

Yesterday we drove for hours from La Paz, Bolivia through the Chilean border and descended 14,000 feet to the coast of Chile. We took off at 6am without breakfast. Five hours later, at the border, we found ourselves surrounded by snow-covered volcanoes and alpacas. Alpacas are interesting creatures. They walk like four-legged chickens, are covered with fantastic maroon, black and tan wool, when they see you they “meeep” and they taste like a small cow.

After passing through the border we began to drop. Within an hour or so we came down about 13,000 feet and all of a sudden I could breathe again. I love oxygen. Hunger was rife and as we rounded another corner of the desolate Chilean desert I noticed on the side of the road the most exquisite little abode. A refurbished train carriage was adorned with a hand built windmill that twirled in the evening wind. Scattered around this nucleus was sheltered seating under driftwood structures and tarps. I hailed the others over the CB radio and convinced them all to turn around for food. I couldn’t resist such an interesting composition. We pulled the ever-so-common three point turn in the highway and rolled into the desert café. Two beautiful little girls were in the front waving to us with smiles and wool caps. Neil asked if they had comida and they said yes. We weren’t sure where to go but they lead us into the shack attached to the carriage. Bizarre. We had just stepped into a hobbit’s kitchen/living room. There were barstools around a kiln oven and the layers of clutter lay so thick that there are too few words to describe what fell on our eyes. From behind a tattered curtain floated in a woman in a flannel shirt and dirty sweatpants. The clothes hung on her like obstacles and appeared to have been treated as such. Cold blue eyes beamed out from a once attractive face. She looked European but the desert sun had paid its toll early. She extended a slow limp handshake to the eight of us one by one. We asked if she had food and she scanned through her mind to arrive at the conclusion that there was two pizza loaves left. From a black garbage bag she pulled two hard circular crusts and picked at them for a moment. “20 minutes we can have some pizza for you…but first lets go outside I’ll show you around Michael Land.”

From there we went over to the solar oven and windmills. Andrea’s explanation of how it worked morphed rather aimlessly into anti-establishment proselytizing. She defined her location as not a part of Chile, Bolivia or Peru and was miffed at the concept of “where are you from?” Patiently the crew stood listening to her infinite meandering philosophies as the sun set through the desert canyon. It grew cold and time had passed. We felt victims of a Twilight Zone episode. After about 45 minutes of captivity Nick stepped in as leader and announced to Andrea that he was very thankful for her fascinating story but that we had hoped to eat rather quickly and continue driving. She snapped back with the comment that there is a McDonalds in Arica. We left with the last rays of sun petering down on the desert floor and headed for the coastal town of Arica.

Logbook for January 20th, Day 81
Start: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Finish: Arica, Chile
N: 18* 29.003'
W: 70* 18.907
Mileage: uh, woops. Coming soon...
Notes: We're in Chile! It's such a contrast being back in a first-world nation. They have street lights...and lines down the middle of road! We arrived at hte Chilean border at about 1245 and had to wait 40 minutes for the border control agents to return from lunch. Then we drove about half of the distance through "no-man's land" between the exit point in Bolivia and the entry point in Chile. We stopped there to make our monthly sat-phone conference call to media and sponsors. We were on the altiplano at 15,000' above sea level, so of course I had to break out the Santa Cruz and go for a bike ride. Not a lot of oxygen up there! The call went very well, and we headed for Chile. On the way, we passed by a huge mine field--Chile and Bolivia aren't the best of friends. In the background all around us were the beautiful snowcapped mountains of the Andes. This was the most beautiful border we'd ever seen--and it was the fastest and most professional. They actually had an assembly line for stamping us in. It only took about 20 minutes, a new record, to get through the border. On the way into Arica, we descended from a peak of 15,300' to sea level. We dropped about 800' more than the height of Mt. Whitney in California (the U.S.'s highest peak, excluding Alaska). We had an easy drive, and our gas mileage was INCREDIBLE! It helps when your entire trip is downhill. We found a hostel with good parking right away and called it a night. Tomorrow, we're off to Santiago. (N.O.)

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

[Above: A view of La Paz, the Bolivian capital city.]

Journal by Neil Dana

La Paz is appropriately named Peace, for it is located at the foot of a staggering mountain range. When you come into the city, it is the most incredible vista for a city you can imagine. You can see the entire city and all the surrounding houses and buildings piled all the way up the surrounding mountainsides. It must have been extremely peaceful back in the day before it grew into the bustling city it is today. Today, La Paz is immense in size. It is interesting as well because many cities around the world, the wealthy have nice homes in the surrounding mountains. In La Paz, it is the opposite. The higher you go up the mountain out of the valley, the poorer the houses become. The upper class towns are down in the valley. It is wild to see, there are thousands of houses built right into the mountainside, as if they are rock formations that have taken shape over the years. Many of them are built on very steep grades and it is a wonder that they are still standing.

