I planned on marking up the entire town of Puerto Colombia using portable GPS units, however due to international emergencies I was only able to stay there for a stressful six months. I went on few hikes including some to the nearby mountains and deep into town and its outskirts. Managed to climb a few trees, see some local vegetation, eat some wild fruit, test some of my gear and prepare myself for later adventures. I did hike for over 40 miles to Santa Veronica which was lots of fun and found the small towns along the way poetic and being similar to those in Cuba, very familiar. I also took 3 or 4 bus rides which were over 20 hours long with breaks at hubs and small towns filled with fruit trees, farms and Latin American country lifestyle. Small churches, woodworks, restaurants with rustic wooden benches, noticeable political and social change, adverts annoucing technology, overcrowded light posts and lots of new construction.
Hadn't it been for the Omicron wave of Covid and a war in Russia, I would have been able to complete my hike across the entire northern coast, along the Caribbean sea bordering the entire country. Hikes around Puerto and venturing into the mountains was only training for I planned on finishing the northern coast and the amazon epedition as my entrées (main dish) assignments. The marking of the town I designed to be a challenge-like assignment, and to store it for nostalgia. It was also a means to gather numerical and biological data to build an expedition computer.
During the trip I used a Garmin handheld Map 64st and a first generation Garmin 5 Fenix watch, without maps. The handheld takes 2 AA batteries and I found cheap rechargeable sets at the hardware store in Barranquilla. I managed to download open topographical maps compatible with the device and fit enough of them in to the attached sd card to map the entire land mass of the earth. Some of the open maps have beautiful details with pretty graphics and indicators, geocaching was also fun and I checked some locations, I just didn't have the time for a full blown expedition.
Graphic designs for expeditions from my Numbers campaign presentations.
I worked on it over time in preparation to explore the Amazon forest. Collected modules and developed/customized them using present experiences of my gear, materials available, my physical and mental state, and the environs.
Getting to know the different biomes, the flora and fauna, the ecosystems and food chains in order to enjoy, catalogue, study them, and stay healthy during the expeditions. I also found free pdfs online about previous treks into the forest by civilians and US army military training guides on pdf (some general others jungle directed). I also ran across Henry Ford's ford city in Brazil which I added to my curious toy chest.
A list of literature to inspect before the Amazon expedition, something to chew on and play with while hiking and mapping town. I was supposed to record the expeditions with GPS and broadcast them and publish the rest after the endeavor, it was supposed to be a personal challenge but also a means to raise funds for nature conservancy. However due to the pandemic emergency I had to postpone the expedition.
"Guerra avisada no mata soldado"...
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