[Above: The goods at an Ecuadorian fruit market.]

Journal by Todd

It was quite a change going from Panama City to Quito, Ecuador. A change in weather accompanied the change in altitude. Instead of wearing shorts and short-sleeve shirts, I was donning jeans and long sleeves. Instead of being able to run quickly down the sidewalks I was breathing heavily just walking trying to accommodate to life at 9000 feet above sea level.

Christmas was in the air and members of the group were finishing their "Secret Santa" shopping as Chanda, Nick, and I were securing the fixings for a Christmas dinner. We secured permission to use the owner's kitchen and dishes, and we were ready to go. Turkey was on everyone's mind, but were turkeys available here? Yes, turkey is available, and we bought a whopping 25-pounder. The rest of the day consisted of gathering everything to go with the turkey. After establishing the menu -- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, bread and desert -- the rest was about figuring out what was available to make these dishes and creatively coming up with substitutions, as we needed them.

Our first stop was the fruit market. This was a tiny little store run by short native women. The store was one room that was about 12-feet by 12-feet. Within it were a variety of bins lying on shelves that had fruit and vegetables in them. We bought 6 kilos of potatoes, onions, celery, berries, oranges, mangos, apples, radishes, a zucchini and a pineapple. After taking them back to the hostel, we were off again.

Next stop the grocery store. The store was mobbed, just like you would imagine the day before Christmas. As we drove our carts through the isles we picked up bags of milk, a pound of butter, wine, eggs, and many other items that would help us prepare a Christmas feast. The store was just like one that you would see in the States, with the minor exception being that there was a vendor selling rum and giving out free samples.

The meat counter had a whole host of different meats, including the traditional ones. From our British friend Jim, we got the idea of placing bacon upon the top of the turkey while we were baking it. Bacon was just one of the meats they had. We saw cow hearts, kidneys, livers, and tongues, just to name a few of the exotic things.

After finishing our shopping we brought our goodies home, but had to return the markets to find one last thing: a pan large enough to bake our turkey. Most things were open at 7:00 p.m., and the sidewalks were decked out with people selling wrapping paper, Santa hats, Christmas trees, lights, and fancy bags for holiday goodies. "White Christmas" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" were heard everywhere. We managed to secure our final purchases, and I guess we will leave it up to fate as to if we have everything we need.

Hungry and tired, Nancy, Nick, Chanda and I sauntered into a Texas BBQ restaurant for a Christmas Eve dinner. Nancy, the native Texan, was psyched, but nobody does it like it is done in Texas. Anyway, our bellies were full, and we headed home to await Santa's arrival and the fun of Christmas.

Todd
todd@drivearoundtheworld.com

Location: Quito Ecuador
Elevation: 2850 meters
Latitude: 12º 52.4' N
Longitude: 28º 45.0' E
Breakfast: Eggs, Coffee and cheese bread
Lunch: none
Dinner: Texas Chile

P.S. - Day Six without our vehicles. Everybody's on his own program here in Quito. This is good, old-fashioned R&R. Several team members ventured by bus to the Equator at Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). Others shopped for Christmas dinner fixin's. Happy Christmas Eve!(N.O.)

Logbook for December 24th, Day 54
Start: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Mileage: 000

[Above: A panoramic shot of the Drive Around the World team and their Christmas dinner guests in Quito, Ecuador.]

Journal by Rolf

As Nancy's journal [below] attests, the Drive Around the World team managed to have a great Christmas, despite being so far from home. Below is a collection of images from the experience. Each link clicks to a "pop-up" image of the picture described.

1. Justin, Rolf, Todd look on as Adam Burgess opens his Christmas gift in the living room of the El Taxo Hostel.
2. Chanda digs into her Christmas stocking.
3. Colin (a.k.a. "Corndog", a.k.a. "Santa") distributes gifts during the "Secret Santa" gift exchange.
4. Justin tears into his Secret Santa gift in the El Taxo living room.
5. Nancy enjoys her Christmas afternoon Ecuadorian style -- in a hammock!
6. Neil "Pancho Sanchez" models the dapper linen shirt from his Secret Santa.
7. In the hostel kitchen, Rolf helps whip up Christmas dinner.
8. Nick and Todd hard at work on the Christmas gravy.
9. Rolf looks on as Todd ponders his Secret Santa gift (an Isabelle Allende novel).
10. Christmas dinner is on the table!

[Above: Nancy stuffs the Drive Around the World Christmas turkey in the kitchen of the Taxo Hostel in Quito, Ecuador.]

Journal By Nancy

I went to sleep last night as visions of sugarplums danced in my head. When I awoke this morning to a "knock-knock-knock" at 9:30, it was to visions of television cameras and microphones wielded by Adam and Neil. Those meanies interrupted what I wanted most this Christmas morning -- good, solid, blissful sleep.

Whatever happened to the little girl who used to conspire with her older brother to sneak downstairs as early as possible -- sometimes even beating Santa himself to the punch -- to peek inside stockings and shake inconspicuous packages for a guess at their contents? Then we would plead with Mom until she gave us the go-ahead to get Christmas rolling with a traditional "hop on Pop." We'd run in and jump up and down on Dad's bed screaming "Hop on Pop! Hop on Pop!" until he agreed the hour was acceptably late enough to start opening presents. Man, those were the days.

Now, it seemed, I had turned into Pop, and Neil and Adam were a more civilized version of my brother and me. Huh. What a weird concept. Oh, but who am I fooling? I was almost giddy with excitement for this Christmas morning. I had a stocking full of gifts for each teammate, and one for my "Secret Santa" buddy. The main difference between Christmas as an adult and Christmas as a kid is that there is excitement in the receiving as the latter and immense pleasure in the giving as the former. Shucks, I hope that doesn't mean I'm finally growing up!

My team and I were staying in Quito, Ecuador, in a hostel called "El Taxo," and, as homesick as we all were for our families celebrating Christmas back home, we felt lucky to have each other, as well as some expatriates we had met in Quito.

I managed to get Neil and Adam to take there camera out of my tired and puffy morning face, and I lay in bed long enough to savor the last few minutes of sleepy comfort. The knowledge that we had a turkey to stuff, potatoes to mash, and stuffing to make is what actually got me out of my rack and into the shower. My replacement family and I would have a long day of Christmas cooking ahead of us.

Each of us had drawn a name out of a hat about a month ago, and we had a "Secret Santa" gift exchange planned. I had drawn Justin, and he had drawn Chanda. I bought him a linen shirt in Costa Rica that I was just dying to present to him, since he'd been looking for one every day for, like, well, since we left the U.S. I also got to help him pick out Chanda's gift, and I was as excited as he was to see if she'd be pleased with her new shoes -- a sort of high-heeled, platform, blue, super-hot sandal. (Just last night, as we walked past yet another shoe store, she squealed, "I hope my Secret Santa brings SHOES!")

Before the gift exchange could occur, we had to get the 28-pound turkey into the oven. Before the turkey could go into the oven, we had to stuff it. Before we could stuff it, we had to bake some breadcrumbs; cut the celery, onions, and garlic; and make the doggone stuffing. That was the job I opted for, because a turkey dinner just wasn't a turkey dinner without my mom's stuffing.

Todd expertly crumbed (my made-up word for "cut into small pieces") and broiled a loaf of white bread, and I added what I could remember Mom adding, and we came up with something suitable. Basically, it was breadcrumbs, a ton of celery and onions, some crushed garlic, a couple of eggs, and some chicken broth. We stuffed the pasty substance into the neck and the butt, and Nick and I, like surgeons, sewed it all shut with a fishing hook and some dental floss. Mom, you should be proud. What a job we did!

With the turkey finally in the oven, we got down to the business of opening gifts. (Actually, this is slightly out of order, but who's writing the journal here, anyway?) With Colin playing the role of "Head" Secret Santa, whose job it is to collect and hand out the gifts, we all took turns opening our present. Afterwards, we would all get to enter a secret guess as to who we thought our Santa was. We even had a little gift for one of our fellow hostel dwellers, Jim from the UK. We laughed and had a grand ole time until the last gift had been opened. It seems the best Christmases are the ones that involve simplicity, improvisation, loved ones, and laughter. So far, this was ranking right up there with some of the very best.

In the end, Chanda was in a new pair of H.A.B. (that acronym is for us to know and you to find out) shoes, two people were wearing new t-shirts, two were in fancy new Latin American dress shirts, three were in Panama hats, and Justin was in a new linen shirt which, as it turns out, was "big enough for a man, but made for a woman." (It seems I made a mistake at the fancy Italian store in Costa Rica…yeah, the shirt's trendy style didn't just have to do with it being European…)

Everybody was ultra-pleased with their gifts, and guessing who gave what to whom proved to be quite fun and challenging. We worked out a little scoring system: For a correct guess, the giver had to buy the guesser a soda for failing to be deceptive enough. For an incorrect guess, the guesser had to buy the giver a soda for being a successfully secret Santa. In the end, Neil got a free cola from Todd and Chanda, Adam got two from Nick, Todd got one from me, Rolf got two from Colin, Justin got one from me, and Chanda got one from Justin. Confused? No worries. Just know that I guessed wrong (my gift was from Todd) AND failed to fool Justin.

While the turkey cooked, we were each on our own to watch bootleg DVDs a few of us had purchased from street vendors for a dollar, nap, read, or goof around. Adam and I found an open Internet café, and I finally got to send the Christmas e-mail I'd been trying to send for two days (my webmail was down). Finally, at 6:00 p.m. (turkeys take longer to cook when you're at altitude, and Quito is at around 10,000 ft), we sat down to an absolutely amazing Christmas spread.

