Dispatches - 4 May 2025 - Wrapping Up in Mexico

I'm just a week away from heading back to the United States from Tulum, Mexico. Honestly, I'm ready to head out. Not necessarily to head home, but to head out. Writing my book took a lot less time than I thought it would, and I've had to learn to be patient when it comes to getting a travel writing gig going. I've got plenty of ideas and plans, but as a new professional writer, slow and steady wins the race. I've got some feelers out to some newspapers for travel columns, so we'll see how that goes. The Intrepid Times accepted an article for publication, so that's a great start and gives me an idea of an angle to take with them.

Pre-sales on the book have not gone as well as expected. I originally had modest expectations, but the number of friends, family members, and fellow travellers that said they would order it as soon as it came out made me aim a bit higher. Unfortunately, those have turned out to be mostly empty words. Granted, I know people don't like to pre-order, so maybe come May 25th sales will jump. Assuming, of course, I can get the various printers to sort through their system issues. Barnes and Noble's system has thrown an error with my ISBN (the unique number assigned to every edition/version of a book), and Amazon's system keeps encountering an "unexpected error" when processing the manuscript. I still have time, so that's not a concern, but it is annoying.

Looking ahead, I've been thinking a lot on the future. I've got an ambitious 20 months ahead of me. The coming month and a half in Texas are going to be fast-paced as I visit friends, move my stuff from Colorado, and prepare for the next expedition. Once I land in Madrid, I'm going to be balls to the walls with hiking across the Earth. I'm going to be tired by the end, but that's ok. I'm actually looking forward to it. I plan on exploring history, culture, and religion thematically with each hike, starting with the New Testament on the Camino de Santiago in July. By a quirk of the calendar, the plan is to finish with the Old Testament in Israel in November/December of 2026.

I've also taken a long, hard look at the financial situation and where I can tighten down the budget to keep going for as long as possible. When Jo and I were going around the world, we didn't have much in the way of a plan, and we decided to be flexible for that reason. We spent more money than we anticipated, but not by much, and every time we went over budget (mostly at her cajoling), it was a thousand percent worth it. Now, though, I've got an actual plan, courtesy of the writing aspirations, which means an easier time with the budget. Most of the heavy expenses will come from hiring guides in a couple of places on my next expedition. Outside of that, accommodation and food are about all I will have to pay for. It's really looking like I can take my bank account from lasting another 35 months to lasting another 120-240 months. If I can make that happen, that will really work out for the long-term writing career.

Bullfighting season is in full swing, now. Everyday, the news outlets host live updates, summaries, and reports from bullrings across Spain. Because OneToro botched the Ferias de San Miguel and Otoño last year, they've been frozen out of Madrid and Sevilla. Fortunately, Canal Sur has broadcast a few from Sevilla's Feria de Abril, although not the ones with Borja Jiménez, which I really wanted to see. From the videos I saw, he did really well, even better than last Feria de Abril, and I am convinced he will be a figura someday. He may even outdo Roca Rey in the long term. Maybe if I decided to go the torero route, he will give me my alternative? That would be awesome!