While in La Paz, I ended up talking to our hotel receptionist quite a bit and learned a great deal about Bolivia and it's people. Her name was Vicky and she told me a story of what happened in October when the whole country decided to strike in response the former president's efforts to raise taxes. Many Bolivians only make $20 a month and it is very difficult to survive, and when the president wanted to raise taxes even more, the country went ballistic. Our hotel is across the street from a prison, and when the strikes first happened, the police were striking as well, so there were no officials around to police bad behavior. The walls of the prison are at least 30 feet high, and Vicky described her fear when she saw the prisoners trying to escape over the top. A couple actually succeeded due to a rather large tree that is outside the building. The prisoners also started a fire and almost burned down the front door of the prison. Can you imagine the horror of being across the street in a hotel watching this happen and not being able to call for help, and just feel completely helpless? This is how she felt, completely helpless, and it is how she and her people have felt one more than one occasion. In February, there were more strikes, and it was even worse. The people finally calmed down when they ousted the president and the vice president took over. Today, it has been a couple months since any major situations have happened, but she is not confident it won't happen again.

Anyway, I ended up walking to two different ends of La Paz, up the mountain and up to two beautiful serene parks that overlooked the city. One park had a cute little church at the top. I could definitely see many marriages happening there, it is a great location. You can see most of La Paz, yet you are surrounded by trees and you are high enough to avoid hearing the hustle and bustle of the city.

La Paz is a really interesting city and I am grateful to be able to visit Bolivia. I must thank Land Rover for all this. They gave us these vehicles which have enabled us to get all the way down here to Bolivia. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here. We have crossed rivers and been through some wild mud bogs too. In fact, the other night, we ended up off road in a marshland, and boy was that fun!! We ended up chasing a point of confluence with our Garmin, GPS systems, and we were going through streams, huge ditches and getting bogged down in deep muddy pits. We were able to get through it all. These vehicles are awesome. They are extremely comfortable, good off-roading, and have passed time and time again whenever we put them to the test. So thank you Land Rover.

Anyway, thanks to our vehicles we have made it to Bolivia and now we are heading to Chile and are almost a third of a way through our journey. It has been amazing so far, and actually is getting better and better every week. We are getting along better, know each other well now and have a really good time together. We work well together and know what our roles are, we are a great team and I am stoked to be a part of Drive Around the World.

And of course I am sooo excited to head to the coast in Chile now!! We are leaving the high altitudes and going back to sea level. And the sea level in Chile is filled with amazing SURF!!!!!!! So hopefully we will be able to surf a spot or two in Chile -- that would be a dream come true. Well, until next time, and hey, next time I will have been in the water and have the biggest grin you can fathom.

Ciao,

Neil
neil@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 19th, Day 80
Start: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Finish: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Mileage: 000
Notes: This was another work/shop day in Bolivia, with an emphasis on the "work." I'm writing an article about our education program for the Royal Geographical Society, Nick is busting out items for our sponsors, Chanda is updating our website, Justin's working on PR materials, the film crew (Neil, Corndog, and Adam) is working on photos, and Todd is doing educational program work. Everybody's busy. The highlight of Chanda's day (OK, and mine, too) was eating a chicken-and-veggie-filled bread-thingy at about noon (cost: about 20 cents). Nick's highlight was his latte macchiato (the first since leaving California and Pete's Coffee). Tomorrow, we depart at about 0600 for Chile. Yick. Early border day. We might be without internet access for up to a week, so bear with us!!! (N.O.)

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

[Above: A big vendor's cart in Bolivia.]

Logbook for January 18th, Day 79
Start: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Finish: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Mileage: 000
Notes: During our first full day in Bolivia, most of the team divided their time between working on our programs (education, sponsorships, Take Me With You!, webpage, article writing) and shopping the "black market." The market contains row-after-row, street-after-street, and booth-after-booth of shoes, "designer" clothing, electronics, and produce. The exchange rate here is just under 8 Bolivianos per U.S. Dollar, and you can get a huge meal for under two bucks. Not bad at all. FYI, begging and street selling is super low-key compared to Peru. They take "no" for an answer, and nobody bothers you much. Today was quite enjoyable on all fronts. Viva Bolivia! (N.O.)

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

[Above: A llama-crossing sign along the Bolivian highway.]

Journal by Justin Mounts

One thing I’ve learned on this expedition is that I wish I had studied Spanish in high school.

Seriously.

Each day on the expedition, I’m given an opportunity to practice my Spanish-speaking skills. Now, these opportunities often come with a great of pain inflicted on the ears of whomever I am speaking to and it usually involves a considerable investment of their time to figure out what I am talking about. Regardless, most of the time communication does occur. Let’s review how far I’ve come with my Spanish skills on the expedition.

When we left, I knew enough Spanish to say hello, goodbye, how are you, and where’s the bathroom. I could also order a drink and say things that would most likely get me involved in a fight or make my mother blush. So, suffice to say my knowledge of the Spanish language was roughly equivalent to a high school freshman.

