Writer-Director Laszlo Papas spent one week on horseback, crossing arduous terrain in The Andes, to get a taste of what Tschiffely's 10,000- mile ride must have felt like. "One cold morning I saddled up and set off to reach 'that little hill ahead.' Twelve hours later, as the sun began to set, I got off the horse, stiff as a rock, and pitched the tent for the night. The hill, it seemed, had not gotten a foot closer."