SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA,GEO-THERMAL FIELD AT -15ºC

The Road lessTravelled

In 2003, two adventurous MDX ownersembarked on their very own,very uniqueAmerican revolution.

by paul pidcock and jeanne marsh

) travel (

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Excerpt from the Pan-American travel journal of Paul Pidcock and Jeanne Marsh.

MAY 2, 2004—The shores of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, South AmericaAround noon today, we drove across the border from Peru. It was actually a most pleasant experience. The security officials treated us likepeople, rather than inconvenient tourists from whom they could nonetheless extract money. The Central Americans could learn a lot aboutborder crossings from their southern cousins.

We met many young people during our brief stop at this border, including a group of wide-eyed youngsters from Brantford, Ontario.Wide-eyed, certainly, from the spectacular beauty of South America, though it’s fair to suggest that there was a certain degree of astonishment at seeing Arden—our Acura MDX—which proudly sported license plates from the their home province. (BTW: Arden gother name from a part of our license plate, which reads ARDN.) How did a pair of seemingly average Torontonians manage to get Ardenthis far south, they asked us. They were all the more astonished when Jeannie told them the answer.

“Actually, we drove.”It’s possible that—at least at that point—we were the most curious sight that they’d seen on their trip…

It all started with a Rocky Mountain ski vacation, near the end of 2002. My partner Jeanne and I got to thinking about allthe places we could go, all the things we could do with our life, if we could just escape the rat-race mindset. After my 35 yearsin various areas of the computer industry and Jeanne’s 32 years in the dental field—always working for someone else—werealised we were both ready for something different. Something that involved travel.

It was likely on the breath-taking peaks of the Rockies that we were bitten by not so much the travel bug as the “vista”bug, and après ski (around March, 2003), we had our plan: we would drive the entire length of the Pan-American Highway,from Alaska right down to South America’s southernmost tip.

We each gave our notice, and set out from Toronto in late August, in our brand new Acura MDX four-wheel-drive. Weheaded first for Jasper, to both visit with my son, Sean (a professional climbing guide, and in many ways the inspiration forthis whole thing) and climb Mount Edith Cavell, a long-time ambition. Then it was up to Alaska, where the Pan-AmericanHighway begins, down through Canada, the U.S., Mexico, then through the jungles of Central America, down the SouthAmerican Andes, all the way to the end of the road in the frontier territory of Patagonia.

We had no idea how long it would take. Six months? Two years? It didn’t really matter. Finally and fortunately, we had the time.

NOVEMBER 8, 2003—Baja Peninsula, MexicoIn the middle of the Baja desert. No water. Next gas station 340 km. Gas stations here are cash only. Chatted with a surfer girl whoamazingly knows my son. Small world! A stunning, unreal, full eclipse of the moon floodlights over the desert.

Why did we do it? Well, we both like doing things that people would think we can’t do, and when I started researching the Pan-American Highway I noticed a fact that caught my interest: as far as I could find, very few people had ever attemptedto actually drive its entire length. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became.

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DECEMBER 4, 2003—North Pacific Coast of Costa RicaWe left Managua and crossed from Nicaragua into Costa Rica. At last!As we approached the border, some twenty desperate youngsters descendedon our car. These “border helpers” were offering to guide us through themaze of bureaucracy. Jeannie had an expression of mild terror on her face,as she does not particularly enjoy the stress of most border crossings: hot, dusty,crowded, dirty, confusing, time consuming and expensive!

We had to have the right vehicle for our adventure. After hoursspent pouring over consumer reports and driving reviews, and takingtest drives, we decided on the best chariot for our voyage: a brandnew (2003) Acura MDX SUV. The MDX was very well rated, not

too big, and it seemed rugged enough to deal with challengingroads yet still comfortable enough to be something like our secondhome for maybe the next couple of years.

DECEMBER 5, 2003—Playa Negra, Costa RicaToday, travelling a stretch of “road” that ran through several flowingstreams, we were confronted by a huge mound of earth in the middle of thepath—a full dump-truck load—too high to climb the car over. In severalplaces, large groups of vultures were feeding on dead carcasses by the road.We learned later that this path is called “the monkey trail”; apparently,it’s supposed to be for dirt bikes only. Not people to be deterred by popularbeliefs, we drove around the mound and kept on our way. Not surprisingly,the roads coming into Playa Negra were also horrendous.

We walked the beach as darkness set in, watching the surfers head forshore. A world renowned surf spot—this could easily be paradise.