Now, however, I can order food, get set up at an internet café, shop and bargain almost like a pro, and carry on a relatively civil conversation with someone I meet on the street. Not too bad. Plus, I can still stay hello, goodbye, how are you, where’s the bathroom, and all that other stuff that still has my mother blushing. One of the problems I run into now is that the little bit of Spanish that I do know, I can now deliver with such confidence, I frequently trick people into thinking I know a heck of a lot more Spanish than I do know. Which is fun, and often leads to a learning experience for me. But the other problem I run into is that often times I will deliver the entire 20-30 minutes of Spanish I know in about 2 minutes. The conversation goes like this:

Me: “Buenos! Como estas?”

Them: “Bien, gracias. Que paiz?”

Me: “Los Estados Unidos. Mi en es groupo manahara todo del mundo….blablablabla blablablablablablablablablablablablablabla volunterio lablablablablablablablalbablabla blablab dinero lablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla se llama Parkinson’s blablablablablablablablablablab El Papa y Mohammad Ali lablabl abla lbablablabla cinco dias lablablablablablablablablablablab lablablablabl ablab labl ablablablablablablbalablbabl Si! M me gusta Sur America blablablablablabl ablabla

Them: Ay! (Insert incredibly complex conversation-piece in Spanish here at a pace so fast that even native Spanish speakers couldn’t understand what they were saying).

Me: Uh….Lo siento. Una veces mas, por favor. Me habla poco espaniol.

(Repeat the same exchange with no further success)

Them: Ay, bien. (Then they stand there nodding for a second pondering what to do next, then…) Ciao!

So, you can see how premature delivery of my Spanish vocabulary can lead to a shortened conversation and quite honestly an unsatisfactory encounter with a local from the country I’m in. Not to mention it leaves me feeling very frustrated because quite honestly, I should know more Spanish than this. Don’t get me wrong, my guerilla, phrase-book tactics for learning Spanish are quite respected among my team members. In fact, I’ve been told that I’m fearless and that my Spanish has improved the most of anyone so far. That’s quite a complement in my eyes, but I don’t want to kid you. I am still barely a half-step above caveman Spanish.

This week, I had a great opportunity to practice in the company of a new friend. Our 5th Take Me With You! guest, Mairo Moya was very friendly and helpful when it came to practicing my Spanish. It also helped that he was bilingual, so anytime I couldn’t continue in Spanish, I could talk to him in English. As a native Peruvian, Mairo is very proud of the Incan traditions, and we spent a great deal of time not only talking about Peruvian history, but we also talked about different goals and aspirations. Mairo is a 28-year-old tour guide for Isla de los Uros, the famous reed island communities of Lake Titikaka (always with a “k”, never with a “c” he insists). However, he is also in the process of building a new house for his family (first son is due in about 2 weeks) and in the process of trying to start a charitable organization that will provide alternative housing for orphans in local communities.

Mairo met us at 6:30 am for our departure for La Paz, Bolivia. Given the supposed risk of riots in Bolivia during our stay there, we both agreed having him along as a cultural expert could benefit us. The drive to La Paz was relatively uneventful, however I had my head buried in my laptop most of the day preparing information for an article that will run in the Feburary 8th edition of the Orlando Sentinel. I did look up long enough to see the sparkling blue waters of Lake Titikaka before we crossed into Bolivia. It was absolutely breathtaking. Several miles in the distance, a small range of mountains skirted the edge of the water, gently reflecting their beauty off the water as if it was just for us to see. Immediately in our front was a cliff that dropped off about 300 feet to the water’s edge. A few dozen meters out into the water you could make out the silhouettes of 6 different fishing nets and cages, clearly set up to pull in the freshest fish and shell fish to be taken to a nearby market.

We continued into Desaguadero, a bustling little border town on the very southernmost point of the lake. We were pleasantly surprised when it only took us about an hour and a half to complete the full process of exiting Peru, canceling the temporary import paperwork for each vehicle, then registering our Land Rovers for driving in Bolivia, and completing the individual paperwork necessary. We were very lucky, and the border personnel were very friendly. Although they yelled at me as someone was filming me standing in line to have my passport stamp, when I returned to the cars to work security detail, one of the other officers called me over and we had a good conversation in Spanish.

But the best part of my conversation with the border guard was that it lasted more than 5 minutes.

Logbook for January 17th, Day 78
Start: Puno, Peru
N: 15* 50.480'
W: 70* 01.706'
Finish: La Paz, Bolivia
N: 16* 30.162'
W: 68* 08.133'
Mileage: 153
Notes: We departed Puno at around 9 in the morning to head to the Bolivian border. With us is Puno resident and native, Mairo. He was our tour guide during our visit to Uros, and he came with us to find the latitude/longitude intersection last night. He had so much fun, and we had so much fun with him, that he agreed to join us for the drive to La Paz in Bolivia. The border crossing from Peru into Bolivia was less than an hour-and-a-half, and it was the easiest yet. No car search, no VIN verification. Bolivia is pretty laid-back. We arrived at the border at noon, left at about 1:30, and arrived in La Paz at about 4 p.m. A wonderful local woman named Catalina helped us find a nice hotel with good parking, and we settled in. Catalina had studied for two years in the U.S., and she easily recognized gringos in need of assistance. Driving in this city is NUTS! Tomorrow, more fun in Bolivia.(N.O.)

