Chilean Saskatchewanderer looks back on travelling the province

With only two months left on the job, Saskatchewanderer Felipe Gomez is trying to soak in every moment he can exploring the province.

"It's been a fantastic experience. I get to explore four seasons," said Gomez. "I'm having a blast exploring in the winter and also learning lots between the difference in the south and north-central Saskatchewan."

During his ten months on the job, he has driven 50,000 km throughout the province, spending roughly five months in hotels.

"I love doing this. Even when the day is going to be hard, it's an awesome hard. I love it, I embrace it," he said.

He's been to Great Blue Herron Provincial Park, he’s dogsledded at kâniyâsihk Culture Camps, Ka Ice fished at Blackstrap Provincial Park, visited The Resort at Cypress Hills and Firesong Resort Village and much more.

"Wherever I am at the moment,” he explained. “I try to make it my favourite place and that's kind of the way I approach this."

For Gomez, Saskatchewan's prairie landscape is much different than his homeland of Chile. He's lived in Canada for the last 11 years.

"To me this has been the craziest thing that has ever happened to me to be nominated, I'm being the Saskatchewanderer," said Gomez. "Guy with an accent is doing it, it's fantastic."

The role of the Saskatchewanderer not only benefits Gomez, but also appeals to businesses across the province.

In August, The Saskatchewanderer stayed at the Bear Claw Casino on White Bear First Nation.

"When we check our social media KPI, we did see our impression has improved, our reach, our exposure," said General Manager, Bear Claw Casino Jonathan Pasap. "We noticed that through our database, we did get new customers that weren't just in our region."

Gomez's time as the Saskatchewanderer will end in the spring, and until then he just wants to enjoy exploring the province.

"Personally to me, it's been like living my own hero's journey, my own Odyssey movie happening here, it's fantastic," he said. "This is appealing to all my childhood dreams of being an adventure."

Tourism Saskatchewan will be sharing information on how to become the next Saskatchewanderer shortly.