Tour Diary Lindsay Knowlton-Adidas World

Lindsey Knowlton won a chance to golf in the most extreme conditions with Adidas World. We asked her to blog about her experiences. Read below to find out about Death Valley, and the city of La Paz, Bolivia.

In a nutshell adidas world put out a global casting call to all employees. You had a week to submit a 10 min video and answer a long questionnaire. From there they narrowed it to 39 semi finalists, and then down to 9 finalists and it was a month of interviews (both dynamic and individual), written blog projects, golf tests (you had to be a 5 or better handicap to apply for this)  and everything else in between! Truly became a 2nd job for me – and naturally all I could focus on! I got picked (along with Josh) at the end of Oct and we left Nov 19th. They did a crash course for us in media and social training. I got 8 needles before the trip and other than that we were off to the races!

Bolivia

Picture this: busy streets, loads of dogs, women in long dresses, children running around and cars that don’t seem to obey any kind of traffic rules. That is a bird’s eye view flying over the Bolivian streets of La Paz.

The first thing that amazed me was the massive number dogs that roamed the streets. They were “homeless”, but seemed to have a close knit culture of their own, and these dogs even seemed to have their own place in the traffic hierarchy! Some traveled alone and others with friends, but you could tell the best place in the world to be a dog is La Paz where there were no set laws, leashes or fences!

Driving to the hotel, we also noticed the women of Bolivia all wear a similar outfit – a Pollera (long wide dresses – a symbol of pride in being indigenous), bowler caps that sit propped on top of their head (position can indicate their marital status) and their babies tied on their backs with a large blanket. Many of these women own fruit and market stands on the sides of the streets working hard from sun up to sun down.

The biggest barrier for me so far has been the language. Coming from Canada, I learned French in school, but sadly my Spanish is limited to “hola” and “gracias”! A HUGE thank you to our host Sole, she has guided us around town and probably saved me from ordering the wrong thing at dinner on more than one occasion!

Without a doubt, the most extreme thing I had ever done in my life came on this trip to Bolivia. We road our mountain bikes down Death Road/ El Camino de la Muerte (the most dangerous road in the world). An unpaved, 65km bike ride that was 10 ft wide, 2000ft drops off a cliff to your left and took you down 10,000ft of elevation. 200 – 300 people typically die on this road per year. Why did we do this you ask? It’s all part of the adventure!

Death Road Village

Bolivia was one of the most beautiful places I have been. The people were very friendly, with a simple way of life, and appreciation for the smaller things. There wasn’t much nightlife, but instead shopping in markets, touring the hillsides, golf at the highest elevation course in the world and finally Death Road! A must for those dare devils out there!

Moving Rocks

We are in Ushuaia now – the southern most tip of the world. Went from 90 degree heat in Buenos Aires and now it’s SNOWING HERE! Should be another wild adventure.

More to come after Argentina.

For now here’s a pic from the Killers concert we went tot he night we landed.