With the hostel owner (Peter) joining us, along with his employee (Jan), and with UK guest Jim, and two med students from the UK (Charlie and Jo, both gals) whom we had befriended our first night in town, and two of their fellow med students from the U.S., plus our team of nine, we had quite a large "family" with whom to enjoy the wonderful dinner we'd all helped to cook. We gorged ourselves silly on mashed potatoes, gravy, super-moist-and-delicious turkey, fruit salad, chutney (because we couldn't find cranberry sauce), cake (because Mom wasn't there to make her famous apple pie), rolls (because I didn't have Mom's monkey bread recipe), and, of course, my own rendition of Mom's delicious stuffing. Each team member had contributed to the preparation of a portion of our dinner, and, it was absolutely amazing. We truly enjoyed the fruits of our toils. (And at the end of the night, we all hit the town and partied like the rock stars that we are.)

I have to confess, this year, with the camaraderie of my teammates and our new friends, I experienced one of the most delicious, most joyful, most fulfilling Christmases I have ever spent away from home. What a Christmas!

Happy New Year to you all. Be safe.

Nancy
nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - Day Seven without our vehicles. Merry Christmas! The team celebrated Christmas Day American style, with a Secret Santa gift exchange and a full Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and lots of friends. We were joined by our hostel owner from Switzerland, his assistants, and several British and American friends we met in the streets of Quito. This is an amazing Christmas away from home.(N.O.)

Logbook for December 25th, Day 55
Start: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Mileage: 000

[Above: A macro shot of the flowers outside our Quito hostel, where Corndog took the whole post-Christmas day off to rest and watch some movies.]

Journal by Colin

The pace of the road is tough. It's hectic, nerve-wracking, and sometimes painful. Every once in a while I have to take what I call a "Colin-day". Colin-days help me to recuperate and maintain my mental health. Colin-days are centered around me, Colin, doing whatever it is that makes me happy. On this day, the thing that makes me happy is to sit around and watch movies.

The streets of Ecuador are filled with bootleggers. These people take movies and burn them onto a CD and sell them on the street for the ridiculously low price of a dollar. These people have any movie you want, including those that are still in the theatre. Today, I watched six of these movies: The Last Samurai, Timecop, The Target, Matrix Revolutions, Scarface, and one that I can't remember the name of that had James Spader in it. All day I sat around with my newly acquired English friend Jim and loafed. It was just what I needed to unwind, and also, for me at least, it's kind of a post-Christmas tradition to do nothing for a few days.

Now the pace will pick up again. We head out to pick up our cars in a few days, and once we have them we will constantly be on the move again. I'm sure however that there will be a few more Colin-days to be had.

Colin
colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - Day Eight without our vehicles. Today was a day for sleeping in and doing whatever floats each individual's boat. Justin visited the old part of the city of Quito to explore the old cathedrals and museums. Nancy slept most of the day. (N.O.)

Logbook for December 26th, Day 56
Start: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Mileage: 000

[Above: Thanks to the wonders of modern photo technology, Colin exists on both sides of the Ecuadorian equator at once.]

Journal by Justin

I believe travel is one of the greatest gifts a person can ever receive. When you are traveling, you are usually in control of your own destiny and destination. You can carefully research a destination before you set out or you can grab a globe, give it a spin, and let fortune lead you to new experiences. So, in one sense, travel is a gift where you know exactly what you will receive. Everybody likes to know exactly what he or she is getting at one point or another. On the other hand, travel is a gift that frequently surprises you. You never exactly know what you're going to get. This has been proven to me many times, from Paris this summer to Quito this winter. The reality of travel is that no matter how much research you perform before you leave, you will receive (more often than not) an equal amount of benefit from the unexpected and unplanned things that beset your way.

This week has been no different.

We have been staying in Quito, Ecuador at the Hostel El Taxo. It is a charming little place that has served as our base of operations for several days. The day before Christmas, the team planned to go to Mitad del Mundo, quite literally, the middle of the world. It's a small village that has the good fortune of being located directly on the equatorial line. After taking a bus for an hour and a half (it was supposed to take 40 minutes), we arrived. While we knew that we would be rewarded for our time with the opportunity to explore one of the geographical highlights of the world. But the unexpected part of the bus ride is that we were able to experience a normal Ecuadorian commute first-hand because the bus stopped every five minutes or so in a new neighborhood so people could muscle their way on or off the bus.

When we arrived at the monument (just a few minutes before 6 p.m.), we were stunned to see the gates were closed. What is this? Are you telling me the equator is closed? Nah, it can't be. Fortunately, it wasn't. A friendly guard showed us the way in and pointed us in the right direction. After a brief walk toward a collection of flags and a large obelisk surmounted by a globe lying on its side, we saw the equator. Or at least we saw the bright orange line that has been placed into the brick walkway through the entire village. I have to admit, it was very cool. Instantly, I was transported back to the 4th grade. I began hopping back and forth from one side to the other. I'm in the north, we're in the south…the north, the south, the north, the south -- okay, who can I wrestle for control of the equator?

Finally, my excitement settled down and I was able to put that juvenile display behind me. I decided to follow the line into town to see where it went. Obviously, it goes east and west, but did you know that it actually goes into buildings in the town? No kidding! It even goes right into and down the middle of a small Catholic church. It goes right up to and behind the altar, and the cross hanging on the wall points directly down to the equator. So I began to wonder -- do you feel different receiving religion if you in the southern hemisphere vs. when you're sitting in the northern hemisphere part of the church? I don't know, and unfortunately, I can't find out. There's no service scheduled for today. This line goes everywhere. It even goes across the stage of the amphitheatre in the plaza. No part of the town we spared. With my need to stand on the equator fulfilled, and one last dance from side to side, I loaded back onto a bus bound for Quito. We returned "home" and went out for Indian food for dinner -- kind of a refreshing change from our normal diet of rice, beans, and meat. Plus, it was cheap. One dollar a plate, and that included soda. Now, you only got one small piece of meat for your dollar, but combined with the rice and beans it was pretty filling. We sat out on the sidewalk, and some children begging for money approached us. Instead of turning them away or simply handing over a dollar or two, we asked them if they were hungry. "Of course," they responded, so we bought these children some dinner. It can be tough seeing kids so young begging on the streets. Obviously, you can't give to all of them, but when an opportunity like this comes up, you just have to help. We started by feeding two kids, but they went and grabbed their brothers and sisters. By the time we had finished our dinner we had fed 5 children. They were so excited and gracious that it was overwhelming. It's nice to be able to help like that. Random acts of kindness are definitely some of the unplanned benefits from the gift of travel.

Later I ventured down to the Teatro Aeropuerto to catch a traditional Ecuadorian ballet. Now, what I had envisioned in my western mind didn't compare to what I actually witnessed. I'm not going to say it was bad, but I'm not overly persuaded to call it good, either. Instead, I'll call it interesting. It was a collection of traditional Ecuadorian dances, some of which date back to the time when the Spaniards first came to Ecuador. The costumes were incredibly colorful, much like a Carnivale celebration. However, the choreography was pretty rough, and you could tell that many of the dancers would rather have been somewhere else. I'm not sure whether it was worth the fifteen-dollar admission, but it was an experience unlike any other.

Now, as I sit in the twilight of this holiday season, I reflect on this journey and the gift of travel that I have received. And I smile. This expedition has showered me with opportunities to experience some of the best things the world has to offer. More importantly though, it has helped me look beyond my perceptions of travel and of life to really soak in the reality of our world as it unfolds before me. Until next time, I wish you all well from the far side of the world.

Justin
Justin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Day Nine without our vehicles. Today the team rested, played, and tended to program matters. Nancy went on a mountain biking excursion to Mt. Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano. It was strange visiting a mountain that so many of my friends have climbed, only to drive up it and zip down on a mountain bike. Ah, but it was fun. Next time, I climb it. Tomorrow we leave for Guayaquil. (N.O.)

Logbook for December 27th, Day 57
Start: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Mileage: 000

[Above: Nick hard at work at the shipping warehouse in Guayaquil, Ecuador; the Land Rovers unloaded and ready to go at the docks.]

Journal by Neil

Nick, our fearless expedition leader, is amazing! He has the ability to push and push and push and push and push and push without feeling pushy. And I mean this in the most kind-hearted way, too -- he doesn't push us around, or any of his friends. What I am talking about is when we are dealing with foreign customs and borders and officials who we deal with very often. He said it quite simply the other day when we were in our freight forwarder's office, "I am bad cop and you are good cop, Neil."

For example, we arrived here in Guayaquil, where our vehicles were shipped from Panama and we have been dealing with getting them out of the port the last few days. Nick and I took a taxi from our hotel early in the morning, and when we got in the taxi, he told us it was $10 to get to the port. Isabelle, the women who owns the hostel where we are staying at told us it should be six. So Nick tells the taxi driver that we will pay him six dollars, but the taxi driver keeps on saying that it is ten and it will take an hour to get to the port. The driver told us to go and ask another taxi driver if we wanted, it will be the same price. Nick finally opened the door and got out and we went and got another taxi, which cost us $3, and only took 15 minutes. We both are not sure whether the taxi driver was completely lying to us, or was truly mistaken and thought it would take an hour. It seemed a bit ridiculous.

So fifteen minutes later we arrived at Malecon, which is an area of Guayaquil that is located along the river that opens to the ocean. It is a nice area that has brick walkways and shops and restaurants and cafes. It is kind of like a mall on the water, but not as mundane as a mall. We entered a building and took the elevator to the eighth floor. This building is where the freight forwarding company was located. Willaneus Willhelmsen is our shipping sponsor, and they have set up freight forwarders for us in our ports. These are companies that have people there to handle all the paperwork for us and walk us through the steps. And at these ports where our vehicles are getting loaded and unloaded, they are extremely helpful. We could do it on our own, but it would literally take many days more to get out our vehicles. The process makes a normal border crossing with four vehicles seem like a simple handshake.

So we entered our freight forwarder's office and went and sat down in the office of our representative, who was a very nice woman. Before we had entered, Nick told me we needed to make sure they knew how critical it is to get our vehicles out of the port right away, and to make sure we don't pay too much for the whole process. The problem we were facing is that our vehicles arrived in port on the 24th, and the port was closed then and on the 25th and 26th and so on. We ended up going there on the 29th, and in a perfect world, the freight forwarder, knowing weeks in advance that we were going to be there and our vehicles were already there, should have already started the offloading process and paperwork. But obviously, South America or anywhere for that matter is not a perfect world. The only perfect world is inside my head.

