Dave Ford Does Earth

I created this page for anyone who might be interested in my story from the beginning. 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, you could start from the beginning and read to my most recent post. Or, for a select sample of some of my more interesting experiences of the last few years you could read these:

1. Antarctic Afterglow

2. Ayahuasca in the Amazon Jungle- The Internal Journey Part 1

3. 24 Hours in the Life of a Backpacker

4. The Colombian Jungle, a Cocaine Factory, a “Lost City”, and a Scorpion Attack

5. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro Day 7- The Summit

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 had not written much at all either. Thank God my style developed on the road : )

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: Severe Re-entry Shock, and a very weird living situation

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 with plans to caddy at a local golf course. We ended up finding a ridiculous living situation in which we all had to share a room in a garage. The location is great, but the space situation is NO BUENO. Plus, with live with Phil– a 55 year old former rock star. Our two months there were completely out of control. We partied way too much. On top of the partying I experience severe “re-entry culture shock”. Throughout our time in Baltimore we plan our cross country US trip and I plan my 5 month overland Africa trip–that does not end up happening. In planning for the continuation of the blog and the addition of video, I dive head first into the web TV world and learn how to edit movies. I spend much of my time in local coffee shops experimenting with the world of blogging.

9/3/2007- The Triumphant Return to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A

9/11/2007- Garaj Mahal….The place that I call home sweet home

9/13/2007- The “Garaj Mahal Players” and our pet fox Winston

9/18/2007- I think I’ll call this Chapter 2

9/20/2007- The Divided States of America

9/24/2007- Sept 24th… Time flies when you live in a Garage

9/26/2007- GARAJ MAHAL UPDATE NUMBER 1

9/27/2007- Golf and the Caddyshack at Bushwood Country Club

10/5/2007- Planning a Cross Country US Road Trip

10/9/2007- Hell must have frozen over because I can FINALLY make videos!

10/15/2007- “Cairo to Capetown”, my own “Dark Star Safari”

10/17/2007- Brazilian Soccer, Blog Work, and Garaj Mahal Ball Pix

10/19/2007- Jumping off of Large Waterfalls in the Jungle

10/22/2007- Subscribe to DaveFordDoesEarth.com and win a 65 liter backpack

10/23/2007- Garaj Mahal Ball Video

10/24/2007- 5 Easy Steps to Quit your Job and Travel the World

10/28/2007- 30 Ridiculous things TO DO this week

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. We record the whole thing as “Cross Country TV”–a fly by the seat of your pants reality travel show. 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.

11/1/2007- UPDATED: Ridiculous “TO DO LIST”

11/7/2007- 10 things I have learned since my triumphant return to the USA

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

I do not mention this in any of the posts but right around New Years 2007 I obtain funding–which eventually falls through–to produce my own Web TV travel show that would follow me to exotic places all around the world. Over the course of the next two months I live with longtime friend John Williams in Baltimore. I work with editor Francis Cabatac to produce 7 episodes of “Cross Country TV”. He does a great job with the footage. During this time I release all of the episodes and write about my experience speaking to a large group of 3rd graders. I decide to move to New York and push off my 5 month journey through Africa to focus on the “Dave Ford Does Earth” travel show. Nonetheless, my friend Marv and I are both turning 30 in March and make a pact to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to mark the event.

12/31/2007- DFDE’s Top 10 of 2007

1/13/2008- Announcements

1/22/2008- My toughest audience to date: The 3rd Grade

1/28/2008- What is “Cross Country TV”?

1/30/2008- CROSS COUNTRY TV: Release of Episode 1 (Tennessee)

2/1/2008- CROSS COUNTRY TV: Release of Episode 2 (The 9th Ward in New Orleans)

2/5/2008- Cross Country TV: Release of Episode 3 (Texas, New Mexico)

2/7/2008- Cross Country TV: Release of Episode 4 (White Sands New Mexico)

2/13/2008- Cross Country TV: Release of Episode 5 Pagosa Springs, Colorado

2/14/2008- Release of Cross Country TV Episode 6: Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon

2/15/2008- Release of the Cross County TV FINALE

2/17/2008- Thank you Cards from the Third Grade

The Northern (Safari) Circuit and Mt. Kilimanjaro –Tanzania

Marv and I set off for almost a month to Tanzania in Africa to climb Kilimanjaro and go on safari through the Northern Circuit. I realize while in Africa that it is a good thing I put off my 5 month overland trip as the infrastructure is not there to support my Web TV ambitions.

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

Snapshots of New York City

This is where I am now. The funding for the Web TV show is long gone but it is for the best. I live in Brooklyn with “the Nuge”–an old friend from my college days. It has always been a goal of mine to live in New York City and I am excited to be here. It feels like I am still traveling. I take a job at a web television company called For Your Imagination. You can check it out at www.foryourimagination.com.

4/8/2008- 1 and 1/2 years of wandering comes to an end in the Big Apple

4/13/2008- A New York Stream of Consciousness

4/18/2008- The United Nations, My Neighborhood, or whatever you want to call it

4/24/2008- The Search for Dr. Huxtable

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