DECEMBER 7, 2003—Paraiso, Costa RicaWe aimed Arden south along the Gold Coast. The roads were marginal,and soon we were lost. I was talking with some locals, who were leaving a“soda” (a local word for “pub”) where they had just enjoyed some Sundaymorning beer, when an ATV appeared from out of a cloud of dust. It wasdriven by a fellow named Al, from Minnesota, who invited us to follow him

to the mountaintop house he shared with his wife, Judy. Perhaps it wouldbe suitable to use as our home base in Costa Rica for the next few months?

Al and Judy’s home turned out to be an amazing treehouse, a riveting structure in a small settlement in the middle of a privatemountainside ecological reserve, just 2 km from the Pacific Ocean.Sitting on four tall steel pillars, it had a teak staircase that led fromthe ground up a full storey into the middle of the main level, anexpansive open-air space that astounded us with its full, rich, darkbrown teak floor and high teak ceilings. Another floor rose abovethat, to a height of about 60 feet, from which you could look overthe tree canopy to the coast. We were dazzled right away, by both

PAUL NEAR BAÑOS, ECUADOR CRATER-SIZED POTHOLES, NEAR THE ANDES LAKE TITICACA, CHILE

SOUTHAMERICA

Uruguay

Panama Canal

Venezuela

Colombia

Brazil

Bolivia

Paraguay

ArgentinaChile

Ecuador

Galapagos Islands

Peru

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GASSING UP AT $90 U.S. A WHEELBARROW, CHILE JEANNE AND BLOWING SAND ON THE PAN-AMERICAN BLUE-FOOTED BOOBIE, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

VIEW FROM THE TREEHOUSE, COSTA RICA

HUARAZ, PERUVIAN ANDES, 16,000 FT

the building and its surroundings, and wetreasured our time at this magical place.

DECEMBER 10, 2003—Near the treehouse,Paraiso, Costa RicaThe roaring calls of Howler Monkeys woke meat 5 a.m. But as disturbances go, this one wason the fortuitous side: with the dry seasonstarting, the shades of light are incredible thistime of day. The black silhouettes of the thingsaround me are beginning to take on their realcolours. I can hear the surf pounding about aquarter mile down the hill, beyond the village.

To my left (East) is an estuary, with manymore birds nesting and monkeys climbing inthe trees. Now the sky is getting bluer, and allkinds of exotic birds fly by. A flock of two-dozenparrots just passed twenty feet above me, allchattering about who-knows-what. Costa Ricais an amazing country; it just grabs you.

JANUARY 27, 2004—The treehouse, Costa RicaUpon opening my dresser drawer this morning,I discovered a massive pile of ants rummagingin my clothes. That’s life in the jungle!

After a restful break in Costa Rica, we setout again in March (2004) for the highwaysouth into Panama. This close to theEquator, night drops like a black curtain at 6 p.m., which makes driving hazardous,even along decent roads, given the nocturnalwanderings of chickens, dogs, cows andeven children. During the trip, we wouldusually start looking for a place to stayaround 4 p.m., to avoid night-time driving.

The Pan-American stretches the entirelength of the Americas, but in southernPanama and parts of Colombia—an area

known as the Darien Gap—the route isimpassable, and in some places has yet tobe constructed. In Panama City we madeplans to load the MDX into a shippingcontainer, sending it by boat to Guayaquil,Ecuador. (Note: this was the one and onlynon-driveable stretch of the Pan-Americanand, needless to say, having come so far,we really didn’t want to give up the wheel!)

During the two weeks we had to waitfor Arden to reach Ecuador, we flew outand joined a short four-day cruise aroundthe Galapagos Islands, on the appropriatelynamed vessel The Darwin, with five crew,16 guests. Between walking inside an actuallava tube (a wormhole through the earthleft in the wake of a volcanic eruption),spotting Blue-footed Boobies and evenswimming with sea lions and sharks, thiscruise turned out to be one of the major

highlights of our entire trip. Incredibly,the animals had absolutely no fear of humans.

When the MDX finally arrived safely, it still took us four days for us to locate itin Guayaquil’s busy port. Jeanne was so relieved when we finally got the vehicleback, she actually kissed it!

From Ecuador, we made our way upthrough the mountains along modernsuperhighways and barely paved roadswith deep, vicious, tire-busting “killer”potholes—some of the “natural” aspects ofthe Pan-American Highway. We thencrisscrossed the Andes Mountains throughPeru where we made a lengthy side trip tothe astounding ruins of the high AndeanInca city of Machu Picchu, then on toBolivia and into Chile.

MAY 7, 2004—San Pedro de Atacama, ChileLast night, it was pitch black by the time wereached San Pedro, a remote adobe village inthe middle of the cold, high desert. We went outfor a great meal, and in the process enjoyedfantastic local music with pan flute, guitar,drum and excellent vocals. To keep everyonecozy, the waiters kept throwing packing crateson the open-to-the-stars fireplace right in themiddle of the restaurant.