The woman asked us for all our papers, which include our passports, vehicle titles, notarized letters of driver permission, our carnet, entry papers for Ecuador, exit papers from Panama, and a few others as well. Now that she had the papers, she could call customs and start the process. However, customs has to get permission from Trinity, the shipping company, to offload the containers, and Trinity needs permission from Customs as well, and the dock people have to be coordinated as well. So it is a big circle and roundabout that can really start anywhere, as long as someone finally pressed the "GO" button and initializes the process.

Nick kept telling the women that we needed these cars today, which obviously wasn't going to happen, but if we keep pushing for today, maybe there is a chance we can get them in 2 days from then. She told us we would be lucky if they would even offload the containers that afternoon, which she highly doubted. We were also nervous, because if we didn't get the vehicles by the 30th, we would have to wait until the 3rd or 4th to get our vehicles, because as of the 31st, everything in Ecuador shuts down for 5 days. Nick kept pushing and telling her how important it is to get our vehicles. I love how Nick uses a process of deduction to get our victims to understand that they CAN do it. Usually someone says they can't start the process because customs needs the word from the port. Well, who at the port gives the word to customs? And who gives the word to the port to start the process? Oh, and who gives that person the papers or the call to start it, oh YOU DO? Wow, I am glad you finally figured it out. So by the end of our conversation, our victim understands her empowerment.

The trick, where our good cop and bad cop come into play, is making the victim like us at the same time. Nick being the person who is strictly business and getting the process done gets it done. However, during this process, I am looking around the room, noticing our women's pictures of her children on the desk, and then I pry into her personal life and get her excited about telling us about her family, and where she is from, and all the familiar things in her life that she loves and bring her happiness, other than another day dealing with people in the office. So by the time we are out of there, the lady knows we mean business, but that we also are good blokes and she even likes us! And if they like us, then they will actually pick up the phone and get the process started.

After we left the office, we walked around town a bit, got a really tasty cappuccino and latte and bought some $1 DVD's and I bought a long-sleeve Ecuadorian Seleccion Futbol team shirt, for the Andean mountains that lie ahead. We need to start gathering clothes for the cold days ahead. The markets here are great, extremely busy and chaotic. It is quite an enjoyable experience.

The next morning we awoke at 8AM and grabbed a taxi to the office, then met another person who took us in another taxi, another 20 minutes away to the actual Guayaquil Maritimo Port. This was a bustling port, with people walking around all over the place, and trucks and boats filling the roads and waterway, along with containers as far as the eye could see. It is quite amazing to think of all the millions of dollars in merchandise that passes through the port all the time. And also, the amount of stuff that does not get inspected, there is no way to inspect everything thoroughly, it is a bit scary to think about.

So we got to the port and met three people who were helping us with the process. The main guy, Jorge from Customs, was our man who helped us from beginning to end. And what a nice guy he was. So we entered into the first office to get our papers signed off, which basically were just papers to allow us to enter to port. Then we got in his truck, I sat in the open bed, and drove into the port. Jorge drove us around in circles to different locations and we sat in the car most of the time while he ran in and dealt with paperwork, and also handed off some papers to other people to expedite things as well.

Then we finally actually found one of our containers. We were excited and nervous at the same time. This was the moment when we got to see our cars, but also to see whether or not they arrived unscathed or not. We were also nervous, because when the vehicles left Panama, they did not have proper locks on the containers and we were worried about it. So when the container finally opened, there were our vehicles, what a sight!! Not a scratch. They were intact and everything was inside. The only strange thing was that one of the windows had slid all the way down, but nothing was taken out of the car, so it must have just been some sort of malfunction.

So we drove them out of the container and parked them to get inspected. We found the other container, and the little security tag that was on it was broken, so we were even more nervous, but I guess it was broken because they were preparing to unload the previous afternoon, when we showed up late. Anyway, they opened it and our cars were fine and we parked them inside this huge building or warehouse with all the other merchandise that must be inspected by customs.

We had to wait about 3 hours until they were ready to be inspected, so we ended up meeting Jorge's family, which was a highlight of our trip. Jorge's wife was extremely eager to meet us and came to the port to hang out with us. Her mother has Parkinson's Disease and when she heard the day before from Jorge what our organization was doing, she was excited to meet us. So during part of our waiting process, we were in their van and Nick her talked about Parkinson's for a while. It is amazing the amount of information we have about Parkinson's in the U.S. versus what they know here in Ecuador.

We ended up going to Jorge's house and meeting his mother in law. She was a very beautiful woman who had Parkinson's and was shaking the entire time we were with her. It was not a severe shaking, but it was there in her hands and you could notice it. They brought us cherries and strawberries and introduced us to their whole family, the children, brother, uncle, etc. They were all honored to be in our presence, as I was theirs. We talked for about an hour about Parkinson's and the medicine's and information that we knew. Nick is extremely informed and has read Dr. Langston's book and Michael J. Fox's, as well as many others. It was really sad to listen to this family and realize that the mother was taking quite a bit of dopamine, which is a drug that is useful to allow patients to control their movements. The downside is that it only works for a certain amount of time, then your body builds up a resistance to it, and reverts back to an even worse condition than before, where you have uncontrolled movements. And the fact that this woman was taking heavy doses of dopamine, made me really sad. It is really hard to watch someone who has a terrible disease. I have always been blessed with good health, as has my family. My grandmother did have Alzheimer's, but at least she forgot everything. Parkinson's is worse, because you lose control of your body movement, or can't even move at all, but you are completely conscious the entire time. You are trapped inside your body and can't control it. I cannot imagine. I guess if you are in that situation, you learn to deal with it, like any situation in life, but also like in life, it is impossible to completely empathize with someone else's situation unless you really have experienced similar conditions. So meeting this women was extremely painful for me, but at the same time, I am grateful for it and it warms my heart to know that she is loved by her family and lives with her family, and that people are actively doing something to try and cure this disease. Parkinson's is horrific.

The fantastic fact about Parkinson's is that scientists know where in the brain it occurs, how to probe at it, and how it works, and lastly, the main key to finding a cure, is how to cause it. The only thing missing is more money to help the scientists develop the cure. Parkinson's scientists have many ideas that have yet to be tried yet, and the only thing holding them back is money to get the resources to experiment. With cancer and AIDS, there is more money, but not as many ideas that haven't been tried. Many grant proposals that have been written for research about cancer and AIDS are denied because they have already been tried. Parkinson's is the opposite -- there are more ideas than there is money to support.

Anyway, Jorge's family went with us to one of the greatest lunches we have had this trip. We ate coconut shrimp and fish and fish stew, with guayaba juice. It was delicious! We were there for a couple of hours. This restaurant was filled with local Ecuadorians and now we know why, mmmn, mmmnnnn.

After lunch, we went back to the port and met with the inspector who checked our vehicles. This inspector opened one door of one car, and looked at all our Red Bull drinks and asked if it was liquor. We had just received another batch of Red Bull in Panama, so our vehicles were stuffed with it. He didn't check in the back of the vehicle or any other vehicle, which was fantastic. In fact, when we were pulling out of the port, another official asked us about baggage, and Jorge just said, oh it's nothing, just camping gear, etc. They had even asked if we had electrical equipment, and Jorge winked at me and nodded, so I said "NO." Then Jorge grabbed the papers out of his hands and laughed and patted him on the back and hurried up the process even more. It is like a buddy system, with trust going to those the officials know. It is very advantageous for us and those who can pay for this type of help.

On the other hand, it makes you realize how easy it is to smuggle things into a country.

So all in all, it took us one day less to receive our cars than we thought when we first enquired with our friendly lady at our freight forwarder, we were stoked!! And now we are chilling in Guayaquil for New Year's and that is just awesome!

So all of you reading this, I hope you realize how important our expedition is, not only for raising money for Parkinson's, but everyday, we are meeting people that we have a positive influence on and vice versa. I know that we gave an extreme amount of hope to Jorge's family and that alone has made this trip worthwhile for me. One of the things that Jorge had said about his mother, was that she didn't have much hope left, and knowing that we revitalized that and gave them some information that they did not know previous to our visit is wonderful. We also wrote down the names of a few books that would be extremely informative to them as well.

You never know when you are going to meet someone unexpected or experience something fantastic. I mean, on a port day, our most dreaded days of days, ended up being one of the most memorable days of the trip.

Happy New Year!

Neil
neil@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - (December 28th) Day Ten without our vehicles. Today the team took a 1030 a.m. bus from Quito to Guayaquil. It was an 8-hour ride. The guy behind Justin and Nancy puked. All-in-all, though, it was a good trip. The view out the window was intoxicatingly beautiful. The only downside is that we are back in the heat and humidity again. I sure miss the altitude of Quito. (N.O.)

P.P.S. - (December 29) Day Eleven without our vehicles. Nick spent today at the port of Guayaquil, but to no avail. He couldn't spring the vehicles due to some extensive shipping company and customs procedures. We'll return tomorrow to try again (N.O.)

Logbook for December 28th, Day 58
Start: Quito, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Mileage: Lots of bus miles...
Logbook for December 29th, Day 59
Start: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 00* 13.019' W: 78* 30.004''	Finish: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Mileage: 000

[Above: Effigy heads for sale on the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador (can you see which one belongs to Nick?). These effigies are burned on New Year's Eve as part of an annual out-with-the-old/in-with-the-new ritual in Ecuador.]

