The Road Less Traveled
- 1. The Road less Travelled In 2003, two adventurous MDX owners embarked on their very own,very unique American revolution. by paul pidcock and jeanne marsh SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, GEO-THERMAL FIELD AT -15ºC
- 2. ) travel ( Excerpt from the Pan-American travel journal of Paul Pidcock and Jeanne Marsh. MAY 2, 2004—The shores of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, South America Around noon today, we drove across the border from Peru. It was actually a most pleasant experience. The security officials treated us like people, rather than inconvenient tourists from whom they could nonetheless extract money. The Central Americans could learn a lot about border 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 got her name from a part of our license plate, which reads ARDN.) How did a pair of seemingly average Torontonians manage to get Arden this 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 all the 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 years in various areas of the computer industry and Jeanne’s 32 years in the dental field—always working for someone else—we realised 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. We headed first for Jasper, to both visit with my son, Sean (a professional climbing guide, and in many ways the inspiration for this whole thing) and climb Mount Edith Cavell, a long-time ambition. Then it was up to Alaska, where the Pan-American Highway begins, down through Canada, the U.S., Mexico, then through the jungles of Central America, down the South American 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? T years? It didn’t really matter. Finally and fortunately, we had the time. wo NOVEMBER 8, 2003—Baja Peninsula, Mexico In the middle of the Baja desert. No water. Next gas station 340 km. Gas stations here are cash only. Chatted with a surfer girl who amazingly 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 attempted to actually drive its entire length. The more I researched, the more fascinated I became. expressions 19
- 3. ) travel ( Venezuela too big, and it seemed rugged enough to deal with challenging Panama Canal Colombia roads yet still comfortable enough to be something like our second Ecuador home for maybe the next couple of years. Galapagos Islands DECEMBER 5, 2003—Playa Negra, Costa Rica Today, travelling a stretch of “road” that ran through several flowing streams, we were confronted by a huge mound of earth in the middle of the Peru Brazil path—a full dump-truck load—too high to climb the car over. In several places, large groups of vultures were feeding on dead carcasses by the road. Bolivia We learned later that this path is called “the monkey trail”; apparently, Paraguay it’s supposed to be for dirt bikes only. Not people to be deterred by popular beliefs, 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 for shore. A world renowned surf spot—this could easily be paradise. Chile Argentina Uruguay DECEMBER 7, 2003—Paraiso, Costa Rica We 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 SOUTH “soda” (a local word for “pub”) where they had just enjoyed some Sunday AMERICA morning beer, when an ATV appeared from out of a cloud of dust. It was driven by a fellow named Al, from Minnesota, who invited us to follow him PAUL NEAR BAÑOS, ECUADOR CRATER-SIZED POTHOLES, NEAR THE ANDES LAKE TITICACA, CHILE DECEMBER 4, 2003—North Pacific Coast of Costa Rica to the mountaintop house he shared with his wife, Judy. Perhaps it would We left Managua and crossed from Nicaragua into Costa Rica. At last! be suitable to use as our home base in Costa Rica for the next few months? As we approached the border, some twenty desperate youngsters descended on our car. These “border helpers” were offering to guide us through the Al and Judy’s home turned out to be an amazing treehouse, a maze of bureaucracy. Jeannie had an expression of mild terror on her face, riveting structure in a small settlement in the middle of a private as she does not particularly enjoy the stress of most border crossings: hot, dusty, mountainside ecological reserve, just 2 km from the Pacific Ocean. crowded, dirty, confusing, time consuming and expensive! Sitting on four tall steel pillars, it had a teak staircase that led from the ground up a full storey into the middle of the main level, an We had to have the right vehicle for our adventure. After hours expansive open-air space that astounded us with its full, rich, dark spent pouring over consumer reports and driving reviews, and taking brown teak floor and high teak ceilings. Another floor rose above test drives, we decided on the best chariot for our voyage: a brand that, to a height of about 60 feet, from which you could look over new (2003) Acura MDX SUV. The MDX was very well rated, not the tree canopy to the coast. We were dazzled right away, by both 20 expressions
- 4. VIEW FROM THE TREEHOUSE, COSTA RICA BLUE-FOOTED BOOBIE, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS GASSING UP AT $90 U.S. A WHEELBARROW, CHILE JEANNE AND BLOWING SAND ON THE PAN-AMERICAN HUARAZ, PERUVIAN ANDES, 16,000 FT
- 5. ) travel ( JANUARY 27,2004—The treehouse,Costa Rica highlights of our entire trip. Incredibly, Lake Titicaca Upon opening my dresser drawer this morning, the animals had absolutely no fear of humans. I discovered a massive pile of ants rummaging When the MDX finally arrived safely, in my clothes. That’s life in the jungle! it still took us four days for us to locate it Bolivia in Guayaquil’s busy port. Jeanne was so After a restful break in Costa Rica, we set relieved when we finally got the vehicle out again in March (2004) for the highway back, she actually kissed it! Atacama dese south into Panama. This close to the From Ecuador, we made our way up Equator, night drops like a black curtain at through the mountains along modern 6 p.m., which makes driving hazardous, superhighways and barely paved roads rt Chile San Pedro even along decent roads, given the nocturnal with deep, vicious, tire-busting “killer” wanderings of chickens, dogs, cows and potholes—some of the “natural” aspects of Argentina even children. During the trip, we would the Pan-American Highway. We then usually start looking for a place to stay crisscrossed the Andes Mountains through around 4 p.m., to avoid night-time driving. Peru where we made a lengthy side trip to Santiago The Pan-American stretches the entire the astounding ruins of the high Andean length of the Americas, but in southern Inca city of Machu Picchu, then on to Buenos Panama and parts of Colombia—an area Bolivia and into Chile. Aires PERITO-MORENO