Roaming South America

Walking Thoughts: Arequipa, Arequipe, Birds, and Bread

August 7, 2026

I walk a lot.

At least twice a day, usually three times. Not for exercise exactly, though that's a bonus, but because walking does something useful to the mind. It loosens the bolts. It lets thoughts drift without demanding they arrive anywhere on time.

These walks are when I'm not thinking about my books. Which is precisely when the best thoughts tend to show up.

One walk recently meandered to birds.

Finding the Quiet: Why My Shortlist for a New Home Ignores the Coast

March 5, 2026

What is it about coastal towns that makes them pretty much always "messier"? I'm talking specifically about these countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Chile, and Uruguay. The vast majority of interior towns are almost always cleaner, friendlier, prettier, etc.

I'm not imagining it. This pattern shows up everywhere I've been, and that includes 7 countries and over 300 towns/cities (in South America), and it’s not a cultural coincidence. It’s geography, economics, and human behavior piling up in the same places.

Here’s the straight, unsentimental anatomy of why coastal towns skew messier, while interior towns often feel cleaner, calmer, and more human. The comparisons below are to be taken with a very general understanding.

My South America Journey - A Brief Summary - Part 3

November 26, 2025

I’ve finally settled into Roldanillo, Colombia, where I’ll be for at least five months. Maybe longer, maybe not, residency is technically an option, but I doubt I’ll spend my days wrestling with immigration offices when I could be drinking coffee in the plaza. Besides, residency in Perú and Ecuador is easier than in Colombia. Before I get too comfortable, I want to rewind and share the trip that brought me here: a winding route through Peru, Ecuador, and into Colombia.

When “Adiós” Doesn’t Mean Goodbye

October 29, 2025

Today, as I walked down the street (here in Roldanillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia), an older woman stood in her doorway as she does every day. I walk this block almost every day as it is between where I live and downtown. She smiled, raised a hand, and said, ‘¡Adiós!’, same as she does every day. I waved, said, "buenas tardes," and then kept walking. This has happened in all seven countries I have visited in South America, not just once or twice, but consistently.

On the road, again

March 10, 2025

Yes, I'm on the road, again. If you have been following my journey across and up and down South America, you might remember I wrote that I was in Paraguay and planned on staying there. Well, I've changed my mind.

This time my visit to Encarnación was during the summer months - mid-December to early February. And my word, it's hot! After seven years in Tucson, Arizona, and 9 years on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, I thought I was well acclimated to hot weather. But I certainly wasn't acclimated enough for the hot summer in Encarnación!