Journal by Adam Burgess

We arrived in Guayaquil on the 28th of December and ended up in a little hostel on the outskirts of town. Neil and I were the first to arrive other than Rolf, who set up the rendezvous. On Christmas Neil and I decided to leave the dinner party at the Quito hostel and take an overnight bus for 11 hours to the little beach town of Monteñita. Although the waves were small and crowded it was a pleasant little town totally full of happy hippies and local vacationers. Gringos galore were selling handmade necklaces as though it were the hottest new item from Paris. The dirt roads and bamboo-thatched huts lit up at night, revealing what seemed like an adult theme park of Robinson Crusoe. The beards and dreadlocks ran rampantly as did the children, birds and dogs. Dirt roads and tiki torches added to the "Survivor" effect. The natty and sun-damaged Europeans boogied in Birkenstocks in the dirt streets and the trio of fire jugglers seemed to keep timing, but were better at discreetly picking up the dropped torches. It was quite a circus, and everyone seemed pretty happy with what they were all accomplishing -- which in essence was a delusional sense of integration, because as you walk 3 minutes to the edge of the village you discover the quiet little plaza and church façade nestled peacefully in between the houses of local fishermen. We left two days later for a bus to Guayaquil to meet the crew and the cars.

Driving into this city proves to reveal just another large, dirty third world city. Without iconic architecture like Paris or London this place, like many of these large Latin American cities, beckons you to experience the chaos through the eyes of a native. And so that's just what we have the opportunity to do. It just so happened that Rolf's hostel selection was 3 minutes walking from a friend's wife's house. And it also just so happened that Matt and Fabiola were back in Guayaquil for the holidays. I'm going to film Fabiola as she explains to Neil the crazy ceremony that's brewing daily here. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and the city is supposed to blow up into a chaotic ceremony of burning effigies of international political figures and Marvel comic characters. According to our hostel manager, everyone throughout the city will drag these large and colorful papier-mâché characters out into the streets for an intense simultaneous midnight burning. Fireworks and dynamite will be packed into some of them before being doused in gasoline. It's supposed to be intense and so dangerous that they may stop it in two years or so. The crew has decided to take part by building what looks like a massive bunch of grapes but is going to represent the symbolic destruction of Parkinson's Disease.

This all sounds exciting to most of us, but I have one other thing on my mind -- sickness. I am fighting a fever and diarrhea. I'm blaming this illness on the Chinese food I had the first night here. Surrounding me at this moment are the essentials: six bottles of Gatorade and water, this laptop, and a few DVDs. Muddy footprints now mark my half-hourly route to one of two toilets in the hall outside my room. My guts wrench and churn from my every movement and gulp of liquid. It doesn't help that today's diet was white rice and chicken's feet soup. My ghastly noises blasting from behind the bathroom door day and night has replaced my voice, so that any dignity that may have existed beforehand has been lost. Relieving myself is hardly that at all, in fact "relieving" is a misnomer; it's an uncomfortable necessity. There's nothing left inside me and I'm at the point where if this continues I feel as though my intestines will come out next, along with my stomach, lungs, heart, throat and grimacing head, only to leave me turned completely inside out and writhing on the tiled floor like some mutated creature from a sci-fi film.

I hope tomorrow is better, but right now I've got business to attend to.

Adam
adam@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - On the twelvth day without our vehicles, we got 'em back. Today the team successfully sprung the vehicles from the Guayaquil shipping yard. It was exciting being back in convoy again, and it was fun turning heads as team Drive Around the World. We missed our babies! This evening, we made a team decision to remain in Guayaquil for the New Year's festivities before heading on to Peru. (N.O.)

Logbook for December 30th, Day 60
Start: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Finish: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Mileage: 026

[Above: Nancy and Isabelle build an effigy to represent Parkinson's Disease, which the Drive Around the World team ceremonially burned at midnight on New Year's Eve.]

Journal by Todd

New Years Eve! Still more work needs to be done! It has been difficult to distinguish work from playtime. There is always something to do and there are a couple things that are just short of a crisis situation at any given time. However, a good breakfast is a great way to start any day. A number of us sat down together for breakfast at the Dreamkapture Hostel in Guayaquil, Adam seemed healthier than I had seen him in awhile, so that was good. .

After breakfast we all assumed various posts around the hotel. I took a spot on the couch next to Neil, and began to answer questions and review stuff that I had been writing about Ecuador. I though to myself this is New Years Eve, and what am I doing? I have been driving around the world and what have I spend my time doing? I thought I should hit the city, but really didn't know what I wanted to do. My mind was preoccupied with my work, but it was demanding a reprieve at the same time. I guess I wanted to find someone to do something with, but then again I didn't want to hang out with everyone. Uffda!

I found my way into the library and looked at a few magazines, most in different languages and fell asleep. I don't know how long I was asleep, but after I awoke I just laid there on my bench and thought. My thoughts flowed like goldfish swimming in a fishbowl, everything from my family, home, team members, goals of the expedition, workload, and what I wanted to do upon my return. It centered me, but my mind seemed preoccupied with a lot of different things.

I finally roused myself, and the banging in my stomach finally got my attention. I stole away to my room, not really feeling like talking to anybody. I just wanted to change my clothes and leave on a walk, I didn't want anybody to inquire about what I was doing; I just wanted to leave.

I strolled through the streets and watched people as they moved about their business. New Years was definitely in the air, as people had already started drinking and burning effigies, an Ecuadorian tradition. You see life-size replications of real people and fictional characters: the Incredible Hulk, Saddam Hussein, George Bush, as well as local politicians. Apparently, it was out with the old and brings on the new. Ecuadorians burn the remnants of the previous year hoping the New Year will bring something better. These life size structures are loaded with firecrackers and burned during the New Years celebration.

The Drive Around the World, team in the spirit of this tradition, had built -- and was planning on burning -- a lumpy pink model that represented Parkinson's Disease. It took awhile, but we hoped it would focus the team on our Parkinson's mission.

Walking the mid afternoon streets of Guayaquil, I stumbled into a stereo/music shop. I went to the guitar wall and, being fueled by melancholy, I picked one up. There was a couple shopping for a guitar, so I tested a few for them. My mind was so occupied with introverted thoughts, making my Spanish choppy and unnatural. I really didn't care; I just was basking in my melancholic torpor. The interaction lifted my spirits, however, and my hunger again took hold.

I eyed a McDonalds, which seemed perfect, simple, familiar the perfect antidote for my blues. I walked toward it but I heard Nick's voice in my head, "If you don't agree with McDonald business mission why do you patronize them?" Ugh, was I going to have to stand firm to my principles? I have trouble with the idea of giving my money to a huge corporation that will take the profits away from a country that already very poor. A local business could probably use my money more than McDonalds could. However, I wanted the impersonalness and anonymity of McDonalds. I really didn't want to interact with anybody; McDonalds was perfect, but I just couldn't go in. Eventually I did find a restaurant, a local one, no less, and I sat on the street watching people getting drunk and burning things. It was a lot of fun just watching.

I returned to the hotel and met Rolf, who was headed to upload journals from the previous week. He said he needed some help in talking with an Internet café so that he could plug his laptop in directly. We headed off amidst firecrackers popping and the random smoke clouds throughout the city. We found an Internet café and established his connection. I noticed that the guy running it was using Linux. Since I used to work with Linux I asked him some questions. Before, I knew it I was configuring Samba for him. We had to troubleshoot a bunch of stuff, and 5 hours later I was walking out the door a bit cross-eyed. We didn't quite get it to be like we wanted it, but we were well on our way. We exchanged e-mail addresses and I will probably be in communication with him.

When I returned to the hotel at 9:00 p.m. everyone was there. Everyone was sitting around waiting for dinner, even our newly found friends Katie and Dave that were visiting from San Francisco. Isabelle, the hotel owner, had made dinner for us. It was a great dinner, of chicken, raviolis and salad. She said it was her treat as she admired what we were doing. She is great person. If you ever find yourself in Guayaquail go to Dreamkapture Hostel and say hello from the Drive Around the World team.

The night aged and everyone was eager to get to the burning -- and before the night was through, we had acquired four different effigies to burn. At a quarter to twelve, the team headed down to the street to burn away 2003.

The city erupted in sound, smoke and life. It sounded like a war zone, and looked like one as well. Everywhere you looked the streets were on fire. Mounds of 2003 were disappearing under the flames. Looking each direction up and down any given street you would see at least 5 roaring effigies and bonfires. Wow!

Despite all this, I couldn't let me melancholy go. It seemed to be gripping me by my throat preventing me from jumping up and down and bidding farewell to 2003. I managed to squeeze off a few smiles before retiring to my bunk. Perhaps there is something in it that I am not yet ready to let go.

Todd
todd@drivearoundtheworld.com

Breakfast: Eggs, Toast and Coffee
Lunch: Chicken and Rice
Dinner: Chicken, raviolis, and salad (with feta cheese).

[Above: Neil poses with an effigy of the Incredible Hulk.]

P.S. - The team celebrated New Year´s Eve Guayaquil style. We participated in their tradition of burning effigies to dispose of bad luck and to bring good fortune for the coming year. We said goodbye to the old and hello to the new. Tomorrow we head to Peru. (N.O.)

Logbook for December 31st, Day 61
Start: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Finish: Guayaquil, Ecuador N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Mileage: 000

[Above: Justin and Chanda waiting with the Land Rovers to enter Peru.]

Journal by Nancy

The Peru I visited in August of 1999 seemed somehow different than the Peru than I am seeing now, and the circumstances, too, were as different as night and day. In August of '99, I was wrapping up 5 years of active duty time with the U.S. Marine Corps, and I was taking a little trip before starting a civilian job. I was dating a boy who liked to climb mountains, and he and I and his two brothers and a roommate decided try to tackle a mountain called Huascaran in the Cordilleras Blancas in the Peruvian Andes. We flew into Lima and hired a sketchy little station wagon with frighteningly bald tires to drive us to Huaraz, which is the access town for the mountain range we wanted to climb. Well, we never reached the top of that mountain because of terribly dangerous avalanche conditions -- and my relationship (or whatever) with the boy went the way of the avalanches -- but my memories of the beautiful countryside and the even more beautiful people made that expedition a great memory. Lima wasn't much to write home about, but the small mountain villages sure were. I've been wanting to return ever since.