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

[Above: The floating village of Uros on Lake Titicaca.]

Journal by Colin McAuliffe

Today I have the fortunate pleasure of being the person to write the blog for what was probably our most action packed day of adventure yet. We started our morning at 9am, when a minibus picked us up at our hotel in Puno Peru for a tour of the reed islands of Lake Titicaca. We all piled in the van and prepared for our three hour journey. We had no idea how interesting it would be.

When we got to the dock it was overcast and cold, really cold -- I mean 4 layers cold. We had a few minutes to buy snacks and then we were herded onto our boat by our tour-guide Mairo. He began to explain the history of the floating islands.

The people of the islands were originally land dwellers, but when the Inca came to the Titicaca region, the people were forced to hide on the lake. The lake, being filled with reeds offered great materials for building, so the people decided to build their own islands. They created these floating homelands by carefully weaving layers upon layers of reeds together on top of a base of floating reed roots. The islands only last ten or twelve years and then the people must start building a new one. They test the stability of the islands by digging down through the layers of reeds and sniffing for the smell of decomposition. Of course, the islands immediately begin to decompose as soon as they are built so there is always a smell of sulfur when they dig down (when we smelled it, the stink smelled vaguely of farts and rotten eggs) however when it is time to build a new island apparently the small is horrendous.

There are over twenty islands with up to ten families that live on each. Certain islands have schools and there is a hospital too. Only ten of the islands actually allow tourists to visit them and the people that live there make their living though the money that tourists spend to go there and from the typical stuff the tourists buy. These islands are more technologically advanced than those that don't allow tourists. They have solar power and I was amused to find a television in one of the huts.

Anyway, Mairo was a great guide. We started off on one island where he explained all about the lifestyle and showed us the inside of one of the huts, which I might add was quite small, closet-sized even, and slept up to six. The weather then cleared, sun and all and we then took a cool little reed, little man-powered boat over to another island which was pretty much the same as the first, except that an ingenious old lady had thrown together a small potato patch in a corner of the island on a pile of decomposing reed roots. Mairo had answers to all our many questions such as, where do these people go to the bathroom? The answer was that they built little island off the main ones where they could poop in shallow latrines and then dry the waste so that it wouldn't pollute the water.

So, we finished up our tour of the island and returned to our hotel to prepare for another exciting journey, our first confluence. Now, confluences are a little weird, and actually upon first hearing about them I thought them to be ridiculously stupid, however I eventually grew to love the idea. A confluence is the spot where lines of latitude and longitude meet. There is a website called www.confluence.org that lists every confluence in the world and whether or not it has been "bagged". Bagging a confluence is when you take your GPS and go to the exact spot of the confluence and take a picture of you and your GPS reading all zeros. The lines we were trying to reach were longitude 70 and
latitude 16.

So, Mairo, our guide from the reed islands met us at about 4pm, not having a clue what he was getting into. I think he actually thought that he was taking us on a tour of some old funerary tower ruins. When he finally did realize what we were doing he said that it was "completely crazy" but that he liked it.

So we all piled into the Land Rovers an drove about twenty five kilometers out of Puno. It was pouring rain and Nick, GPS in hand, was carefully monitoring the spot at which we would have to turn off the road, and when the time came he called the cars to a halt over our new radios. We all pulled over and went to check out where we would be going, which was basically swampland. At first Nick was insistent on us walking almost a mile out into the swampy field, but with a little encouragement, the team convinced him that we could drive it.

Nancy went ahead on foot as our scout, to tell us when ponds and whatnot were in front of us. Eventually we came to a point that Nancy said we could not cross, Adam was disbelieving of this, so he took off his shoes and waded across the stream that was our obstacle. We all agreed that the creek was shallow enough to cross and from there on was complete off-road mayhem.

The two cars we had packed full of people began to race across the swamp towards the confluence, blasting through ponds and ravines like we had nothing better to do. Our car had a great advantage, Nancy had taken a spot on the rear ladder where she could see over the top of the car and yell directions at us so we could avoid the pitfalls of the swamp. The other car did not think to do this and within twenty minutes they were stuck in an irrigation ditch.

We spent a good half an hour in the rain digging the car out and then thanks to our Extreme Outback Recovery Kits we yanked the car to safety. Another twenty minutes ripping through the swamp and we bagged our first confluence. The team all got back out of our cars in the rain and Neil took some pictures of us with the GPS to prove what we had done.

I had a blast on our little excursion and I look forward to doing it again. After all was said and done, we piled back in the cars and headed back to Puno for dinner, which would turn out to be our third adventure of the day.

