Traditional Blogs–like this one–read backwards. The posts in these archives are listed in order from the time they were published chronologically. If you so desired, and had an unusually extreme amount of free time on your hands, you could start from the beginning and read all about my travels in 2007 and 2008. What an amazing time! My time in South America, Africa, and driving across the US south was without a doubt one of the brightest, most important periods of my life.
Pre-Trip
Before I left for South America I did not have a clue about overland travel. I read a few books about traveling and left Baltimore by myself on January 9th, 2007. At the time I started the blog I did not have any experience writing either. I am really happy with whatever semblance of a blogging and storytelling style that I have developed along the way.
1/2/2007- One Week and Counting
1/9/2007- 16 and 1/2 Hours until my Around the World Trip
Argentina
I landed in Argentina and on the first day met two of my best friends from my travels–Australians Benny Vears, and Billy Barnetson. We hit up Buenos Aires, the Argentine beach resorts, wine country in Mendoza, and much of Patagonia. Argentina is where I got my ” feet wet” and figured out how to live on the go out of a backpack.
1/11/2007- Alive, Well, and Loving Life in Buenos Aires
1/16/2007- Change of Plans–The Beachtown of Villa Gesell
1/19/2007- Life in Argentina
1/22/2007- Mar Del Plata– Boca vs. River–Near Death at the Beach
1/26/2007- Buenos Aires Again
2/2/2007- Mendoza: At the Foot of the Andes on Horseback and Bicycle
Patagonia
I spent half of my time in Patagonia with the Aussies. Eventually, they split off for Carnival in Brazil and I headed for Torres Del Paine in Chile in route to Ushuaia and eventually Antarctica. Torres Del Paine, my first challenging trek nearly killed me. Seriously, I really think I might have died and thought that they might have to helicopter me out of there. Reason number one 1 I was an idiot–There are no helicopters down there. In the end, I was saved–at least mentally–by the encouragement of two Israeli soldiers that I met on the mountain.
2/5/2007- Entering Patagonia via San Carlos de Bariloche in the Lake District
2/10/2007- Patagonia: The Perito Moreno Glacier outside of El Calafate
2/15/2007- Torres Del Paine: 35 miles with an Englishman and two Israeli Soldiers
2/20/2007- Almost the End of the Earth–Ushuaia, Argentina
Antarctica
To this day I have never been anywhere that can top the 10 days I spent on the Orlova cruising around Antarctica. I waited in Ushuaia for 10 days attempting to find passage on a boat. I am still in touch with most of the friends I made on the Antarctica cruise. Regis and Carol–the Brazilian couple–ended up putting me up for a fantastic week at their house in Florianpolis a few months later. It was also in Antarctica where I met a Lonely Planet videographer named Paul Bell. He produced a five minute short of me taking the Antarctic Polar Plunge. The response I got from the movie is what initially peaked my interest in the world of Web TV.
3/3/2007- Antarctic Afterglow
3/5/2007- The South Pole Part 1: Rough Seas and Roommates
3/6/2007- The South Pole Part Deux: The Penguin poo express
3/8/2007- I found my new hero
3/10/2007- The South Pole Part tres: Seal Attacks, The Antarctic Circle, and Smooth Sailing
LONELY PLANET VIDEO: Dave Ford’s Polar Plunge
More Buenos Aires and a rather large Waterfall
After Antarctica I flew back to Buenos Aires to meet my friend John Wynn, who had just passed the bar exam and decided to take his “bar trip” with me. We started in Buenos Aires and had stops at Iguazu Falls, Florianapolis, Salvador, and some remote beaches in the Bahia region of Brazil.
3/12/2007- Steak and Malbec at La Cabrera, Cuban Cigars, and the Buenos Aires Bike Tour
3/16/2007- The “Devil’s Throat” at Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Brazil
3/18/2007- “The Life” in Florianapolis, Brazil
3/24/2007- Salvador de Bahia, Brazil: The Poor Mans New Orleans
3/27/2007- The Beaches of Bahia, Brazil- Arrial D’Ajuda, Trancoso, Espello, and Caraiva
3/31/2007- One Day in Rio de Janeiro, then off to Lima, Peru
Peru
I flew from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, Peru to meet two of my best friends–Don and Chris–who were visiting for a couple of weeks to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We spent quite a bit of time in Cusco and met the crew that I would eventually travel with to Bolivia–3 Irishman (Martin, Orla, and Alan), and a sarcastic Englishman (Kash).