The thinking and analyzing that was required to write that first paragraph have caused me to realize that the circumstances of that first trip weren't quite as different as I let on, I suppose. I mean, I'm on another expedition with friends, after all, and I just wrapped up another active duty stint with the USMC, but there are some stark contrasts. For starters, I am a lot older and a little wiser than I was the first time I saw Peru at the age of 25/26. In addition, thanks to Land Rover, we don't have to hire sketchy taxis, and our BF Goodrich tires are as knobby, safe, and trustworthy as they come. I don't have a stitch of climbing gear with me, which is pretty torturous to withstand, but I do have a Santa Cruz Blur mountain bike along to help fill the void. I don't have a hankering to date any of my traveling companions, although I do feel right kindly toward each one. It feels kind of weird being in South America, home of Mt. Cotopaxi, Mt. Huascaran, Mt. Aconcagua, and Patagonia, without any possibility of a climb, but I'm coping well enough. I can always treat this as a recon for when I return with climbing gear. So, I guess it's the mission itself that makes this expedition so different from the last. It's that, and it's my experience base. That first visit to Peru was really my first adventure travel, other than what I'd experienced with the Marine Corps. I have since traveled around the world once with the Land Rover G4 Challenge and throughout the wilderness of Canada, Alaska, and Virginia for some expedition-length adventure races. I guess I just feel more seasoned, less naïve, and more in-charge.

We spent New Year's Eve in Guayaquil, where the heat and humidity made it impossible to sleep well at night. In Guayaquil, they have a tradition of making "viejos" (Viejo, in Spanish, means "old."), or giant paper-mache figures which are bombed and torched to represent bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. We had built a big pink monster to represent Parkinson's Disease, and we blew it to kingdom-come. Much of my crew was feeling pretty groggy after staying up too late celebrating the New Year, but we managed to hit the road by 9:00 a.m. Today is Border Day.

We entered Peru through the border city of Tumbas at about 5:00 p.m. and bee-lined it across deserty plains and along the coast toward the beach where we'd spend the night. We had driven through flat, flat, flat country, and I wondered where the mountains were. Way off to my left, I guess. I had never conceived of visiting Peru's beaches, since I only think of mountains when Peru's name is mentioned, but there we were. It's in such stark contrast with the steep cliffs and snow-capped peaks of my memory bank.

It was an easy 4-hour drive from Guayaquil to the Ecuador/Peru border, and then it was another 2.5 hours to cross into Peru. We reached the border at 2:30. It was the easiest border crossing on our record. Peru's aduana, or customs office, consisted of one small building, three medium-sized desks, and one little customs man. Our border-helper-kid suggested we give the man a Coke or some money to speed up the process, so we gave him a cold Red Bull from our ARB car fridge. He was pretty stoked, though he tried to hide it. These guys like to be all official and in-charge, so they try to look stern and authoritative. Anyhow, we got all the Land Rovers registered, stamped, and tagged, and I even got a smile out of the stern little aduana before we got on the road again.

As we headed toward the beach city of Mancora, we passed a jailhouse, and Colin came on the radio to announce that the film guys were listening to Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison" album. Rolf and Justin said that they were already listening to the Johnny Cash "Sun Years" album in D4. That inspired Nick and Chanda to put in a Johnny Cash album, and then of course, I popped in his "San Quintin" cassette, so Todd and I could enjoy ole' Johnny, too. So, as the sun set, every single vehicle in this Drive Around the World convoy was rocking out to Johnny Cash. We discussed the super-coolness of that over a chicken-house dinner and then resumed the Johnnyfest caravan to Mancora. That was one of our little tributes to a great man who, by the way, suffered from Parkinson's Disease.

We pulled into the thriving tourist hot-spot of Mancora at about 8:30, talked to a few beachgoers visiting from Mexico, observed a dozen or more gringo tourists, and found the last room in the whole city still available during the busy holiday season. It had three bunk beds, so three people were without racks. I popped the Hannibal expedition tent on D3 to revel in the privacy of my comfy rooftop bedroom, and Nick and Chanda slept above D1. It would have been a perfect night sleep except for the loud party music and the fact that I had a nightmare about forgetting to hand in a final exam, one other nightmare that I can't quite remember, and my wicked imagination convincing me that I was being eaten alive by bugs. It's the third night in a row that I've thought bugs were crawling on me…

Well, tomorrow we drive. We're heading toward Cuzco, which means mountains, so I'm pleased. Talk to you next Thursday. I hope the imaginary bugs go away…

Nancy
nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - The team left the sauna-like temperatures of Ecuador for the drier heat of Peru. It is about 5 degrees cooler here. The border crossing at Huaquillas took only 2.5 hours, a record-fast crossing for the expedition. The team is experiencing its first illnesses, with 5 members battling a cold. (N.O.)

Logbook for January 1st, Day 62
Start: Guayaquil, Ecuador, 0945 N: 02* 08.171' W: 79* 54.397''	Finish: Mancora, Peru, 2030 N: 04* 06.543' W: 81* 03.571''	Mileage: 228

[Above: Four Drive Around the World Land Rovers are parked for the night along the desert landscape of the Peruvian coast south of Huarmey.]

Journal by Justin

Sometimes when you're traveling, you find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere. Today is the 64th day of the Longitude Expedition. Our route today takes us from Puerto Chicama on the western coast down near Lima, the capital city. We are in the middle of a long series of driving days through Peru in order to explore the town of Cuzco and then proceed over to the majestic pyramids in Machu Picchu. Peru is an interesting country for a number of reasons. First, it is the 3rd largest country in South America, and it is roughly twice the size of the state of Texas. Second, it is contained entirely within the tropics. Third, I've seen sights here that were absent in other countries. And the last reason is that Peru is nothing like I had imagined.

We are driving through the desert. That's right, the desert. Never mind the fact that as I just mentioned Peru is located entirely in the tropics, and every mental image you have of the tropics makes you think of thick rain forests filled with vines and sweat and wild animals that you can only see in the zoo or on TV. There's no doubt about it, we're in the middle of the desert. This barren, parched stretch of earth is smashed down right in between the Andes Mountains and some of the most beautiful coastline in the world. And it feels like the middle of nowhere. This stretch of desert is so barren and yet visually captivating; Rolf compared to both the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and the Libyan Desert in western Egypt.

We started this morning with a film excursion through part of the desert down to a beautiful little beach tucked into a cove. The morning air was salty and the sky was a hazy blue. Two tanned fishermen were wading into the water with nets trying to make their catch for the day. In the distance, there were two-dozen boats jockeying for the best fishing position in the bay. We were tempted to remain here for a while, but as we watched the men loading up their fish into nets they had attached to a pole for carrying the fish into town, we were reminded that we had a long day ahead of us, too.

We stopped for a quick breakfast right inside the town of Puerto Chicama. It was the usual fare for this part of the country: runny fried eggs, plain white rice, a smattering of grayish-brown beans, and a piece or two from a yucca tree. While desayuno (breakfast) was being prepared, I went for a walk around the block. The town itself is a dirty, reportedly high-crime area visited by both native and foreign tourists alike to experience the beach and what is reported as the world's longest left-break for surfing fanatics. However, my impression is that it is primarily a fishing town and that more tourists visit the centro turista of Mancora to the north. It could also be that the waves were only about 4 inches high today.

For the most part, I found Puerto Chicama very representative of most of the small towns in Peru. The houses are small and very modest. They are built with cinderblock or thatch walls, even mud occasionally, and they have tin or reed-like roofs. While there are beaches fairly near these towns, most of the inhabitants don't have transportation available to them, except for bicycles, taxis, or buses. From what I can tell, most buses don't go to the beach, a taxi to the beach would probably be too expensive, and it's just not very feasible to put the whole family on a bicycle to go to the beach, although I believe many Peruvians may try on a nice enough day.

We are without a doubt in the middle of nowhere. So I think.

But over one half of Peru's 27 million inhabitants live in this narrow stretch of desert in the middle of nowhere. That's roughly equal to the population of California or Canada. This band of sand dunes and rocky hills that I perceived as uninhabitable also contains Peru's three major cities. I suppose it's no different than living in parts of Arizona, Nevada, or New Mexico, but when your mental image of a country is so different from what you encounter, it takes the brain a while to adjust.

While I waiting for breakfast to be served, I sat down on the side of the road and I began to ponder the concept of "the middle of nowhere" For many of these people in most of these towns, this is all they have ever known. They may or may not have dreams of travel or a different life, but the reality is for most of these people, this is not "nowhere," this is home. Generations of Peruvians will be born, grow up, work, live, love, marry, grow old, and die here. From the cheerful woman selling fresh bread; to the dark-skinned, leathery-faced, wrinkled old woman walking along-side the road carrying a bundle of sticks that must weigh 4 times her body weight; to the myriad of young and old men who drive three-wheeled motorcycle taxis like kamikaze pilots -- this place that I would call the middle of nowhere is their entire world.

And you know what? They all seem pretty happy about it, too. As we pull through towns, Peruvians whistle and wave at us, genuinely pleased to see us driving by. As we stop to get gas or eat a meal, everyone asks questions and gives us a thumbs-up to our expedition. I finished my breakfast and decided to spend more time thinking about this.

We continued with the day's drive and the sights of Peru constantly whizzed by me: first, the small wooden crosses along the side of the road marking memories of loved ones. Then, old trucks loaded to three times their height with branches -- the beds of all of them looking ready to burst at the seams as they slowly moved along their daily routine of climbing hills and belching exhaust fumes. Then, a unique sight along the road interrupted my thoughts. I had read in one of our Lonely Planet guidebooks that it is a common sight in Peru to see men urinating in public. In fact, it's not that strange for women to urinate in public. To be perfectly frank, along the highways, we have even found it necessary at times to pull over on the side of the road to let nature take its course. However, we were driving behind one of the three-wheeled motorcycle taxis when we noticed that its passenger needed to relieve himself -- while it continued on its way down the road. I guess when you have to go, you have to go.

