Dave Ford Does Earth

Posted by Dave Ford

For Sale at the Havana Airport

On Sunday of my dream, day 5, I basically came to the point were I became totally and utterly broke. Nonetheless, I still had a very good time and made the most of my broken experience. I felt what it must be like to be Cuban (at least the not having any money part of being Cuban). This is a much different experience then the tourist vibe. The differences are vast. By and large, I spent the last three days of my trip in my Casa Particular watching movies, working on ideas for future projects, and walking to and from cheap places to get food.

List of the movies I watched:

> Hotel Rwanda

> Gandhi

> Spiderman

> Casino Royale

> Pirates of the Carribean 2

> Apololypse Now (I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND WATCHING THIS RIGHT BEFORE BED)

If you would like to cry your eyes out for 2 solid straight hours immediately rent Hotel Rwanda with Don Cheedle. I have mentioned before that I “at times” can get a bit choked up at movies (laugh if you like but its the truth). While watching Hotel Rwanda, I literally lost it. Maybe it hit home as Rwanda has been on my list of places I really want to go (the Mountain Gorillas are there). I do not know. But, Jesus what a horrible story told in such an amazing way.

Gandhi was great too. However, I started watching it at 4am and I did not actually get to bed until 7:30am. Remember that I am in broken solitude and there is no reason to observe any normal sleeping patterns. After watching it I am really pumped to see as much of India as I can and I really have no interest whatsoever in going to Pakistan.

Sidenote: Although, does anyone have any interest in going to Pakistan????

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How did I manage to blow a cool G (US $1000) in 7 Days in my dream???

Balance sheet of the trip
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The Cuban Convertible Dollar (CUC) This is the money used by tourists

This is how I spent my money from what I can recall.

I started with $1000 US Dollars

The Cuban CUC (tourist dollar) is stronger than the US dollar. I think the dollar is .89 to the CUC.

After exchanging money I had $900 US left out of the $1000(This is why I constantly bitch about the weak US dollar and how it kills me while I am traveling).

>First Night 5 Star Hotel: $160 dollars
>6 nights in Casa Particular w/ Breakfast: $240
>5 days on the Internet : $40 (clearly Im addicted to the Internet)
>Buying drinks for French dude: $45
>Buying drinks for Cubans: $40
>Two books about Hemmingway: $15
>Eating at decent places: $80
>Eating at shitty places: $20
>3 delightful Cuban Cigars: $30
>15 Mojitos at Hemmingway Bars: $65
>5 Daiquiris at Hemmingway Bars:$25
>Lots of Buckanaroo Beer: $40
>Cab fare to and from Airport: $50
>Misc Cab fare: $50

So, as you can see from the above report there were three problems in Cuba:

1. It was more expensive than what I though it would be. This holds true especially with transportation costs, internet costs, Mojitos, and lodging (although I did stay in really nice places)

2. I really like Mojitos.

3. I am complete idiot.

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Just me and my Macbook

There is something to be said for being completely alone on the road. It is a unique experience as opposed to traveling with friends. It is not at all easy to meet other backpackers in Cuba as there is no formal hostel setup. So, for my week in Cuba (dreaming) I was by myself for most of the adventure. I did meet a few cool people along the way and definitely had a good time. However, a vast majority of my time has been spent alone. It was just me, my laptop, and my thoughts.

However, I am really happy with the thoughts and plans that I put together in Cuba during my last few days there. I am obsessed with the vision I have for my future travels and have had some time to map out a rough plan for when I return back to the states to try and make things happen. Its invigorating and I am excited to get back home to get to advance my ideas.

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A Final Thought on My Cuban Dream

The bottom line is that this time warp is not going to be around forever. When Cuba opens up its not going to be another revolution, it i;s going to be an economic EXPLOSION! This is only my opinion but I think Havana makes Miami look like a goat farm (alright, maybe not a goat farm but its nicer in Havana). There are 300 beaches in Cuba. Its just such a beautiful place. I wish I had the time and money to see more of it. Although I would personally hate to see a McDonalds in downtown Central Havana, the amount of money that will flow into Cuba when Fidel kicks the bucket should really help the Cuban people. I think that 10 years from now there will be a lot less 15 year old prostitutes. In my mind that’s a pretty good thing.