So, when we got back to Puno we originally had planned to go to the restaurant that we had eaten lunch at, but Mairo said he knew a better place, so we let him lead. We arrived at our restaurant and sat down to receive our menus at this point Todd, Neil, Adam, and myself decided to do something we had been talking about since we first got to Peru and that was to eat cuy. Now, cuy is considered a major delicacy in Peru, but in the States we consider cuy a pet -- a guinea pig in fact. So myself and the aforementioned guys ordered up our little guinea pigs and waited to see what happened.

When they arrived I was a little taken aback. The Cuy looked like one of the rats from the Muppets. It was deep fried with its head still on, and mine was looking at me very suspiciously, kind of like it was about to get up and say, "Hey buddy, what the heck do you think your doing?" Anyway, I paid five bucks for the thing so I had to eat it. At first bite it wasn't that bad, it kind of reminded me of rabbit but a little more greasy, however after a while, when I had exposed the skeleton and everyone kept talking about how cute guinea pigs are, it started to get harder to eat the thing. Not to mention the fact that there was barely any meat on it, mainly just skin and bones. By the end I was thoroughly grossed out, and had to give up. Mairo gladly accepted the head, which he tore the meat of with gusto. That was the end of it, I'll never eat cuy again.

This was, I'm pretty sure the most active day on the entire Longitude expedition, I'm hoping we have more of them, only without the eating of household pets, because that was seriously gross.

Colin
colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 16th, Day 77
Start: Puno, Peru, 1600
N: 15* 50.480'
W: 70* 01.706'
Finish: Puno, Peru, 2000
N: 15* 50.480'
W: 70* 01.706'
Mileage: 028
Notes: Today was epic. From 0930 to about 1230, we toured Puno's biggest tourist attraction, the floating islands of Uros. There is an indigenous people who have lived on floating reed islands on Lake Titikaka since the days of the Inca. We were amazed to visit these people on their islands and had a hard time imagining what it would be like to spend your whole life on an island that is smaller than a high school infield. You can't run on the reeds that make up the ground, and you have no hope of biking. You'd spend most of your days fishing and tending to the islands if you are a man, and women would spend most of their time watching the children, cooking, and making handicrafts to sell to tourists. After the Uros visit, we searched for and found, with the help of our Garmin GPS, a point where lines of longitude and lines of latitude crossed. It was in the middle of a farmer's field on the outskirts of Puno. More on the significance of this later in Colin's journal. The day was good. Tomorrow we leave for Bolivia.(N.O.)

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

[Above: The scenic road to Puno, Peru.]

Journal by Nancy Olson

Today is a traveling day. Finally. We’ve been in Cusco for what seems like forever. It’s been more than a week, and as great as it is here, we’re ready to move on.

We got up early today, intending to hit the road at 0730. I got up, got ready, and carried all my bags downstairs to the lobby. Then I made two more trips to the room to carry down our precious Santa Cruz mountain bikes. I actually got to ride quite a bit in Cusco, and the bikes, like the team, were treated to the comfort and safety of the Royal Inka’s plush rooms each night.

The nice Senora at the hotel’s front desk watched my stuff while I ran off to the Playa del Estacionamiento (Parking “Beach”) to retrieve Vehicle D3. I was back, loaded, and ready to go before 0730. Unfortunately, things happened, as they tend to do, and we didn’t leave at our specified time.

First, we had to spend an hour talking to the parking lot owner about the obscene rate they charged us for parking. She was kind enough to finally decide not to overcharge us after learning that we are all volunteers and are trying to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research.

Secondly, we had to allow time for Todd to make his scheduled 0930 phone call to the Royal Geographical Society research sites coordinator. He had a conference call to them to arrange for assistance with our visits and our education program.

Finally, since it was 1100 by the time everybody finished up with the phone calls and the Internet café, we had to delay our departure a bit longer for lunch. I had snagged a ham-and-egg sandwich from the hotel’s free breakfast, so I decided to shop instead of eat. I was on the hunt for a traditional Cusquena hat, which basically looks like a ski hat with ears, except that it is brightly colored and layered with intricate beadwork around the sides and ornate pom-poms on the top and on the side strings. They are antiques and take more than a month to knit. The colors are natural dyes, and the fabric is hand woven from alpaca wool. I’m in love with them. I didn’t have enough money with me to buy the one I found at Aguas Caliente during our trip to Machu Picchu, so I am still sadly in search of the perfect one. I found several, but none will fit my huge melon. I guess I’ll keep looking. It’d be a fun item to have to remind me of my Around-the-World expedition, my teammates, and Peru.

We finally pulled out of Cusco at about 1200 and headed toward Puno, a city on the banks of Lake Titicaca. The drive brought us past the snowcapped mountains of the Cordillera Real and the green farmland of the Altiplano. As we drove, the altitude increased, and the temperature dropped. Fresh snow was falling in the mountains around us.

