As a kid we always talked about digging down straight through the earth to China. Well, China isn’t exactly on the opposite side of the earth from where we live. We are at 40.9* north latitude and 100.16* west longitude. If we were to burrow straight through the earth, we would come up in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 miles south and east of Perth, Australia.

Perth is Australia’s fourth largest city with about two million people. It is an industrial center producing all kinds of things and they also have a number of petroleum refineries. For eight months of the year the climate in Perth is excellent and because it is on the coast, tourism is huge.

If instead we stayed on our 100.16* west longitude and went to 40.9* south latitude, we would end up in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific is huge occupying 60 million square miles. Let’s put that into perspective; all the dry land on earth makes up only 57 million square miles! In other words, all the land on earth could fit into the Pacific Ocean with room left over.

Where we would come out into the ocean is about 1,500 miles west of Bahia Mansa, Chile. This is a small town of about 900 people near a remote and apparently very beautiful sandy beach called Caleta Condor. The beach is isolated and is only accessible by boat two days a week. To get there you can fly from Denver to Santiago. Your plane leaves at 6 a.m. There is a layover in Atlanta, and then you arrive in Santiago at 9 p.m. the next day! You are not done yet. From Santiago you fly 500 miles south to Puerto Montt.

At that point you get on a bus and travel the last 150 miles to Bahia Mansa and then wait for either Monday or Wednesday to travel by boat to Caleta Condor!

Anyone up for a road trip?

If we stay on our 40.9* north latitude heading but go to 100.16* east longitude we do find ourselves in China near the town of Jiuquan. Haven’t heard of it?

If it were in the U.S. it would be our 9th largest city, larger than San Diego, Dallas, Denver, etc!

It is located on the old Silk Road and it is where the cultivation of rhubarb was first accomplished! The name, Jiuquan is translated as “wine spring”. According to legend, a young general by the name of Huo Qubig poured a vat of precious, and very expensive wine into the local creek to share it with his troops after they were victorious over a group of nomad raiders.

Jiuquan is in the Gobi Desert and it is at 4,000 feet in elevation. It is high and dry and as such it is the home to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It was there that in 2003 Yang Liwei became the first of 20 Chinese astronauts launched into space. He orbited the earth 14 times before landing in Mongolia.

Playing with latitude and longitude is a great way to learn some geography and history of places you’ve probably never been to, and in some cases, you’ve never even heard of!