Thursday, February 7th, 2013

I got up at 7am and took my shower. Reina got up shortly after and made me coffee, followed by breakfast which consisted of a small hard roll she said was the same as juevos (eggs), a couple of small crackers, a cooked egg on an arepa, and a hot glass of milo (like ovaltine).  Then she went back to bed for 10 more minutes before she took her shower.

It’s 9am and some man is pushing a cart up the street.  It has a rainbow-colored umbrella over it and he is yelling something through a microphone.  Apparently he is selling fresh avocados.

This morning about 10am we are supposed to have our TV, Internet, and telephone installed.  If I understand Reina correctly the first month is entirely free, the 2^nd month we only have to pay for telephone and beginning with the 3^rd month we start paying for everything.  Then it is about 130,000 pesos a month ($75?).  Sounds like a bargain to me.  I hope its Wi-Fi but I won’t know for sure until the time arrives.

At 9:15 the buzzer sounds.  I thought it was the TV people here early so I buzz them up but it’s Dilan with a friend Johnpierre. 

9:50am and the TV guys arrive.  The sign on the truck says SASO but the lettering on their uniforms says “Une” on the back and “Energia integra andina” on the front.  There are 2 of them in brown uniforms with red trim and another guy in blue jeans and a blue shirt – no uniform.  The 2 guys unload some equipment and the other guy leaves with the truck.  At the same time a guy coming down the street, yelling something and pulling a cart with what looks like wrapped bushes.  Maybe there’s also manure there because a horse-like smell preceded him.  Then I hear a ruckus outside.  Apparently 2 neighbors were walking their dogs and they took exception to each other.  Now it’s 11:05 and they are pulling wire.  It’s 11:30 and there’s another guy with a pushcart apparently selling avocados and some other vegetable.

It’s 1:15 and they’re done and I have Wi-Fi; I wanted the Network Id to be GringoUS1! but it didn't turn out quite like I planned.

And we have a telephone number: 2 50 33 39 or as we would write in in the US: 250-3339.  I don’t know the city or country code but Reina thinks we can find out on Saturday.  This will come in handy because as I understand correctly Reina’s cell phone only works to other cell phones and we’ve had to use a pay phone otherwise.

We also have television reception but the only television in the house is a small one in Dilan’s room.

We then took the bus into town and took out the last of the money from my accounts – 250mil pesos – about $138.

We then took the bus to talk to Senora Martha – our landlord.  The drains are working very slowly in the kitchen sink and the showers.   Reina has been calling her all day but she doesn’t answer.  It turns out she changed her telephone number.  She said she wouldn’t be able to fix it for several days or next week.

We then took a taxi to Carrefour and I bought 30 capsules of my enlarged prostate medicine - Tamsulosin 0.4mg for 40mil pesos (appr. $22).  This is without a prescription and without any insurance. In America this was costing me $8 from CVS; $93 without insurance.

We then went to customer service and Reina got a seal for the pressure cooker she bought the day before.

Aunt Helen then met us there and we picked up some other kitchen items we needed plus a lot of food.  She paid for it for us so now we owe her 338,151 pesos for today’s purchases at Carrefour.

Aunt Helen at Carrefour

We then went straight to our apartment by taxi and unloaded everything.