By the time we drove through Puno and did a couple of circles in search of a nice hostel and secure parking, it was raining cats and dogs. And it was COLD!!! We moved in to the Hostel San Antonio and then headed to the plaza to find dinner. Because the whole city is on a hill overlooking Lake Titicaca, the rain forms huge rivers down every street. We had to ford several “streams” at each crosswalk heading toward the main plaza, and our shoes were soaked in no time. Thanks to our GoreTex North Face jackets, though, our bodies remained perfectly dry.

Puno lacks the beautiful Spanish architecture of Cusco, but it has a charm of its own, and the people are spectacular in their traditional dress and bowler hats. The native women begin wearing men’s bowler hats at about the age of 13 to signify that they are ready to settle down with a husband and to take on the responsibilities of a household, marriage, and children. The English brought these hats over about 80-90 years ago. Thousands of years prior, the Incas would put boards on their foreheads to deform their skulls into a more elongated cranial shape, much like the conical shape of the Englishman’s bowler hat. Once introduced to Peru, these hats became a sort of extension of, or update to, the tradition of actually deforming the skull. Now you will see women wearing men’s bowler hats or fedoras all over Ecuador and Peru.

We found a great restaurant that had a huge Native Indian band onstage singing and playing the drums, pan flutes, and tiny little guitars. They were an excellent accompaniment to our traditional meals. Justin had alpaca, and I tried a bite of it. It wasn’t bad at all. It tasted pretty similar to beef, with a hint of lamb.

After the restaurant, we headed back to the San Antonio and our comfy beds. We have a tour of the floating reed islands of Uros tomorrow, so it’ll be an early morning. I think Colin’s got Friday’s journal, so ya’ll stand by for some interesting reading. I’m certain Lake Titicaca will give him lots to talk about.

Until next week…

Nancy
nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 15th, Day 76
Start: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Finish: Puno, Peru
N: 15* 50.480'
W: 70* 01.706'
Mileage: coming soon...
Notes: We left Cusco for Puno, near Lake Titicaca, at about noon. The drive was a beautiful one that took us past snowcapped mountains and through the endless green fields of the altiplano. We arrived in Puno in time to see the shopkeepers closing up their kiosks. We also arrived in time to experience the effects of a pouring rain on a city whose streets run downhill into the world's highest lake. We were nearly washed away as we walked down the street toward the plaza for dinner. We enjoyed a traditional meal with traditional entertainment (singing, pan flutes, drums, tiny guitars) before returning to the Hostel San Antonio to hit the sack. Tomorrow we have a guided tour of the floating reed islands of Uros.(N.O.)

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

[Above: The famous and breath-takingly beautiful ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.]

Journal by Todd Borgie

We are headed to Machu Picchu today! Unfortunately we did not have time to stay in Agua Calientes the night before so we could see the sunrise upon Machu Picchu, but whenever you go the site is truly amazing! Despite the early hour the team was ready. In fact I was the last one down to the taxis that were waiting patiently to take us to the train station. We arrived at the station in good time and even had to wait a bit before we boarded.

Cuzco is located in a valley so the train had to work its way up the hill using a series of switchbacks. The train would climb for about 10-15 minutes and then we would stop, the track would be switched and would descend a bit before climbing for another spell. We did this about 5 times before we clear of the valley.

As the train lumbered along some of us slept, others chatted, and others just looked out of the window. I pretty much just looked and slept. It was interesting looking out upon the landscape seeing the corn, potatoes, llamas, pigs, cows, and other animals. What was really amazing was to see the terraced hillsides. These terraces are a series of step that are carved in the side of the mountain. They vary in width, but most seem to be about 6 to 8 ft wide and can be any distance in length. These steps serve two purposes first they prevent soil erosion by reducing the speed of the rain water as it travels down the side of the hillside, and they spread the water flow to a greater area. Apparently these steps are not as simple as the first appear. In every step, although you can’t see them, there are three layers. The bottom layer is made up of clay, the second layer is made up of rocks and the top layer is made up of good topsoil.

As the water comes down the mountain it moisturizes the top layer were the crop is grown. The second layer, of rocks, allows the topsoil to drain off excess water preventing root rot and mildew problems. The third layer, of clay, prevents drainage, dumping the excess water down to the next level. Pretty amazing!

In the course of journey we dropped form about 12,000ft to a mere 7,500ft. This would have been great if we had level ground to walk on, but Machu Picchu is not known for it’s flat ground.

Three and half-hours after leaving Cuzco we arrived in Aguas Calientes, the town just beneath Machu Picchu. The train dumped us off and we had to find our way down the gauntlet of street venders to where the bus would takes us the 8km to the top of the hill and Machu Picchu.

Our time was limited at Machu Picchu, so we paid the price for quickness and convenience. The team was soon to the top of the mountain and Machu Picchu was in sight! There is something about this place, it is like a mantle piece situated upon the earth’s hearth. As you stand on the ledges of this mountain you can see and hear the river rushing down below, and I mean rushing. I have never seen such a river with that strong of flow, we all speculated how long someone would survive if they fell in, and none of the estimates were very long.