4/6/2007- Cusco–The Night Before the Inca Trail
4/12/2007- The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu
4/20/2007- In Route to Lake Titicaca
4/20/2007- Lake Titicaca: Puno, Peru and Copacabana, Bolivia
Bolivia–Peru–and back to Bolivia
Initially I had no intentions of visiting Bolivia at all. But, after meeting so many other backpackers that raved about it I felt like I had spend a significant amount of time there. In the end I spent over 60 days in Bolivia alone while also looping back into Peru. During this time period I met back up with Benny and Billy (The Aussies), became good friends with a European Shaman (Tim), and met Lola (UK), Lisa (US), and Jess (Aus) who rounded out my respective “best friends” in South America. In Bolivia I experienced an intense internal voyage on the Amazonian hallucinatory plant Ayahuasca, trekked through the Amazon and the Andes, and visited the immensely weird “salt flats”. Yeah, Bolivia was definitely my favorite country in South America. There is no doubt about it. It all started in La Paz.
4/22/2007- Heading into the Jungles of Bolivia
5/1/2007- End of the Dark Ages…. and Back into the Light
5/1/2007- An Irish Experience – Clarifying the cast of Characters
5/1/2007- The Worlds Most Dangerous Road
5/1/2007- More La Paz… The Highest Golf in the world and the Bolivian Diet
The Irish contingent and I found out about the remote Amazonian town of Rurrenabaque and headed straight for it. The internet access was shotty at best so I transcribed my journal entries to the internet when we got back to La Paz. Rurrenabaque is where we went on the “la pampas” wildlife tour and got to swim with Amazonian pink dolphins.
5/1/2007- Journal Entry 1: The Bus Ride to Rurrenbaque
5/1/2007- Journal Entry 2: La Pampas Tour in Rurrenbaque
5/1/2007- Journal Entry 3: Moped Rides and Travel Thoughts
5/1/2007- Journal Entry 4: Stuck in the Jungle
5/1/2007- Journal Entry 5: An amazing last day
When we flew back to La Paz we met up with Ben and Billy. Soon after that I talked both of them and Billy’s friends Leah and Jess to head straight back to Rurrenabaque. This time in Rurre’ we went back to the pampas, on an Amazonian trek, and met Tim (the Shaman) who introduced us to Ayahuasca.
5/1/2007- Back in La Paz: The Triumphant return of the Aussies
5/18/2007- Man Tears in La Paz…. and Tshirts
5/21/2007- Rurrenbaque take 2: Its the end of the world as we know it….Or is it???
From Rurre’ we headed back to La Paz. From there I went onto Sucre–the traditional capital city of Bolivia. In Sucre everything seemed to fall apart. A good friend from home–Dave Binck who shows up later in the story–is almost beaten to death in Miami. Kidnappings. Rape. A bus flips killing a 23 year old Canadian girl. However, through all this I gain clarity and decide to write more openly. One of my first posts afterward was about my powerful experience with Ayahuasca–which I was not planning on writing about. Sucre, is also where I met one of the most special people of my life, BBC report Lola Almudevar.
5/26/2007- A Reality check in Sucre….. Opening the book a little further
5/28/2007- Ayahuasca in the Jungle- The Internal Journey Part 1
5/29/2007- Trying to come to grips with a darker period
6/2/2007- How does one come to the conclusion to quit the “real world” and travel the “Real World”?
Much to my happiness, Benny and Aussie Dave Mallet meet me in Sucre and I break out of my funk. The three of us and Raj (UK) travel together through Potosi and the salt flats in southern Bolivia into the San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. We get drugged in Chile–vacate quickly– and head back into Peru to see the Andean Condors of Colca Canyon. From there we have a huge reunion in Cusco and eventually head back to La Paz so I can participate in my final two Ayahuasca ceremonies at a retreat in the Andes.
6/9/2007- The Mines of Potosi
6/9/2007- Bolivia in 60 days
6/10/2007- Salar De Uyuni ¨The Bolivian Salt Flats¨
6/20/2007- Drugged in San Pedro de Atacama
6/22/2007- Colca Canyon, the Andean Condor, and White Trash America
6/22/2007- Cusco.. The Party Capital of South America
6/22/2007- 24 Hours in the Life of a Backpacker
6/30/2007- Ayahuasca….Finishing the 4 Part Cycle in the Andean Mountains
Peru again, Ecuador, The Galapagos Islands, Cuba
Dave Mallet, Benny, and I fly from La Paz to Lima, Peru. From there we bus up the coast and land in Mancora–a sleepy surf town almost at the Ecuador border. Together we spend 10 days on a boat touring the Galapagos and fly back to Quito. From there I get a wild hair to visit Cuba, and take off on a solo mission to Havana. Of course it is illegal for Americans to travel to Cuba, so I did not actually go there. Or did I? I cannot seem remember. My passport is not stamped so I must not have gone. The plan was to meet back up with Benny and Dave in Cartegena, Colombia.
