[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.