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The Boys have moved on to bigger and better things in the US of A

The BV Show and the Weapon have officially thrown in the towel on this round of traveling. Something happened to the BV shows house and he is in dire need of making money. The Weapon has reported to work in Fort Lauderdale. He is going to be a dive instructor on a ridiculous boat cruising the world. The luxury yacht that he will be working on is currently in the Mediterranean. Dave is waiting to find out if he will be flown to the South of France or to Italy to meet up with the boat. I wish him the best of luck. He told me that the boat has plans to come back to South America. Its actually going to be docked in Rio for Carnival. That…should be crazy!

The BV show arrived in Baltimore yesterday where he will be working construction and hopefully will get a job in a bar somewhere. My family and friends are taking good care of him until my triumphant return in a little more that two weeks. I am looking forward to introducing Ben to everyone when I get back into town. He should end up being in Baltimore until late October when he heads off to Canada for the ski season.

Benny and I started traveling the first day of both of our trips on January 9th. Over the past 7 months we have split up and met back up three or four times. I think all in all, we traveled together for about 4 and 1/2 months. 99% of which were really, really good times.

When I found out the boys would not be waiting for me in Cartegena I was pretty bummed. Nonetheless, everyone has to do what they have to do. Funds tend to get scarce when traveling for an extended period of time like this.

However, I am really excited to see Jess (Aus) and Lisa (NY, USA) in Cartegena. “The boys” will be officially be replaced by “the girls”. That my friends, is not all together a bad thing. Jess and I met in Bolivia and hung out in Cusco a bit. I met Lisa in Cusco and we traveled back into La Paz together (reference: 24 hours in the life of a backpacker post). I cannot wait to see them. I think I will end up finishing up the last of my South American adventures with them.

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Notes:

> I just finished reading Killing Pablo. I think it was a pretty good book to read right before visiting Colombia. Its about the Colombia Police and CIA working together to track and kill Pablo Escobar (biggest druglord ever). He spent years blowing up things, assinating people, and terrorizing Colombia. From what I gather, Colombia is a much more stable country presently. The vibe on the gringo trail is that Colombia is AMAZING. I cannot wait to experience it.

Pablo Escobar…Thankfully he is very dead as of 1992.

> ADMINISTRATIVE: If you still have not subscribed to DaveFordDoesEarth I HATE YOU. Its very easy. It is much easier than trying to write about Cuban history in an interesting fashion. Simply write your name in the top right hand column of the blog under the picture of me with my gay rolled up sleeve in the Galapagos. Then, you have to click on the email they send you. After subscribing, you will get emails of the blog whenever I post. Its pretty awesome so DO IT! I DO NOT REALLY HATE YOU, I LOVE YOU! I am way off of my goal of 10,000.

> Thanks to Matt Maikala for spreading the word about “Dave Ford Does Earth”through his 800 friends on Myspace. Thanks to Raji Taj in London for spreading the word to his 450 friends on Facebook. Who else??? Lemme think… Thanks to God, My family, Ray Charles, Jesus, Buddah, John Coltraine, Yoda, Nancy Kerrigan, and Bob Sagat. Thanks to my friend Noah in Egypt for telling her friends in the travel industry about my blog. Thanks to anyone that has forwarded on the blog, the Antarctica video, or told anyone about what I am doing. Thanks so much. Oh, and thanks for the 50 emails I got after sending out the Antarctica video footage via email.

Thanks again to Paul Bell from the Lonely Planet for doing such an amazing job with the Polar Plunge footage. Thanks to the Lonely Planet for featuring it. Also, muchos gracias to the country of Bolivia for helping me to lose 20 pounds since that footage was taken. I cannot believe I was that fat. Oh, and thanks to my friend Carol in Brazil for lending me her Bikini.

Sidenote: If I would not have been wearing the boxer shorts it would have been an X rated video. Believe me it would have been NO BUENO!

If you have not watched my ridiculous Antarctica Polar Plunge video on the Lonely Planet.tv website click on this link, or copy paste it into your web browser as blogger seems to be very shitty at highlighting my links for some reason. However, before watching remember that I am neither bearded or fat any longer. It takes a bit to buffer. I really hate buffering.

It will be listed as an link to this blog post as well.

http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=F75EDDAF628D20C4

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