Anyway, back to the peaks. Machu Picchu is an Incan outpost/village that was abandoned long ago. No records mention it. Although many farmers in the area knew about some of the structures it was not excavated until 1911 by an American Professor from Yale named Hiram Bingham. You may think it is strange that the farmers didn’t mention it or someone didn’t excavate it earlier. You have to realize that there are stones everywhere and it would be really easy to confuse ancient ruins for just another rocky landscape. Also, the jungle grows at an amazing rate, very quickly covering anything that is not maintained. This is one of the reasons the Mayan ruins were preserved so well. The jungle covered them so the Spanish didn’t realize they were there. It was standard operating procedure when the Spanish conquered to tear down structures of whom they conquered and build their own upon them. This is especially true for holy or religious places.

Machu Picchu since it was so remote managed to escape human destruction. Much of the city has been rebuilt be archeologists, but all the old stones were there so it was not that difficult to rebuild. Machu Picchu was a community for scientists and artisans, or it has been so speculated. Without any kind of records most all information about Machu Picchu is based upon speculation.

I was most impressed with the series of baths and several of the temples. There were a series of shallow trenches connecting open bath chambers. A constant trickle of water would flow from the top of the mountain through the series of chambers. It was quite an effective source of constant water flow. The temples were impressive due to the amazing stonework that was used to construct them. The large stones fit so tightly together it was difficult to see the seam between rocks. No mortar was use in any of this construction. Truly amazing!

Milling around amongst these structures was neat, but I really enjoyed just sitting amongst them. There is a herd of llamas that serve as lawn mowers at Machu Picchu; I had the opportunity to see how llamas spit at annoying people, that was pretty funny.

Unfortunately our time was soon up and we had to catch the bus in order to catch the train. I recommend to travels to go to Aguas Calientes and stay so you really will have a full day at Machu Picchu, the place is wonderful, although pricey. If you get there early you will avoid the crowds, you can’t do that if you take the train.

Another thing that was amazing at Machu Picchu was the fact that there were all kind of steep slopes, and no guardrails. I noticed the sundial was cordoned off, and a couple of other things, but everything was mostly wide open. I thought about potential lawsuits, and the possible destruction of this relic due to reckless people. I know that this is a problem here and Peru is being encouraged to make stronger policies to protect Machu Picchu. I thought about the DATW lawyers, Gibson, Dunn, & Krutcher, it would be great to have Michael Levy with us here, but I wonder if he would pull his hair out trying to see through the cloud of liability. Hopefully he can join us later, as Gibson, Dunn & Kructher is another reason why we are where we are. They offered their services to us as we were first incorporating ourselves as a non-profit organization. They have continued to support us answering our many questions as we traveled towards our departure day and beyond.

We made our way back to the train and eventually to Cuzco. We have another early day tomorrow as we make our way to Puno.

Todd
todd@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 14th, Day 75
Start: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Finish: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Mileage: train to Machu Picchu
Notes: Our visit to Machu-Picchu today was incredible. Until you see it in person, you have no idea just how amazing it is. The ruins are one thing, built by hand out of immense rocks by the Incas, but the view is the real attraction. It's built on top of a mountain, and next to it is another mountain with another set of ruins, called Huayna Picchu. When you look at a typical photo of Machu-Picchu, it's the mountain in the background. Justin and I hiked to the top of it, and it was incredible. The hike to the top was about 43 minutes, and I can chock it all up to good training. It felt great to be active again, especially at altitude. I'm real proud of Justin for hiking up with me. Between that hike and the mountain biking I did the other day, I'm feeling pretty happy. See, what I miss most about home is clean bathrooms and adventure racing...we're actually doing pretty well in the bathroom department here in Cusco, and I'll keep training when I can for the adventure racing. Everyone is doing well, and we're leaving for Puno and Bolivia tomorrow morning. (N.O.)

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

Logbook for January 13th, Day 74
Start: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Finish: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Mileage: 000
Notes: This day was a great day for just relaxing. The weather is overcast, and we even heard some thunder late in the afternoon. Last night, we were hit with a few rain showers, and it gave the city a nice clean feeling. Many of us slept in late today because of sparse sleep last night. The clubs were hopping, and the crew who went to see the shaman didn't sleep enough. Colin, Nick, Chanda, and I went to the hotel's sauna, and then I had my hair trimmed and got a pedicure. It was nice to pamper myself for a change. I feel like a girl! Tonight will be an early-to-bed night, because we have to rise at 0500 to meet our train to Machu Pichu. (N.O.)

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

[Above: An example of the classic Incan stonework in Cusco (read on for details!).]

Journal by Neil Dana

Cusco!!!!.................... I really need you to realize how amazing Cusco is, so take a moment and say ............................."Cusco" ........................... Alright, now I know you probably didn't really clear your mind yet and say Cusco, so try it one more time and say................................."Cusco".....................................!!! Okay, now you have to make a promise to yourself that you will come a visit Cusco, Peru sometime in your life.