GLACIER, ARGENTINA Patagonia Perito Moreno Torres del Paine Ushuaia the building and its surroundings, and we known as the Darien Gap—the route is MAY 7, 2004—San Pedro de Atacama, Chile treasured our time at this magical place. impassable, and in some places has yet to Last night, it was pitch black by the time we be constructed. In Panama City we made reached San Pedro, a remote adobe village in DECEMBER 10, 2003—Near the treehouse, plans to load the MDX into a shipping the middle of the cold, high desert. We went out Paraiso, Costa Rica container, sending it by boat to Guayaquil, for a great meal, and in the process enjoyed The roaring calls of Howler Monkeys woke me Ecuador. (Note: this was the one and only fantastic local music with pan flute, guitar, at 5 a.m. But as disturbances go, this one was non-driveable stretch of the Pan-American drum and excellent vocals. To keep everyone on the fortuitous side: with the dry season and, needless to say, having come so far, cozy, the waiters kept throwing packing crates starting, the shades of light are incredible this we really didn’t want to give up the wheel!) on the open-to-the-stars fireplace right in the time of day. The black silhouettes of the things During the two weeks we had to wait middle of the restaurant. around me are beginning to take on their real for Arden to reach Ecuador, we flew out Tomorrow, our wake up call is 3:30 a.m., colours. I can hear the surf pounding about a and joined a short four-day cruise around and it is going to be cold! We’re heading for the quarter mile down the hill, beyond the village. the Galapagos Islands, on the appropriately spectacular Geysers of El Tatio, situated at To my left (East) is an estuary, with many named vessel The Darwin, with five crew, 4,500 meters above sea level on the Altiplano. more birds nesting and monkeys climbing in 16 guests. Between walking inside an actual the trees. Now the sky is getting bluer, and all lava tube (a wormhole through the earth MAY 8, 2004—San Pedro de Atacama kinds of exotic birds fly by. A flock of two-dozen left in the wake of a volcanic eruption), Well, it was cold, all right: minus 15 degrees parrots just passed twenty feet above me, all spotting Blue-footed Boobies and even Celsius at the top. What a day! The road up chattering about who-knows-what. Costa Rica swimming with sea lions and sharks, this was really rough and in the dark night, we is an amazing country; it just grabs you. cruise turned out to be one of the major were reduced to finding our way by following 22 expressions
- 6. 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 half times around the equator.
- 7. ) travel ( TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE END OF THE HIGHWAY, NO ROAD FURTHER SOUTH the headlights of a tour van that was winding its winds, even as tractor-trailers were being way up the deeply grooved washboard roads and swept off the road right in front of us). And we mountain switchbacks far ahead of us. After many never once ran out of gas. We kept to the sug- hours of driving, we arrived at the floor of a large gested maintenance schedule throughout our volcanic crater, where jets of hot steam and water trip and we were delighted to find that the were hissing, boiling and bubbling all around us. Honda/Acura service centres the entire length The minerals in the water vapour left magical of the Americas were staffed by exceptional kaleidoscopes of colours in the air. The colder, more people, often helping us above and beyond the pressurised atmosphere of the early morning produces call of duty by providing good maps, personally dramatic steam jets, some fumaroles shooting to guiding us to highway onramps, even directing 40 feet in the air. us to little village festivals that we would never An essential item Later, as we headed for the Pacific Coast of Chile, have discovered on our own. for this trip proved to the temperature in the desert climbed to 30 degrees An essential item for this trip proved to be be our Carnet de Passage Celsius above. That’s a 45 degree Celsius temperature our Carnet de Passage (available through the change in one day. Arden never even blinked. Canadian Automobile Association), which, in (available through the South America, is like a passport for your Canadian Automobile MAY 31, 2004—Ushuaia, Patagonia,Argentina vehicle. To get the Carnet, we had to put down Association), which, Here at the extreme southern tip of the continent, a hefty but fully refundable deposit—the full in South America, we are surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The value of the MDX—before leaving Canada. is like a passport kids play soccer in shorts on the icy playgrounds and Without it, though, we would have had for your vehicle. it’s barely one degree above zero. This territory was to potentially put down an equivalent or To get the Carnet, originally settled as a penal colony, and the terrain partial deposit each time we crossed a South we had to put down reminds us of the Canadian Rockies, except for the American country border. a hefty but fully incredible, incessant howling wind. And remember that fabulous treehouse in refundable deposit— Today we drove Arden through the spectacular Costa Rica? Well, we ended up buying it, and the full value Tierra Del Fuego National Park, along the last dozen it has become not only our part-time home, of the MDX or so kilometres to the end of the Pan-American but also the cornerstone of our new Costa Highway. It is a lovely spot overlooking the Rican eco-business venture. Before we left, Atlantic Ocean. We took a few more photos than neither Jeanne nor I spoke much Spanish, but usual—to prove that we’d made it all the way— we found that we got along surprisingly well and celebrated a toast with Grand Marnier. with a phrase book, a smile and a genuine Tomorrow, we head back north. curiosity about the people we met. We are well-organized, flexible individuals In the end, all totalled, the round trip took us a who love nature and the outdoors, and we whole year. When we finally returned to Canada, have found if you take life in bite-size chunks, the MDX’s odometer read 66,000 km.— you really can achieve whatever you’re doing. a distance equivalent to more than one and a As it says on our favourite fridge magnet, “It’s half times around the equator. We drove Arden kind of fun to do the impossible”; we bear that through deserts, jungles, markets, sudden fog, in mind wherever we go, whatever we do. highway protests, rivers, rocks, even a Mexican After all, impossible is only in the eye of hurricane (she stayed stable in the extreme the beholder. 24 expressions