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A Collection of Short Stories
Two hearts, two countries, one love
July 2, 2024
Those of you who followed me on my backpacking journey of South America will know there were some cities/towns that I wrote about which I liked and some I wrote that I didn't like. In reviewing my journey I thought about listing those towns I specifically wrote that I liked for everyone to see and read about. The towns I decided I liked covered a variety of areas, sizes, climates, and in several of the countries that I visited.
June 24, 2024
I arrived in Arequipa, Perú on April 23, 2024, and moved into an apartment on May 3. Today is June 24, so I have now been in Arequipa for 2 months and this is how I'm feeling—uncertain about staying for long. Yes, I signed a one-year contract for the apartment, but I'm finding it difficult to acclimate to this area. The problem? The altitude and the climate, both. The altitude here at my apartment is 2446 meters, which is 8026 feet. That's high, and all of my life prior to Arequipa I've always lived below 1000 meters, actually the prior high elevation was 960 meters (3150 feet), and that was only about a year-and-a-half. Tucson, AZ, where I lived for about 7 years is at 728 meters (2389 feet), and prior to there I was in the Seattle area, near sea level. So, with all that said, my body is not acclimating to the high altitude of Arequipa even at 2 months.
June 17, 2024
I left Roldanillo, Colombia on October 30, 2022. I traveled to Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and a few border towns in Brazil. I did this trip not as a vacation, but as a journey to find a town to be my new hometown. Being that this journey was to find a new hometown and that one purpose only, I did not visit many tourist locations. I concentrated on what the towns offered: their cleanliness, friendliness, beauty, and walkability.
May 13, 2024
My writing journey is only beginning. My writing journey started in 2018, eight years after my wife of 28 years, Cheryl, unexpectedly died of a massive stroke. The intervening years were rough, to say the least. I spent a lot of time during the first year just sitting and contemplating in the Sonoran Desert. We had left the Seattle, Washington area in 2006 and relocated to the much warmer climes of Tucson, Arizona. During those times of introspection in the desert, I learned a lot about myself but I still suffered from her loss. Eventually, I decided I needed a complete, 100% change in my life.
May 5, 2024
I am now settled into a 2-bedroom apartment in Arequipa, Perú. From both of the bedrooms is a view of Volcán Misti, or Misti Mountain, a dormant volcano. Very close by is the dormant volcano group called Volcán Chachani. Arequipa sits in a valley at an average of 2328 meters (7638 feet) above sea level. The lowest part of the city is 2,041 meters (6,696 ft) above sea level at the western side of the valley in the area called Huayco Uchumayo while the highest is located at 2,810 meters (9,220 ft) above sea level where the urban sprawl extends up the side of Misti. The Chili River splits the city center in half. The Chili River is fed from the nearby volcanos.