7/5/2007- Mancora Peru = Surfers Paradise
7/14/2007- Sleepy seals and expensive deals in the Galapagos Islands
7/25/2007- A Vivid Cuban Dream- Part One
7/27/2007- A Vivid Cuban Dream- Part Deux
7/30/2007- The End of a Vivid Cuban Dream
Colombia
Dave and Benny ran out of cash in Colombia and immediately evacuated to the US. Benny heads to my hometown of Baltimore where I line up work for him. So, I land in Cartegena all by my lonesome. Luckily, Jess and Lisa are on their way. Together the three of us live it up in Cartagena and Taganga. The three of us get certified to Scuba dive together. My last act in South America was a 6 day trek through mountains and cocaine fields to the “Lost City”.
8/3/2007- Cartegena, White Linen Pants, and the Pirates of the Caribbean
8/13/2007- The Colombian Jungle, a Cocaine Factory, a “Lost City”, and a Scorpion Attack
Back in the US of A:
I fly into Miami and drive up the east coast to Baltimore with my friend Dave Binck–who was almost killed 4 months earlier in a robbery attempt and was still recovering. We land in Baltimore and meet up with Benny Vears, Jess Ledger, and Lisa and Jess again. Throughout our time in Baltimore we plan our cross country US trip.
9/3/2007- The Triumphant Return to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A
10/5/2007- Planning a Cross Country US Road Trip
Cross Country US Road Trip
After two months of debauchery in Baltimore, our crew sets off across the US in a mini van and a station wagon. Dave Binck, Benny Vears, Daddio, Jess, and I hit the cities of Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and Austin. After Austin we head out into the great open space and visit White Sands New Mexico, Pagosa Springs Colorado, the Four Corners Region, Monument Valley in Utah, and the Grand Canyon in Route to Los Angeles. I end up getting completely thrown toward the end of my trip when I find out about the tragic death of my close friend Lola while on assignment for the BBC in Bolivia.
11/8/2007- Day 0: 4 Guys, 1 Girl, 2 Cars, and a very rough itinerary
11/9/2007- Day 1: From Baltimore to Bristol, Tennessee
11/11/2007- Profile of Dave Binck, our “Man on the Streets”
11/12/2007- Day 2 : The Honkey Tonk Bars of Nashville, Tennessee
11/13/2007- Day 3: The Bluebird Cafe, Nashville Tennessee
11/15/2007- Day 4: “Wild Bills” in Memphis, Tennessee
11/18/2007- Day 5: Elvis’ Graceland, Memphis Tennessee
11/20/2007- Day 6: The Journey from Memphis to New Orleans
11/22/2007- Day 7: New Orleans Part 1
11/24/2007- Day 8: New Orleans Part 2 “The Recovery”
11/27/2007- A Very Sad Day
11/30/2007- Thrown for a loop
12/9/2007- Days 8-10: The tattooed city of Austin, Texas
12/11/2007- Days 12, 13, and 14: Carlsbad Caverns, Rozwell, and the White Sands of New Mexico
12/5/2007- Day 14: Roswell, New Mexico
12/14/2007- Days 15-18: Pagosa Springs Colorado
12/18/2007- Days 19 and 20: Monument Valley,Utah
12/23/2007- Day 21, 22, 23 (Final Cross Country Post): Magic in the Grand Canyon
12/31/2007- DFDE’s Top 10 of 2007
1/22/2008- My toughest audience to date: The 3rd Grade
2/17/2008- Thank you Cards from the Third Grade
The Northern (Safari) Circuit and Mt. Kilimanjaro –Tanzania
One of my best friends Mark Fruhling and and I set off for almost a month to Tanzania in Africa to climb Kilimanjaro (We are on Kilimanjaro for our 30th Birthdays) and go on safari through the Northern Circuit.
2/20/2008- Why Mt.Kilimanjaro?
2/22/2008- On the ground in Africa
2/24/2008- After day 1 on Safari….
2/26/2008- After two days on Safari
2/28/2008- After Day 3 our Northern Circuit, Tanzanian Safari
2/29/2008- After Day 4 in the Serengeti
3/3/2008- East African Safari: Check it off the list
3/6/2008- Arushatown
3/10/2008- Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro- Morning of Day 2
3/11/2008- Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro- Lunchtime Day 3
3/13/2008- Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro- Day 5
3/13/2008- Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro Day 7– The Summit
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