Tomorrow, our wake up call is 3:30 a.m.,and it is going to be cold! We’re heading for thespectacular Geysers of El Tatio, situated at4,500 meters above sea level on the Altiplano.

MAY 8, 2004—San Pedro de AtacamaWell, it was cold, all right: minus 15 degreesCelsius at the top. What a day! The road upwas really rough and in the dark night, wewere reduced to finding our way by following

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PERITO-MORENO GLACIER, ARGENTINAPatagonia

Argentina

BuenosAires

Santiago

Chile San Pedro

Lake Titicaca

Atacam

a desert

Perito Moreno

Torres del Paine

Bolivia

Ushuaia

) travel (

VALLE DE LA LUNA, SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA THE PARINACOTA VOLCANO, CHILE

LAKE ESCONDIDO, PATAGONIA

In the end, all totalled, the round trip took us a whole year.When we finally returned to Canada,the MDX’s odometer read 66,000 km.—a distance equivalent to more than one and a halftimes around the equator.

the headlights of a tour van that was winding itsway up the deeply grooved washboard roads andmountain switchbacks far ahead of us. After manyhours of driving, we arrived at the floor of a largevolcanic crater, where jets of hot steam and waterwere hissing, boiling and bubbling all around us.The minerals in the water vapour left magicalkaleidoscopes of colours in the air. The colder, morepressurised atmosphere of the early morning producesdramatic steam jets, some fumaroles shooting to 40 feet in the air.

Later, as we headed for the Pacific Coast of Chile,the temperature in the desert climbed to 30 degreesCelsius above. That’s a 45 degree Celsius temperaturechange in one day. Arden never even blinked.

MAY 31, 2004—Ushuaia, Patagonia,ArgentinaHere at the extreme southern tip of the continent,we are surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Thekids play soccer in shorts on the icy playgrounds andit’s barely one degree above zero. This territory wasoriginally settled as a penal colony, and the terrainreminds us of the Canadian Rockies, except for theincredible, incessant howling wind.

Today we drove Arden through the spectacularTierra Del Fuego National Park, along the last dozenor so kilometres to the end of the Pan-AmericanHighway. It is a lovely spot overlooking theAtlantic Ocean. We took a few more photos thanusual—to prove that we’d made it all the way—and celebrated a toast with Grand Marnier.

Tomorrow, we head back north.

In the end, all totalled, the round trip took us awhole year. When we finally returned to Canada,the MDX’s odometer read 66,000 km.—a distance equivalent to more than one and ahalf times around the equator. We drove Ardenthrough deserts, jungles, markets, sudden fog,highway protests, rivers, rocks, even a Mexicanhurricane (she stayed stable in the extreme

winds, even as tractor-trailers were beingswept off the road right in front of us). And wenever once ran out of gas. We kept to the sug-gested maintenance schedule throughout ourtrip and we were delighted to find that theHonda/Acura service centres the entire lengthof the Americas were staffed by exceptionalpeople, often helping us above and beyond thecall of duty by providing good maps, personallyguiding us to highway onramps, even directingus to little village festivals that we would neverhave discovered on our own.

An essential item for this trip proved to beour Carnet de Passage (available through theCanadian Automobile Association), which, inSouth America, is like a passport for yourvehicle. To get the Carnet, we had to put downa hefty but fully refundable deposit—the fullvalue of the MDX—before leaving Canada.Without it, though, we would have had to potentially put down an equivalent or partial deposit each time we crossed a SouthAmerican country border.

And remember that fabulous treehouse inCosta Rica? Well, we ended up buying it, andit has become not only our part-time home,but also the cornerstone of our new CostaRican eco-business venture. Before we left,neither Jeanne nor I spoke much Spanish, butwe found that we got along surprisingly wellwith a phrase book, a smile and a genuinecuriosity about the people we met.

We are well-organized, flexible individualswho love nature and the outdoors, and wehave found if you take life in bite-size chunks,you really can achieve whatever you’re doing.As it says on our favourite fridge magnet, “It’skind of fun to do the impossible”; we bear thatin mind wherever we go, whatever we do.

After all, impossible is only in the eye of the beholder.

END OF THE HIGHWAY, NO ROAD FURTHER SOUTHTORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE

) travel (

An essential item for this trip proved to

be our Carnet de Passage(available through theCanadian Automobile

Association), which,in South America,is like a passportfor your vehicle.

To get the Carnet,we had to put down

a hefty but fully refundable deposit—

the full value of the MDX

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