Our day ended on a beach south of the coastal town of Huarmey. As I hiked around searching for sea urchins, starfish, shells, and investigating the bones of dead animals, my thoughts returned to my morning musings. Perhaps it's just our lack of perspective or first-hand experience that prevents us from seeing past what's right in front of our faces. "This isn't the middle of nowhere," I thought as the sun slipped beyond the horizon. This is the middle of everywhere. So, the next time you find yourself thinking, "Man, I am really in the middle of nowhere," take a minute to ask yourself, "Is that really the case?"

Justin
Justin@drivearoundtheworld.com

P.S. - (January 02) The team continued south through Peru, crossing the Desierto de Sechura. The scenery is amazing. Just when I thought we were running out of sand, Peru pulled through with the mother-load! The team continues to battle cold-flu symptoms. Neil is pretty bad off, with a fever of 101.9 F. He can hardly move, poor guy. We made a pit stop in a random town today to witness the random site of lions in a cage. They were on their way to a circus. (N.O.)

P.P.S. - (January 03) The team did a photo shoot with the desert as a backdrop and then explored down a dirt road to some awesome beach areas near their hostel in Puerto Chicama. Nancy had time for a run AND a bike ride. The views of the ocean with the desert cliffs in the backfground were amazing. We continued south through the huge country of Peru, past the historic city of Chan Chan and past the Moche Pyramids. At about 4:30, Nick surprised us by knocking off early to find a suitable place to camp on the beach. This was the best campsite of the trip, and this was the best bike riding area of the entire expedition. I rode my Santa Cruz up and down super-steep dunes with my hair on fire. I'm feeling sick with a headache and stomachache (N.O.)

Logbook for January 2nd, Day 63
Start: Mancora, Peru, 0700 N: 04* 06.543' W: 81* 03.571''	Finish: Puerto Chicama, Peru, 2015 N: 07* 42.276' W: 79* 26.627''	Mileage: 327
Logbook for January 3rd, Day 64
Start: Puerto Chicama, Peru, 0815 N: 07* 42.276' W: 79* 26.627''	Finish: South of Huarmey, Peru, 1700 N: 10* 20.036' W: 78* 03.265''	Mileage: 220

[Above: Adam Burgess films as Todd prepares to enter the Cessna airplane that took them over the lines of Nazca; below, an aerial view of the DATW Land Rovers near the Nazca Lines.]

Journal by Neil

It's not everyday you get to feel your cheeks swish from side to side and open your eyes wide as your stomach tries to escape, up and out of your body! Well, maybe if you are a crab on Isla Grande. But for us humans, riding in a 1952, 4-seater, 170 Cessna airplane, zooming around tight turns looking at figures etched into the earth while you are completely sideways in a plane, is quite a feeling!!

We are in Nazca, a town in Peru, which got its name from the Nazcan culture, which pre-existed the Incas by a thousand years or so. The Nazcans were around from 300 BC to about 700 AD. What they left behind is still a mystery to everyone around. They are called the Nazca Lines. And these are no ordinary lines! These are lines that were etched into the desert floor here a couple thousand years ago and still remain in tact to this day. These lines are spread throughout the area, and comprise different figures, some of which are a mile in radius.

The Nazcans dug about 60cm deep into the ground, to form these designs. Some of the designs, which can only be recognized from air, are a monkey, a condor, an alien etched in a mountainside, a snake, a spider, and many other interesting and significant drawings. Imagine seeing a monkey etched into the ground from thousands of feet in the air, and it still looks huge from there! It is truly mind-boggling.

And what makes it really mind boggling about the phenomenon that everyday, these strange winds come into the valley, and in a circular, almost tornado like fashion, they swoop up into the air and away, any debris or dust that would cover up the designs. For thousands of years, thousands......these figures have remained etched into the Peruvian landscape. Why?

Well, the answer to that has many different theories, but no concrete solution. It is still a mystery. In fact it is still a mystery as to how they did it, and why they did it, or if they did it, maybe aliens did it? How could they figure out the correct angles and lengths and dimensions if they couldn't see the figures from the sky? Maybe they could see it from the sky -- there are some theories that they were able to create some sort of hot air balloon to see them! They have found evidence that supported that argument as well. But why? To say hi to aliens, to pray to their gods, or because they were bored, or what? Many scientists have tackled this one, yet no one knows.

Todd, our team member seemed to come up with the most reasonable solution to the beginning of the mystery.......how did they figure out the lines etched into the ground would last forever? Hmmm. Well, of course, any normal person would understand that it was due to a woman! Some heartbroken guy must have been devastated and etched his ex-girlfriend's name or face in the ground, and of course, when he was cruising around 50 years later with his wife and kids, and stumbled across a perfect image of his ex-girlfriend, he must have been horrified! But at the same time, bewildered, he must have shared this information with the King -- and hence, the immense project of developing the Nazca Lines. There can be no other solution. Thank you Todd.

So anyway, enough of mysteries and histories, how about our day! Adam, Todd, and I ended up in a small plane, the Cessna described earlier, piloted by Stephen, also a surfer and avid motorcycle rider, so riding around in his plane was a blast.

Nick, Chanda, and Colin came with us as well in our vehicles. We had a mission to accomplish this morning. Not only were we going to see the Nazca Lines, we were also going to get some aerial footage on video and camera of our expedition vehicles. So those three needed to drive the vehicles out onto a road and coordinate timing with us as we zoomed in from above and filmed them out in the desert.

It was quite a ride. With the side window taken off the plane, our cheeks never held the same shape the entire voyage, especially when trying to poke our heads out with a camera! We looked like dogs cruising around in the passenger window of cars, and as wide-eyed and happy too! We ended up flying for 35 minutes and seeing some of the Nazca Lines and filming our vehicles. Our communication with the vehicles from the air was a bit of a mess, with all the static and interference: "psshshshshsshpshsh… HERE WE COME… spspsshspspshshpshs… FASTER… pshddsfsfsfh… sfshfhshhhsssshd… hfhdhfshdhfshhfdf… TURN AROUND… pshshsspshs… phphsshshhssp… shspshpshshs..." -- that was about all that was understood! Fortunately, it was all that was needed, and we accomplished our goals. It was a sunny and beautiful morning, and we were done by around 9:15 a.m.

I remember the time well because our team is very sick right now and we needed to get back to the hotel and rest. I just got finished with a 102 degree fever, and a left hand that literally was in extreme pain and couldn't be used for a day, however now I am feeling better, just a nasty cough won't go away. And now Chanda and Nancy are sick too, in fact, Nancy has a higher fever than me, so she is really feeling awful right now, poor thing. Todd is the only one on our team who did not get sick in the last week. Hmmmm. Maybe that is why he knows the mystery of the Nazcans, and doesn't get sick? Yep, I thought so, Todd is an alien.

So here I am, sitting in a small restaurant in Nazca, with the occasional child staring at my computer in amazement, writing this journal, drinking tea. I just woke up from sleeping a few hours, and figured, since we have designated this day to rest, I might as well get this log online today! Now how is that for live updates. You have to thank Rolf for that, he is the man!!! [Editor's note: No, Neil, you the man for writing this so fast!]

Tomorrow, we head towards Cusco, and wow, that is going to be fantastic! The Incan ruins are the most spiritual and amazing sights and places I have ever visited in my life. Yes, I have been here before, in fact I have flown to see the Nazca Lines before, not like today though. But I am excited to go back to Machu Picchu and many of the other amazing historical wonders that await our eager souls.

Neil
neil@drivearoundtheworld.com

More photos here!
(click on each link for a "pop-up" photo)

Under the wing of the airplane, Drive Around the World vehicles drive across the Peruvian desert.
A huge "alien" design on the desert floor near Nazca, as viewed from the Cessna.
A sky view of DATW vehicles in the dramatic desert valleys of coastal Peru.
A giant "hands" symbol carved into the Nazca desert.
For an idea of scale, see the DATW Land Rovers drive past the "hands" symbol in the desert.

P.S. - (January 04) Team continued through Peru toward Nazca. Along the way, we visited Pisca to sample Peru´s National Drink, a tequila-like brew made from fermented grapes and named after the town. Nancy is sick with fever and headache. (N.O.)

P.P.S. - (January 05) Nancy has a headache and a fever of 102.3, and Chanda, too, is very sick. The team has decided to remain at the comfortable hostel to encourage them to get well. Healthy teammembers chartered plane rides to get an areal view of the mysterious Nazca Lines, and other teammembers drove the vehicles near them for a photo shoot. So far, this vicious virus has attacked 8 team members. Nancy is the winner for the highest temperature. (N.O.)

Logbook for January 4th, Day 65
Start: South of Huarmey, Peru, 0800 N: 10* 20.036' W: 78* 03.265''	Finish: Nazca, Peru, 2130 N: 14* 49.752' W: 74* 56.542''	Mileage: 407
Logbook for January 5th, Day 66
Start: Nazca, Peru, 0645 N: 14* 49.752' W: 74* 56.542''	Finish: Nazca, Peru, 1800 N: 14* 49.752' W: 74* 56.542''	Mileage: 050

[Above: A llama-like vicuna in the pampas wilderness as we drove into the Andes.]

Journal by Adam Burgess

We came into Peru on New Years Day, which offered a surprisingly easy border crossing. The roads and streets were rather quiet and the border was tranquilo. I was pretty damaged that night so going out to party wasn't really an option. After taking a dose of CIPRO, the wonder drug of all drugs, it cleared up my guts by the next day. Now it seems that the rest of the crew has been attacked by some form of heavy flu; Neil was barely audible, shivering like a wet rat and going numb in the hands yesterday, apparently I've been immune because of the CIPRO. He seems better today, so its not typhoid or some other crazy jungle disease. Northern Peru is desert spotted with little cube houses of handmade sand colored bricks sometimes covered with a roof of either woven reed, adobe mud or -- sometimes -- no roof at all. It seems incredibly poor here, and people have little more than the occasional chicken, few goats and a pleasant demeanor. The sand dunes rise to the left and right of the highway with mountains of sand in the distance. It reminds me of images of the moon, or the Sahara. Our destination is Cusco, to see Macchu Picchu, and we decided to take this bleak road instead of the beautiful mountain roads to the east in order to make up time.

