The Global Adventures of Arguille MacGregor

By Arguille MacGregor

The series of short stories that follow are inspired by life stories of people from all walks of life. The time lines vary but the locations are assumed and also the characters names are fictitious but roles are also adaptations from life stories. The sense of adventure for Arguille MacGregor to travel to these many locations and experience the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Word Art Publishing
• Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781955070430

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The Global Adventures of Arguille

Macgregor

Arguille Macgregor

Word Art Publishing

9350 Wilshire Blvd

Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA 90212

www.wordartpublishing.com

Phone: [phone] - 1370

© 2022 Arguille MacGregor. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by Word Art Publishing

ISBN: Paperback 978-1-955070-42-3

Hardback 978-1-955070-44-7

Ebook 978-1-955070-43-0

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

Preface

THE SERIES OF short stories that follow are inspired by people from all walks of life. The timelines vary, but the locations are accurate. The characters names are fictitious, but their roles are also adapted from life stories. This series of short stories involves the adventures of Arguille Macgregor as he travels the globe. Arguille’s sense of adventure to travel to these many locations and to experience the different cultures is caused by his interest in his Scottish/Irish heritage and by having multicultural parents.

The Kidnap Attempt

SOUTH AMERICA HAD always intrigued Arguille and had stirred his curiosity when broaching the subject in conversations with his engineering friends. Acquaintances who had traveled to the various countries recanted tales of political intrigue, danger, gorgeous chicas, international cuisine, and a beautiful countryside. When a professional friend invited him to make a short-term visit to Colombia and to lend his expertise to the design and construction quality of a totally integrated mine facility in the remote Colombian jungle, he accepted his invitation during the same conversation.

His visit to Colombia would require frequent trips to operations and the port vessel loading operations from his living quarters, which would be in Caesar and Santa Marta respectively. As the operations expanded, many new infrastructures and facility projects would have to be designed, erected, and commissioned to international standards, which would be the direct responsibility of Arguille.

The port had received its total mine production from the 120-kilometer (75-mile) rail line, had stored the material, and had put it on one-hundred-thousand-ton Panamax ocean vessels for transport to various international customers. Panamax vessels met the dimensional limits of the Panama Canal. All rail traffic went through guerilla-active areas from mine to port.

An expatriate staff was maintained for administration and supervision. Because the facility operated on a 24-7 schedule, it required dining facilities for all workers and living quarters for the expats. The expats’ living quarters included a safe room with eighteen-inch-thick reinforced concrete walls and massive steel doors. The safe room was for the security of expats in the event of an attack by guerrilla forces. The guerrilla forces were members of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). FARC was a communist left-wing military organization that supported itself f inancially through drug sales and k idnapping-ransom dollars.

Port operations were situated on the Caribbean’s coastline (latitude ten degrees), which gave it a tropical climate with palm trees, sandy beaches, iguanas, ocean breezes, and mosquitoes. Because the three types of climate varied from hot, wet, to hotter, many indigenous varieties of cacti were prolific in the severe dry seasons of November through January.

The supervisors worked a two-week-on-one-week-off basis. They traveled by