02/08/2008 02:10:34 GMT We are 6,186 miles / 9,955 km from the center of the culinary universe, the Maid-Rite in Newton, Iowa. But we are only 697 miles / 1,122 km from the Jumbo parking lot in Viña del Mar, Chile, where
I created a Garmin GPS data file containing South American waypoints from five sources. If you know of any other web sources of overlander's SA waypoints, please email me and I will add them to this master file. The file is located here:
3 February, 2008 Trevelin, Argentina Dear Troop 27, One of the best things about traveling around the world is that you discover unexpected things in unexpected places, including here in Patagonia. As in the United States, when Argentina was opened for settlement,
01 February 2008 12:06:37 GMT I was a car guy most of my life. I became car aware pretty early. By the time I was eight or so I was making model distinctions. I blossomed into full scale car lust after I
Before we left Chile we were told by our friend, Jorge, who is a pro shooter, that the light in Patagonia would be like nothing we'd ever seen or experienced before. He described it as "transcendental." We've only been here a
We're in northern Patagonia. I'm on the BGAN sat system, so this is the most expensive blog post you've ever read. Here's a couple of shots to give you a feel for the area. It's hard to see at this resolution, but that
01/28/2008 01:43:25 GMT We crossed the Andes today. Now in Argentina. All is OK. Sent via Skymate
We spent our first month in Chile in Santiago and the Valparaiso areas. In general, Chile is a fully developed economy. There is very, very little that is available in the U.S. or Europe that isn't available here or won't be within a week or two. The country is run by accountants, so it is a very different feel than the U.S. which is run by lawyers. Our Chilean friend, Jorge, is my age. He grew up on a farm in South central Chile. Until he left home in his late teens, he farmed by horse. My grandfather farmed by horse. Chile's agricultural economy is now fully mechanized. The point is that Chile's development has been within the last two generations so it has been very, very rapid. There are isolated pockets of processes and elements of the economy that have been left behind. These Luddite backwaters and eddies of an otherwise completely modern economy can appear anachronistic to a U.S. or Western European visitor. Both European and U.S. visitors will recognize familiar products and brands. Chile does not seem very foriegn to these American eyes. Moreso than Canada, about the same as Germany or Spain.
In NASCAR parlance, we've come off the red and out of the yellow. We are Green - Green - Green. Currently south of Santiago about 100 miles, camped for the night. We are on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina - the southernmost city