Yesterday was one of those days where very little happened but we accomplished a lot. The day before we spent in Nazca to see the Nazca Lines. Over a thousand years ago, someone drew massive images of monkeys, trapezoids, spiders and an alien. Massive is an understatement, as some figures are hundreds of meters in size. It's a big mystery as to why and how they drew these images only visible from the sky in the desert soil. I'd try to explain them, but you really have to see for yourself. Before I knew it Neil and I were off to investigate for ourselves. The 1952 motor sputtered a few times and then warmed up a little, crammed shoulder to shoulder like a British sports car, four of us were motoring down the runway in the classic Cessna. I was determined to get some aerial footage of the images combined with the Land Rovers in convoy, so we hired a pilot to take us up. I had the pilot remove the passenger window so I'd be able to shove the camera out at 70mph but as I leaned out the hole as we buzzed down the runway I realized that the consequence would come from the two black oversized kazoos attached to the side of the plane just in front of the window. Exhaust pipes, loud. I was so busy filming Neil squashed in the back seat introducing the camera to what we were doing that I failed to notice we were already 90 feet off the ground. I'm so used to the minute-long rocket launch of jumbo jets that floating up in 10 seconds felt effortless. We buzzed up pretty high and there they were all across the desert for as far as the eye could see, the Nazca Lines. Archeologist Maria Raiche spent her entire life analyzing them, caring for them and offering theories of origin. For decades she swept them with a broom, she went through hundreds of brooms in her lifetime before she recently died of Parkinson's in her 80's. It was no surprise then when the pilot appeared confused that I showed little interest in flying circles around the images and insisted that he follow the three white Land Rovers driving in convoy on the nearby Pan-American Highway. As I leaned out the window the rush of wind sucked my contacts out, filled my eye sockets with air and my left cheek inflated. This carried on for a while as we crisscrossed the highway for 15 minutes. I managed to get a few good shots of the crew driving down below and then we headed back.

A sense of guilt sometimes smothers me as we travel. I wonder what I did to deserve the position behind the wheel of a $40,000 car instead of that of the man farming small cactus plants on a rocky plot next to the highway or the woman weaving sheets of thatch in the desert outskirts of Lima. We just pop out anywhere in this world and make the best of it; I suppose that's what I did to get myself behind the wheel, and that's what they are doing in the dunes where it never rains. But the eyes continue to stare as 4 identical cars barrel through their little village or homestead. Some wave with excitement; others are stopped in their tracks; but one smile and a thumbs-up gets the crowd going. Almost immediately the children are jumping around and the woman weaving thatch breaks out into a sun-damaged smile. Their smiles only add to my guilt and I begin to wonder why so many people are obsessed with repeated participation in driving expeditions. I've come up with one possibility. We are addicted to the immediate celebrity status it appears to offer. Instant fans line the road calling out in excitement, yelling "Ingleterra!" or "Camel Trophy!" often confusing us with Brits or Germans. Months of this special treatment is something we've never experienced at home.

So we kept driving east towards Cuzco. In 2 hours we climbed from an altitude of 1500 feet to 15,000. The cars pushed rather effortlessly up into the Andes, offering a drastic change in climate. As we crested the range, the GPS dithered between 14,900 and 15,000 feet. There was little up there but shrubs and funky little llama-like creatures, called vicunas. We filmed them for a bit and they shrieked out and scrambled off into the chaparral.

The altitude has definitely had an effect on us. Breathing is a new challenge; you feel it up here, climb a few steps or run to set up a tripod and your panting like a smoker. To make it worse. I have a blocked nose that at times makes me feel like I'll suffocate at any given moment.

As I've told everyone a hundred times, losing my sense of smell in a car accident 10 years ago has changed my life for the better, and driving to Cuzco proved this once again. Altitude and other ailments left Colin with a case of sulfurous burps. In our vehicle, Colin belched constantly, and Neil would scream out in disgust. Apparently they carried the stench of rotten eggs and could be smelled outside from 12 feet away. Other than that not a lot happened -- just long hours of driving through beautiful highlands.

P.S. - Nancy and Chanda are still fairly out of commission, but without fever. The team traveled along mountainous switchbacks to inland Peru and crossed the Altiplano. Peak elevation for the day was just over 15,000 feet. The team saw local wildlife, including vicuñas and flamingos. The temperature at that altitude dropped to a low of 38 degrees F. Driving was slow and winding, but really, really fun. (N.O.)

Logbook for December 6th, Day 67
Start: Nazca, Peru, 1000 N: 14* 49.752' W: 74* 56.542''	Finish: Chalhuanca, Peru, 2000 N: 14* 17.704' W: 73* 14.860''	Mileage: 195

[Above: An Andean llama!]

Journal by Todd

It wasn't an early wakeup call this morning. Although we had 660km to go before reaching Cuzco we had a number of team members that were quite sick. Nancy, in her competitive way had broken the fever record producing a new record of 102°F the day before. She woke only to drink some broth and fall back asleep. Chanda was part of the competition as well only peaking out just short of the record, and for the most part the rest of the team was either recovering or trying to come down with something, I sure hope my healthy streak holds out.

Anyway we got up as early as we thought was necessary, but as late as we could get away with, we finally had breakfast, packed up and were rolling out about 9:30 or 10:00am.

I loved the town of Nazca and it was a nice respite from the hard driving we had been doing for the past 3 days. It seemed to be a friendly town that hadn't been jaded by its famous monuments nearby. The desert was amazing. I asked a couple of people along the way, what this Peruvian desert was called and most people looked at me strange. I thought it was my Spanish until I tried to look up this Peruvian desert in Encarta. I found one small article referencing the Sechura desert. The article had less to with the desert than with securing oil rights around it, hmmm. Everything I looked at described the boundaries of this place, but never really told me much about it. I was confused. I looked up the definition of a desert and found the following: Desert, term applied to regions of the earth that are characterized by less than 254 mm (10 in) of annual rainfall, an evaporation rate that exceeds precipitation, and, in most cases, a high average temperature. When I looked up Peru I found reference to a coastal plain that extended the length of the country varying in width from 40 to 100 miles. I also found that this region was an extension of the Atacama Desert in Chile, however, when is a desert a desert and when is it an extension? I guess I will have to do more work to solve this riddle, but it is kind of fun being confused like this. When I return I think I will look at geographical programs, as I am tremendously interested in this subject.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier we hit the road. The roads snaked around through the dry canyons, rocks and sandy dirt, but not much plant life. We installed our new radios yesterday, so this canyon was a perfect place to try them. We had been used to our little hand held mobile radios, which were adequate for convoying, but very little else. They didn't work over long distances, and it was sometimes very hard to hear what was being said. We were excited to see the range of the new ones, Nick said they would transmit over 5 miles, but I was the Doubting Thomas. Nancy and I pulled over to truly test the distance these radios would cover; we waited as the rest of the team went on ahead. As the minutes rolled by we talked to Nick and Chanda. Soon, two minutes turned into 6 minutes and the radios were perfectly clear. After 10 minutes of waiting, and still a perfectly clear signal, we decided to roll rather than check the maximum distance, besides we were in a canyon so our results would have been skewed anyway. These were cool radios, thanks to Day Wireless in San Jose.

We continued to snake our way up through the front of the Andes, up, up we traveled winding through more canyons. We climbed over 13,000ft; we drove into some precipitation and experienced a major vegetation change. We drove by a river, which is something we hadn't seen in couple of days as well. Apparently on the west side of Peru there are 52 rivers heading west from the Andes mountains, however, due to the dryness of these mountains only 10 of these reach the Pacific ocean without drying up. Now over the summit we saw a lot of short grass, small brush, and an occasional tree. However, this leads me to another question. The trees I saw were mostly Eucalyptus trees, which are exotics, and I saw a few conifers as well. All of these trees seemed like they were introduced, so I wondered what the native tree life was like here. Was this area massively deforested, or did very few trees grow here? At what elevation is tree line? Another question of mine that remains unanswered, I will get to the bottom of it soon.

We pulled into the small town of Puquio for gas; at this point we were about 13,500ft. I was concerned at the altitude and the fact the people were not feeling well. If we continued on would we have to stay at a higher altitude? People can climb the 10,000ft in a day without too much problem, just headaches and shortness of breathe, but anything beyond that was a gamble. We had a lot of bronchial problems that would complicate any altitude adjustment. Cuzco was about 11,500ft but the Andes stood in our way and they were known for their height.

We tried to gain some insight from maps, but didn't find very good information. We knew there were towns between here and Cuzco, but would they be at a lower elevation?

Local knowledge suggested the next town 200km away along windy roads was lower in elevation. We like to trust local knowledge, but often times these people had never been out their communities, and besides elevation would not be an issue to them, so why would they know about it?

The decision was made to get lunch in the town and drive on. We arrived at a restaurant just as a downpour commenced. After eating our fish, chicken, or soup we headed out in the rain. The drive continued to be beautiful as we drove at about 14,000 ft. With our new radios Nick, Chanda, Nancy and I played 20 questions and joked and talked as we rolled down the road. It was almost like we were all in the same car. It reminded us of being back at the office where we would banter back in forth. That reminds me to send a special thank you to Minitool, who provided us with the office. Without their help we would not have made it this far. As we travel we do think about the many people that have helped us along the way!

As we drove in and out of the clouds we actually saw flamingos fishing in a pond. Apparently flamingos color changes based on their diet, as these flamingos are white and the ones on the coast are pink, apparently form eating shrimp.

