Sunday, March 24th, 2013

I don’t think I’ve been out of the apartment for 2 or 3 days now.  (Not that I have money to go anywhere – down to our last 64mil and still at least a week before my next cash infusion.)  

The weather has been cooler than usual – highs seem to be in the 70s instead of the 80s which, especially during the heat of the day, is fine with me.

8:10am – A guy comes up the street carrying newspapers but whatever he is yelling doesn’t sound like Spanish for news, newspaper, or Sunday.  The neighbor comes home at just the right time and buys a newspaper from him.  I think he gave him a 2mil and 1mil bill and received change so I guess it must cost a little less than 3mil ($1.65).

Reina mentioned to me that we haven’t been out for days and she want to take a walk this afternoon.  Fine with me.

I just took a look at the calendar on my iPad and I see that next Sunday is Easter.  That means today is Palm Sunday and this is holy week.  From what Reina said weeks ago it sounds like we’ll be attending some church services later this week.  

10:45 and I swear I hear what sounds like a high school band just west of us.  We’re about 100 yards from the corner and through that small cross street comes a combination of what I would call a band and altar boys, followed by lot of people with palms, umbrellas (most likely to protect them from the sun) and flags.  Next comes people holding up a few small statues followed by a larger one that looks like Jesus riding a donkey.  Next is a priest with a microphone and loud speakers leading singing, followed by about 8 large statues that probably represent the disciples.  They stopped often in the intersection and the whole procession took about 15 minutes to go by.  It’s times like this that I really wish I had my camera.

11:20 and I can hear them again all the way down (east) at the other end of the street.  

11:25 - I just walked out on the balcony at the exact moment a large palm leaf falls off the tree across the street.  It’s about 6 feet long.  I had been watching it because it was obviously dead and I expected one of the recent storms to bring it down.  Now there’s only a small breeze but I guess that was enough.

12:00 and a man rides a bicycle down the street yelling something in his microphone carrying large pots of something.

12:05 and a man comes walking up the street yelling something and carrying parts that go inside a toilet tank.

1pm and lunch is chicken soup, rice with a slice of lunchmeat and a couple slices of tomato and juice.

Today one of the Colombian Expats sent this old article (2012) about Medellin being named the most innovative city in the world so I thought I’d include most of it here:

During the last decade, Medellín has become one of the most popular cities in Colombia thanks to its educational initiatives, strong security measures and original ideas on transportation and urban design.

These reasons have earned Medellín the honor of being named the most innovative city in the world by the Urban Land Institute and Citibank. This great recognition is another reason to feel very proud of being Colombian.

Check out these amazing facts about Medellín:

• Medellín has the only Metro system in Colombia. According to authorities, it has helped to reduce Medellín’s CO2 emissions by 175,000 tons each year.
• In 2011, Medellín opened a large outdoor escalator, allowing residents of the city’s elevated Comuna 13 neighborhood to safely ride down the steep hillside.
• According to the Global Competitiveness Index, Medellín is ranked the No. 1 most competitive city in Colombia.
• Medellín hosted the South American Games back in 2010. It gathered 3.633 athletes in 40 different disciplines, making it the most successful games to date.
• Medellín is considered the first city in the world to implement a cable car system (MetroCable) as a mass transportation system. (Plus, it’s solar powered!) Inspired by this, Brazil is incorporating a similar system for its 2016 Olympic Games.

These are just some examples of why Medellín deserves to be named the most innovative city in the world.

About 3pm Jesus came over with his wife, son Dylan, and baby.  They stayed until about 4pm. Jesus took my old umbrella – he’s going to try to get it fixed again downtown.

Right away we left for Angela’s it was a 30 minute walk there and 35 minutes back.  Reina wanted to see Aunt Helen who was visiting Angela.  We had a little to eat there: chicken, arepa, bread, and hot chocolate.

As soon as we got home Reina told me she saw something on the balcony that apparently frightened her.  It was another small lizard.  I tried to catch it but it kept alluding – eventually I just stomped on it and threw it over the balcony.  Even then it wasn’t easy to kill.  It appeared to really bother Reina that I killed it.  I didn’t want to do it I just got tired of chasing it.