Roaming South America

An update

October 2, 2022

It's been a while since my last update. First, all is well here in Roldanillo, the weather is as close to perfect as one could expect anywhere, and it's considered by many, including at least one newspaper article, to be one of the safest places in Colombia. I go for bike rides once or twice a week, you can see those in the little right-side app thing - "Chip's Activity." That takes you to my Strava profile.

Today I went for a ride to the very small town of Ricaurte, about 20 kilometers south of where I live. First, I rode through some farms, mostly sugar cane, along the dike that separates the Cauca River from the farms, but that led me to an electric fence gate, so I turned back and took a different route, eventually making my way back to town. There are pics in the Ricaurte photo album.

Then, after riding around town I took a road that went out of town and into the mountains (the Andes Mtns). The road was like most mountain roads here—rocky gravel, and very steep. In fact, according to the profile data as much as around 30% incline. True or not, I can assure you, it was extremely steep. There's a creek that the "road" crossed three times and eventually I found myself looking at a very sturdy gate with barbed wire fencing going away from it. In other words, the end of the road, even though I could see it continued. I stopped and asked some people about it on my way back down the mountain. They told me it goes up to a house (and he pointed to it up on the mountainside), and then no further. Oh well, it was a nice and quite difficult ride. Check out the photos in the photo album—Colombia - Ricaurte.

My plan for the near future is to start traveling in the first week of January. I have a route pretty much figured out that will take me through Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, a little of Brazil, Uraguay, and maybe a bit more of Brazil along the coast. My plan is to spend 1 - 2 months in each country. I have a list of towns/small cities that I am most interested in seeing as well as a growing list of other places to see. By the end of the year, the end of the trip, I will decide where I want to settle down. And, no, it most likely won't be here in Colombia. Why? Because things are changing here, and not for the best, not in a positive way for foreigners. Some of those other countries have friendlier laws, regulations, rules in regard to foreigners.

In regards to my book?I have now sent query letters to more the 110 literary agents. A few have responded with rejection messages, that's expected. All I need is one acceptance.

When I'm not working on stuff related to the book or submitting short stories to various journals/magazines I download and watch certain TV shows and occasionally movies. The shows I'm currently watching include:

• Rings of Power
• The Serpent Queen
• House of the Dragon
• Blood & Treasure

Others that have finished seasons or simply been cancelled include:

• Yellowstone (season 5 is supposed to start in November)
• 1883 (season 2 is supposed to start in late '23)
• Resident Alien (season 3 is supposed to start in late '23)
• Quantum Leap (the original series)
• Westworld (supposedly no more)
• Firefly (the sci-fi series)
• Stranger Things (season 5 is supposed to start late in '23)
• Death In Paradise (season 12 is supposed to start in January '23)
• Last Man on Earth
• Dark Matter (season 4 unknown if it will happen)
• The Expanse (season 7 is supposed to start in November)
• Foundation (season 2 is supposed to start in late '23)

A hobby I took up many years ago is designing floor plans for houses. I have an architecture design program that I use to design everything needed to build a house. I do it just for fun. I have many designs, all of which are actually viable house plans. I find it relaxing to work out a house design, both inside and outside, doing some with daylight basements, some two-story, some tiny houses, and some quite large houses. I've had a couple people here in Colombia ask me to design some options for their own renovations. I don't know if they'll use my designs, but they at least have some useful options and views of them in 3D. It's not something I expect to ever do for money, it's just a hobby, and something I enjoy when not writing.