The LA Times has got a piece on what is, in my opinion, one of the
greatest road trips around: driving the
length of Chile. I’ve seen most of Chile, but my trips were all broken up and often I went by bus or plane to
places like Atacama or Punta Arenas. But the idea of doing the country’s string bean geography – from tip to tip – has
immense appeal. And that is exactly what Dan Neil does in this fine article in the LA Times.
It is the actual length of Chile that kind of blows you away; the incredible change in topography, climate and culture
from top to bottom. I’ve got a question for you: How long is Chile? Come on, take a guess. Wrong. Or maybe right. I
didn’t hear you that clearly. I thought you said 1000 miles. Chile is more than 3,000 miles long. Just about longer
than the US is wide. That’s kind of mind-blowing when you think about it. And Neil, an expert driver who is piloting a
Land Rover LR3 down Chile’s unfathomable expanse, doesn’t seem quite prepared for what Chile has to offer.
Neil is driving the LR3 as part of the Land Rover’s G4 Challenge program, an extreme-sports competition I’ve never
heard of, but which I would gladly sign up for in a heartbeat. Along the way, he sees many of Chile’s greatest sights:
the Martian-like beauty of the high desert and
the vast loveliness of the South. He also meets a somewhat unfriendly Carabinieri, and loses his driving
partner who can’t hack the drive. A fun piece. Highly recommended.