Darkness set in as we hit the peak and began to descend. I was relieved to see our altimeter slowly ticking down. It reached 9500 ft just before we pulled into our stopping point of Chaluanca. Only a couple of us made it up for dinner, as tomorrow was going to be an early day and many people had to rest.

The whole team is coughing, but nobody has a fever, for now. The team continued across the Altoplano and completed their first crossing of the Andes. We are looking forward to exploring Cusco and exploring Machu Pichu. Before we can play, though, we have several days of work ahead of us here in Cusco. We are taking photos and writing testimonials for each of our sponsors. When we are finished with this critical task, we will play. The city of Cusco is the most beautiful we have visited. At an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, it's also the highest. The people with virus-affected lungs are finding it difficult to breath. That will get better with time as we acclimatize. (N.O.)

Logbook for January 7th, Day 68
Start: Chalhuanca, Peru, 0800 N: 14* 17.704' W: 73* 14.860''	Finish: Cusco, Peru, 1700 N: 13* 31.017' W: 71* 58.835''	Mileage: 179

[Above: A bird's-eye view of the lovely city of Cusco]

Journal by Nancy

We spent all day today diligently writing testimonials for each of our sponsors. We're here in the beautiful city of Cusco, an oasis of sorts in my mind, surrounded by the mud of the tail end of Peru's rainy season.

We drove in yesterday from Hostel Zuchara in Samborja, seemingly so remote and simple as to be completely disassociated from anything as modern as public transportation, HBO, and indoor plumbing. But as we were driving through this indescribably beautiful countryside, earthen dwellings suddenly shot up all around us, the mud houses becoming increasingly close together and the streets more and more well-groomed until we found ourselves in the middle of a town square sequestered amongst brilliant Spanish architecture in the form of a Cathedral, a government building, shops, and the Plaza de las Armas. It looks like a classical European scene, straight out of the glossy pages of the "Our World" resource book I cherished so much as a kid.

I cannot believe the size and beauty of this Peruvian gem. I would love to explore it, but there's the task of preparing sponsorship deliverables looming, and that takes precedence. To say we're holed up would be a bit misleading, for we're actually reclining in the luxury of one of Cusco's finest hotels, the Royal Inka. For the first time during the expedition, we have treated ourselves to fancy accommodations. The Hotel Royal Inka has given us a generously discounted rate of $40 per night, and we are three to a room. The staff is all smiles and hellos, and the rooms, including the bathrooms, are sparklingly clean. What I was missing most about home was toilet seats, warm water, and sanitary bathrooms, and we have been blessed with each here in Cusco. With the amount of work we have to do for our sponsorship project, and considering the importance of this task, it is only logical that we be comfortable. The room money, as always, comes out of the $10K we have each contributed to Drive Around the World and the LONGITUDE Expedition.

We are each divided into three teams of three, and each team is responsible for 20 sponsors. Team Two, consisting of Chanda, Justin, and Adam, nicknamed themselves the Flat Puppies; Team One of Rolf, Todd, and Colin, named themselves the Condors; and Team Three of Neil, Nick, and me are called the Pumas. Something about having a team name makes our work a little more fun. I spent all day writing three testimonials each for WARN, Rover Accessories, Extreme Outback, Bauer Vehicle Gear, Red Bull, Santa Cruz Mountain Bikes, and Sport Kilt, while the rest of the team worked on their respective sponsors. By dinnertime, most of the team had completed their writing assignments. Of course, being long-winded, I was one of the few who still hadn't finished. I went to dinner anyway knowing that tomorrow will be another writing day.

Cusco is chock-full of inexpensive places to eat, and, like I said, the city is beautiful, but there is one detractor from its "enjoyability." Cusco, and Peru in general, really, is home to tens of thousands of little kids, women, and teenagers selling everything from postcards, to shoe shines, to finger puppets, to silver jewelry. As soon as a tourist steps foot outside of his or her hotel, restaurant, or favorite club, he or she is swarmed by these relentless entrepreneurs. If I were the president of a company who employed salespeople, I would fly to Peru to hire these kids. They're closers. They follow you around using every trick in the book to sell you one of their trinkets until you either give in, promise to buy later, or rudely ignore them.

"Mees, mees, where you from?"

"Los Estados Unidos."

"Capitol Washington, President, Boosh. You want to buy a postcard? I have very good price for you."

"I already have ten postcards."

"You don't have these. These very deeferent."

"No, thanks."

"Ok, maybe you want one of my puppets."

"I have 38 of those. Seriously. All your friends have all of my money."

"Buy one more from me. These are very deferent. You don't have these one. You need pig."

"I have the pig. I have ALL of them. You want to buy one? I'll give you a very good price."

Silence, and then, "You want me shine you shoes?"

"I'm wearing flip-flops."

"Come on, mees, for my lunch."

"We're through. Bye-bye."

"Mees! Please!"

Ugh! It is heartbreaking, but these kids will break you if you keep buying from them. And when you don't buy from them or give them money, they call you and your mother every dirty word in the book. I have to continually remind myself that they are just kids, that this is the only life they know, and they are just trying to make a living. I'm so tired of denying little kids that I can hardly stand it. The street hustling is a huge problem and a huge detriment to Cusco and Peru in general. But Peru is still my favorite country so far. The people are friendly and interesting, warm and embracing. The countryside is endless green fields, livestock, mud-brick farmhouses, and mountains. I could live here for a year, no problem, but then I'd have to come home to my beloved U.S. of A.

Catch ya'll later. I'm spent.

Nancy
Nancy@drivearoundtheworld.com

The whole team is busy producing sponsorship deliverables. It's a daunting task, because it is ultra-important. We are preparing testimonials to send back to our 60 sponsors in order to update them on our status and to thank them for the use of their products and services. Bootsnall, who publishes this blog, is just one of the many great organizations that makes our expedition possible, and we want to pay back a little. If you like reading our journals, then let's hear it for Bootsnall! The weather here is beautiful. Cool and beautiful. This is a rare occassion in which we are actually staying in a swank hotel. We're very comfortably holed up in the Royal Inka, one of Cusco's finest hotels. They cut us a sweet deal on rooms. (N.O.)

Logbook for January 8th, Day 69
Start: Cusco, Peru N: 13* 31.017' W: 71* 58.835''	Finish: Cusco, Peru N: 13* 31.017' W: 71* 58.835''	Mileage: Rest Day

[Above: Central Cusco at night.]

Journal by Colin

Well, we're still here in Cuzco, and I must say I love this city. There's a strange spark to it that really gets me going. I've definitely seen my share of the nightlife here, but truthfully, I haven't really been out of six-block radius of our hotel and haven't done a tourisitic thing during the day because we've been working so hard on sponsorship stuff, but I look forward to my "dia libre" or freedom day when I can spend some time exploring the place. And of course, there's the famous Machu Picchu ruins which I have to visit. Looking forward to it, but also not, only because I know it will be mobbed with tourists and even I am sort of a tourist myself, seeing others of the sort at archeological places kind of ruins it for me. I'd like to feel like I just stumbled on these places in the jungle, but that just isn't going to happen on this trip. Anyway, we have to make a decision weather or not to go to Bolivia soon, and I'm kind of pushing against it because the country goes on strike and riots very soon and if we got caught in the middle of that it could be a bit peligroso (dangerous) although, it would make for great film. Personally, I'd rather head up to the Amazon and check it out. I love the jungle, moist air, never a silent moment, birds, bugs, cats, sloths, you name it.

Anyhow, back to the nightlife. I'm slowly learning to become a slightly better dancer, enjoying meringue, but not quite at the salsa level yet. Dancing here is so much more important than in America. Every Latin American person dances, twirls, spins, dips. Gringos are easy to spot on the dance floor goofily bouncing and shuffling around. I imagine myself being included in the group. Occasionally one or two will blend in properly, but the majority don't have it. Must be the Latin soul, born of rhythm and passion, or something like that. Before this journey I never really cared for dancing too much, the problem oftentimes being that I can't dance to music I don't like, now I really want to improve, not necessarily my bouncing around hip-hop bumpin' and grinding type stuff, but the graceful spinning and whatnot of the Latin dances. I think it comes from watching this one couple dance, I mean, they had a whole dance club mesmerized. spinning, twirling, flipping, you name it. The girl, tossed about like so many rag-dolls, continuously spinning, no awkward shuffling. That couple really danced. Now, I'm not saying I'm devoting my life to dancing, nor am I going to take classes or any of that, I'm just going to try a little harder. There's plenty of Latin America left and that means that I'll get plenty of practice. Not to mention the fact that dancing is a great way to meet girls. Anyway, time to head over for some work.

Colin
colin@drivearoundtheworld.com

Today we finished writing sponsorship testimonials and washed vehicles. Tomorrow we will shoot more than 480 photos to send to our various sponsors. It will be a busy day. When we are finished with the sponsorship tasks, we'll figure out our next adventure. While here in Cusco, we want to see Machu Pichu, and I'd like to do a bike tour. You can do anything here, from canopy tours, to river rafting, to city tours, to horseback riding. Cusco has it all. What a wonderful city. (N.O.)

Logbook for January 9th, Day 70
Start: Cusco, Peru N: 13* 31.017' W: 71* 58.835''	Finish: Cusco, Peru N: 13* 31.017' W: 71* 58.835''	Mileage: 000

[Above: Statues in the old colonial city wall of Cusco, where we were based while taking sponsor photos in the surrounding countrside.]

Journal by Justin

Do you ever spend time wondering about how you are perceived by others around you? If you're like me, chances are you do. First impressions can often swing the balance of an encounter from being a good experience or a bad one. There are many times and situations on the expedition that make me sit back and wonder how the people we interact with feel about our presence in their country. While it is true that we are traveling the world for 9 months with a balance of altruism and exploration, at the end of the day we always have an equal potential to be perceived as an ugly 9-headed American monster rolling into town as we do a friendly group of volunteers that are trying to broaden our horizons and make new friends. It is a fulltime job balancing curiosity and exploration with intrusion and perceived mayhem.</