CARNAVAL!

What a joy this week to head to Barranquilla for Carnaval with my best buds Shane and Ali. Barranquilla hosts the second largest Carnaval in the world, with Rio (natch) holding the top spot....

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Lima’s got vultures

I bet that’s not a headline you could have predicted. Me either! I was surprised to read a story about USAID outfitting city vultures with GPS and cameras to try to track urban dumping....

Villa de Leyva, Boyaca

It strikes me that Villa de Leyva is the perfect little Colonial town for a lazy vacation. It’s 3-4 hours’ drive from Bogota, settled in a warm valley, full of restaurants and hotels, and...

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Home turf

I’m back in Bogota and working feverishly on new queries, new agents, new chances. At the advice of a particular editor, I queried one last week and was almost instantaneously rejected. But she was...

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Positive stress

What does it mean when something has been self-published that on its face has no literary merit? Does it mean: a) the publishing world is f&%$d? b) readers have no interest in something deep...