It’s 9:45am and the garbage men have
yet to come through. Is today a
holiday? Was yesterday a holiday and garbage
pickup is now pushed back a day? I don’t
know, but I’m not the only one with garbage out on the curb today.
I got a nice email from the owner
yesterday, apologizing for the problems we’ve experienced and replying that the
landlord will be out in the next couple of day to fix our problems. Reina tells me the landlord should be here in
about an hour to start fixing the problems in the apartment.
I definitely need to get a haircut
today. I think it’s been six weeks since
my last one. That should be an
interesting experience.
10:15am and Reina sends me
downstairs to buy 10 bananas for 1000 pesos (about 55 cents) from a young guy
selling them from his push cart. After I
thanked him he said “con gusto” which I think means “my pleasure”. According to Google Translate it means
“gladly”.
10:55am and Reina asks me for 1000
pesos which she takes downstairs with a plastic dish to an old guy pushing a
shopping cart with a brightly colored umbrella over it. He begins ladling something into it from a
large pot and I hear someone buzzing our door.
(I found out just yesterday there is
a “doorbell” outside our door although it buzzes more than it rings.) There are 2 guys standing there in blue
T-shirts and jeans and the taller one starts explaining something in
Spanish. I don’t understand a single
word so I tell them in my broken Spanish “I’m sorry but I don’t speak
Spanish. My girlfriend is downstairs and
will be back in a minute.” At that
moment Reina comes up the stairs. It turns out they are there to fix the
problems we are having in our apartment.
It’s only when they walk away I can see “Obras Construccion G.A.” on the
back of one of their shirts.
I took a quick look at what’s in the
dish reina brought back and it looks and smells like creamed corn. Yesterday I told her I loved corn on the cob
and maybe this is what she promised me.
They leave and Reina explains the
landlord will be there in a few minutes to fix everything except the leaky sink
which will have to wait until Sunday.
11:55 and a different guy in blue
T-shirt and jeans shows up and promptly removed the drain cap in the guest
bathroom. He then works on the drain in
the laundry room.
It’s noon and Reina presents me with
my first Colombian corn on the cob. The
corn doesn’t look like the plump corn we grow in America for that purpose; it
looks more like field corn that is fed to animals. She roasted it on the same device she uses to
cook aripas; a “pan” she puts on a burner on the stove. Next time I’ll try to help pick out the corn.
1:15pm and the garbage men finally
arrive.
Reina served me something new with
my lunch – yucca. It is “stringy” like some
meat and tastes like potato. After
consulting Google:
“Yucca, also known as cassava, is a root
vegetable that is often overlooked in the United States. However, it is grown
as a staple food in countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.
Yucca is often used in place of potatoes, and can be boiled and mashed in a
similar fashion. It is also an excellent source of carbohydrates and vitamin
C.”
About 3pm we left to get my first
Colombian haircut. We stopped at a place
I had seen at night across the street from the local Exito. Reina didn’t want me to go in; maybe because
there were only ladies there and she thought (perhaps correctly) it was only
for women. She asked a man sitting next
to the street and he motioned to continue walking north. About a block later we were at a barbershop
and the barber (a man) was talking to another man at the entrance. Reina talked to him and then we went inside
and had a seat. Of course we had to wait
a couple minutes for him to finish his conversation. I had previously given Reina the following
instructions:
“It has been 6 weeks since my last haircut. I want them to
cut my hair, beard and moustache. I do
not want a shave. They don’t have to
shorten my sideburns, just get them the same length. Tell them I normally brush my hair straight
back. In America my barber used scissors
and a number 3 trimmer attachment on my head and a number 3 ½ trimmer
attachment on my beard and moustache. Of
course, I don’t know if those numbers mean anything here. I would rather my hair be cut too long than
too short; I can always come back again sooner.”
To make a long story short, Jose
gave me a very good haircut. I would say it was equal to what I got for 30 years
from my Italian barber. He spent 35
minutes on me and charged me 12,000 pesos (appr. $6.67). What a deal!
Then we went across the street to the Exito and Reina bought a small
broom for 15,330 pesos and bottle of floor cleaner for 1720 pesos. (BTW, I believe all purchases have an 8% tax
built into the price.)
On the way back we stopped at
a vendor’s cart next to a little park and bought a couple of fresh mangos we
ate on the spot. He cuts them into
strips and puts them in a small cup with a toothpick. It’s very tasty and only costs 1000 pesos
each. (I also saw a guy selling huge
fresh strawberries that looked delicious.
I think I’ll save that for another time.)
 |
| At the little park near our house - across the street from Viva! mall |
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