Cusco is the most beautiful city I have visited on our trip. Cusco is a town completely blanketed with Spanish red tile roofs and sits on top of ancient Incan ruins. The buildings in the Plaza de Armas have the old Incan foundations still intact. In fact, when you walk a block out of the plaza into San Blas, a subsection of Cusco, you see some of the most amazing Incan walls in Peru. The stones are cut to fit each other so perfectly that there was no mold required to hold the buildings in tact. On one specific street I saw, one side of the street has an Incan infrastructure, and on the other, Spanish infrastructure. The difference is quite remarkable. The corners of the buildings have stones that were smoothed out to make the round corner of the building. These are immense stones too, I cant' imagine how long it must have taken to build such magnificence.

Another interesting structural fact that Incans knew about were earthquakes. When you look at these walls of huge stones, you realize that the very bottom of the building, the first two rows, are made up of much smaller stones and are not fit perfectly. This was to allow for movement in the building during an earthquake. They also build doorways out of stone that were shaped like a trapezoid, and this was for strength as well. It is no wonder why the foundations are still used today. I wish you could be here to experience Cusco, it is truly amazing. But I know you are already making plans.

Another wonderful thing about Cusco is the people. The people of Peru, especially out here in the mountains are so friendly. It is really nice to see. You really see it when you step outside of Cusco into the surrounding smaller towns. It is much more serene. However, within Cusco, all you need to do is walk a few blocks up the hill into San Blas and you will enter the most tranquil setting. There are houses and little shops and restaurants, which all move at a very slow pace and you feel very relaxed. It is quite different then the Plaza de Armas in the center of Cusco.

The Plaza de Armas is beautiful and has two cathedrals and is lined with all kinds of shops and moneychangers and restaurants. However, it is also filled with too many little kids running around trying to sell you something every minute of the day. That really is the only aspect of Cusco that is annoying. At night, it changes to little kids trying to drag you into all the bars. Cusco has an amazing nightlife, which roars until sunrise every night of the week. There is something for everyone in Cusco.

Today, we walked up through the town of San Blas, which truthfully is as powerful and breathtaking as going to see Incan ruins in the parks. The structures are the same, and seeing those stones just mesmerizes me. Anyway, we walked all the way up the hill towards the Christo Blanco, which is a statue of the White Christ, and sits atop the hill on the outskirts of Cusco. From the top you can see all of Cusco and it is an unreal view. To see all the red roofs surrounding the Plaza de Armas is spectacular.

Also, right behind J.C. are the ruins of Sacsahuayaman, almost pronounced, "sexy woman." These are very impressive ruins and you can just walk there from Cusco. Some of the stones, or boulders, used here are HUMUNGOUS!!! They are literally 20 feet high and 10 feet wide. It is difficult to fathom how they moved these stones into place. It is amazing and sad at the same time. In order to build such magnificent cities, there had to be an equally immense slave, or peasant force at work.

These ruins are one of the many other ruins you can visit near Cusco. Of course there is Machu Picchu, which you must do as well. And hiking the Inca Trail to get to Machu Picchu is one of the greatest things I have ever done, so make sure when you do come here, you do that also. You could spend many months or years even around Cusco and visit lesser-known ruins and go on incredible hikes and adventures.

Another reason you could stay here so long is the food is delicious and inexpensive. We ate at our favorite place again today, which has a great deal. For less than 2 dollars, you get your choice of cream of spinach, or asparagus, or pumpkin, etc. etc. etc. And before you get your soup, you get some juice or tea, and also some garlic bread. Now for the main course, you can choose either pizza, pasta, Peruvian style chicken or beef dishes, or fish, or many other great tasting dishes. My favorite is the Peruvian olive pizza, wow, those olives are delectable. After you have eaten all this food, you also get a dessert, usually some fresh bananas with honey, mmmn, mmmn. And all this for less than 2 dollars. It is awesome.

Well, Cusco has a million things to offer, and there are too many small details to spend all my time writing about, I rather go outside and experience them, so I will leave you with this........Come to Cusco. You will never regret it.

Neil Dana
neil@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for January 12th, Day 73
Start: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Finish: Cusco, Peru
N: 13* 31.017'
W: 71* 58.835''
Mileage: 000
Notes: Today we had day off after having worked hard on sponsorship materials for the past few days. Most of us just puttered about town doing our own thing. Justin and I experienced som Thai cuisine at a local restaurant in town. It was actually pretty good. Later, most of the gang went out on the town and hit a few of the favorite local clubs. Nick, Chanda, and Todd paid a visit to a Shaman and had an overnighter at the Shaman's facility. I think maybe you'll get to hear about their experiences in a future journal entry. On Wednesday, we're getting up at 0500 to take a train to Machu Picchu. Woohoo! Tomorrow is basically another day off. (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge fo