Saturday 20 April 1811
I always wonder why I some times have trouble keeping on my plans, and this is not quite too good for the leader I pretend to be(come).
Now I am changing my plans again and facing a trip to New York. I suppose I do not have to expect the New York I always wanted to know uptime but my adventurous planingless spirit is driving me there.
I sometimes want to be leading armies against the Spaniards, and building a nation and I have making plans on the political system and the geographical divisions of my version of Colombia, smaller than Miranda's but larger than Bolívar's. But these planes change too much that I cannot see which of them I will finally stick to if any. Of course, things can be so different to my plans that some times I don't see a point in planning too much.
Things in Argentina already started and with Bolívar and San Martín looking for support in Frankfurt and what I lived in Santa Fe de Bogotá, I know something will happen. Since I arrived downtime rumors on an imminent war between the USA and Spain are more and more common and looking the way people have cheered the heroes of Cańón Negro, chances are that this war is really coming.
Marianne believes I am an important revolutionary. So Vegard presented me and Lozano to her and to anybody else here in the States. I do not know yet if I am. Not in the way I uptime portrayed Bolívar, less so an uptime guerrilla leader, but, well, this is good enough for these North-Americans who would otherwise mistrust Lozano or me as Spanish subjects. Well. Lozano is indeed a revolutionary.
For my part, I am revolutionary. I mean, I was uptime a liberal democrat trying to find my position between free market and commitment for the people whole, who thought that an state should be powerful enough to grant all peoples their fundamental rights. If I map these ideas on downtime standards I am a hell of a revolutionary. What I am not is an anti-royalist or a fervent independentist. If a monarch can grant a democratic autonomous regime that favors the people I will support that monarchy.
But for these North Americans and for Marianne, it is better if they believed I am an important revolutionary leader. Safer for me, too. Marianne is really a nice lady and a beautiful woman and I was pleased to chat with her. I never thought someone would be delightful listening to my theories on how brain chemistry and religion combine as a justification of my agnosticism and on the evolution of languages as memes. Of course, she was most interest on my plans to develop the Darien region.
The Valberg kids were another thing. Running, screaming. Vegard and Marianne are very proud of them, mainly the newborn as, well, he is the novelty. But probably the fact I do not have kids yet do not let me joy with them. I like kids. I really do. But sometimes they become a little annoying. Well, everytime they become too tiring Vegard and Marianne just call their nannies. Probably I had to find a good woman and rise a family. This has lasted too long that I can well say that I am not married anymore and Beatriz is just uptime in some other timeline on a parallel universe I will never go back.
Lozano is fine. He is really delightful in this mansion observing everything. The current water system in the house, the birds, the small mammals, the sanitary installations, Vegard's library, etc. He is missing his family though, hoping they are safe in the house of his brother. I have promised him that on my return to New Granada I should see for a way to ship his family to the USA along with all his notes on the fauna of Cundinamarca if he has to stay here as ambassador.
This mansion is really nice. A big, well build house, with some elements of the Nordic architecture, while also a pretending Southern plantation house in the middle of no plantation. This is more or less what I expected from references Vegard has made. When I arrived I appreciated the modern commodities like the bathrooms almost without realizing how estrange this was downtime until I saw how Lozano was surprised at any new gadget he found.
He was also delightful on the forests. Vegard's mansion is actually a big fancy cabin in the middle of the forest. This is nice for me, as I rather look at some trees through the window when waking up in the morning than any plantation, and the forest is also a nice place to rest. This morning I was waking through it with Lozano and Vegard's oldest son, trying to look and describe all animals we could find. I am just trying to remember which language we were using... I guess we were making up the names of most of what we saw. Anyhow this was much more fun than yesterday's speeches.
Anyhow, too much time in this mansion is beginning to bore me. Probably that is the main reason I want to go to New York. I am definitively a city dweller and being in plantations, in the jungle or in a mansion in the middle of the forest, while is a big way to rest for a while, is not actually my environment. Hmm. However this mansion has more of a modern city environment than these downtime cities. But I really enjoyed New Orleans and I hope to enjoy New York, Richmond and Washington. Anyhow, I am looking forward to interview with Doug, Logan, Jefferson and finally came back to New Granada with all the stuff to actually test myself as a leader and see if I can build a nation out of these Spanish colonies.
-- Carlos E. T. Pinzón G.
Valberg Mansion, Hanover County
Virginia, United States of America