Breakfast
at the hotel. Took taxi to Centro (which
I recently learned means downtown). My
knee has been bothering me a little so I decided to take more taxis for a
while. If we are going to pay 6 months
of rent up front I decided it might be best to not use the bank and pay in
cash. So we made 2 withdrawals of
300,000 pesos each ($150) from the ATM machine.
We then went to a government office to continue the
search for my Cedula. At one point we
went into the basement of a building and were given a number and we sat down
waiting for our turn just like what I had experienced a number of times
recently in the local social security office.
When our turn was called about 20-30 minutes later, the lady told Reina we
had to go to another location. So back
up the ramp, around the corner and across the square to another location. Reina talked to security and he sent us
downstairs. When we got downstairs we
realized we were in the same location where we had just waited for 20-30
minutes. We both broke out laughing. So
we went back upstairs and talked to the guard again. I won’t bore you with the details but
eventually we found out we have to go to Bogota to get the Cedula (I vaguely
remember reading about other expats saying the new rule is you have to go to
Bogota.) I had visions of my money
running out before we had a chance to rent an apartment. But Reina convinced me it was an inexpensive,
short (1 hour) plane trip to Bogota.
BTW, security officers around this building included
at least 2 with guard dogs. Now I’ve
seen security guards (private & public) with no weapons, night sticks,
pistols, shotguns, and automatic weapons.
A note about entrepreneurship (or should I say
survivalists). I swear you can buy
anything on the street if you can’t find it in the stores or small kiosks. When you are on a bus and it makes a stop,
some guy will get on the bus and hand out (or at least try) something to each
of the passengers. Once it was copies of
puzzle pages. Sometimes it’s a religious
poster or a snack. Then before we get to
the next stop he will go through the aisles again either taking the “gift” back
or money for it. The same thing happens in
taxis at stop lights. A guy goes to each
car handing out something and then comes around before the light changes for
the money or whatnot. Very interesting. People are always on the street trying to
hand you some literature but we just say “No, gracias” and they don’t bother
you further.
BTW, when we were once again in the area around
Parque Bolivar I noticed a couple of young ladies with perfect butts and
chests. Yep. All silicone and they were men. Transvestites? Transsexuals?
Who knows? Who cares?
We then went to her Aunt Helen’s house and she
served us lunch: chicken soup, steak with BBQ sauce, rice, and something else I
can’t explain. She also had some peas
but I declined more than a bite of those.
I’ve never liked peas.
While we were there Reina called the lady who owns
the apartment building and I talked to her in English. Her name is Margarita Montes and she lives in
Miami, Florida. She agreed to rent us
the apartment if I would send her a copy of my social security card and
driver’s license. (The rest of the
information she needed she would get from Walter at the apartment rental
office.)
We stopped back at the hotel where I picked up my
memory drive and (just in case) my laptop.
We went to another office where we had the lady copy my social security
and driver’s license to my memory stick and also email it to the apartment
lady.
We stopped at a store and Reina bought a pair of flip-flops. (She had been wearing my sandals around the
hotel room. She looked pretty funny with
her little feet in my big sandals.) She
also bought a nice pair of strappy grey sandals that were on sale for $15.
We stopped at a $1 store and she bought a bottle of
nail polish and I bought a yellow highlighter.
We then stopped at the local Exito (kind of like a
Walmart) and she picked up a few things for her mother’s house (bread, chips,
arepas, etc.). I tried using my debit
card for a straight purchase but it didn’t work. I’ll try another time. On the way out, she inquired and we found out
we could get home phone, television, and internet (wi-fi) for about $75 a
month.
We then went to her mother’s house and I received an
email from the owner of the apartment who told us she would have the apartment
office draw up the papers for us. Yeah!
Between 7pm-8pm, we met with Walter Lora (320-694
4563) from the apartment agency (Propiedades & Proyectos S.A.S Laureles:
Cra. 80B No. 32EE-78; www.propiedadesyproyectos.com.co) to discuss the final
costs for the rental. We met at a Cinnabon
in a small shopping mall (where I got an inconsistent Wi-Fi connection) for
translation purposes. He needs 1,300,000
pesos per month ($650) for the apartment x 6 months = 7,800,000 pesos ($3900) +
$1000 deposit for the utilities (which is returned when we leave the apartment)
for a total of about $5000 or 10,000,000 pesos.
So far I have only withdrawn 300,000 pesos ($150) each time from the ATM
so we will go to CITI bank tomorrow and see if we can withdraw the entire
amount.
Reina and I shared a chicken dinner at a restaurant called
Leno’s & Carbon in the mall.
I received a letter at Reina’s address from Social
Security. Because I am out of the
country I will now be receiving my payments the 3rd of the month
instead of the 2nd Wednesday of the month as before.
On the way back to the hotel it was obvious everyone
was out partying. The music was a little
noisy coming into the hotel so I set one of my iPad apps to sound like a
rainstorm. (I really haven’t had any
trouble sleeping, maybe because of all the walking.)
BTW, I received an email this morning from my
brother that he will visit us from Friday March 8th to Thursday the
14th.
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