Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

Right after breakfast this morning I sent a wire transfer for the balance of the apartment rental to the owner who lives in Miami.  I was so happy I was able to do this online from my CITI Bank account.

Right after I finished the wire transfer I received a Skype call from the moderator of the Colombian Expat forum.  I had sent him an SMS message a few days ago.  We chatted for a while and I learned from him how important it was not to be late on submitting my Cedula.  I have 15 days from when I got here to do that.  That means I have until next Monday.  He reminded me to contact Social Security and the US Embassy in Bogota and give them my new address.  He gave me the name of another American expat (Tommy Cornish) I should contact and he would introduce me to the other expats in town.

We finally got out about 10:30am.  First we went downtown and exchanged $200 for more pesos.

Then I called my USAA bank to ensure I was going to be able to get my money.  I notified them I was in Medellin, Colombia so they wouldn’t be upset by so many transactions from here.  I also found out I have a $8000 a day transaction limit and no limit on the number of daily transactions.  (I think that should be enough since that's a lot more than I'll ever have in my account.  Lol)  The most interesting thing about the call is it was done using a phone from a guy sitting in a plastic chair on a street corner in downtown Medellin.  He had about 8 phones chained to his body and people would come up to him, give him some money and he would hand them a cell phone.  In my case he gave me what looked like an extension from a landline and we paid him after the call.  Anyway, it worked.

We had a copy made of the Cedula application, just in case I mess up the first one, for about 25 cents.

Then we had lunch in a shopping mall again.  This time I had a hamburger, French fries, and a coke.  The hamburger had something on it that would best be described as a thick slice of Canadian bacon.  I didn’t care for it at all.  She called it key-se-neta (sp?).  I wrote it down so I can ask them not to put it on my burger in the future.

Then we went to inquire about a package I had sent to myself using her name and address.  It contained a few chess books and chess pieces I would like to use with a chess table I would like to have built someday.  They said it would take 20 more days.  Doesn’t make much sense but how can I argue.

Then we drove what seemed like the edge of town and talked to a man about beds.  It was obvious they make them right there in his shop.  They are cheaper there but we have to wait 20 days for them.

Then we went to another location and picked out mattresses.  It costs 900,000 pesos for our larger bed and 600,000 pesos for each of the other 2 bedrooms.  We’ll come back on Friday or Saturday when my social security for February has been deposited into my account.

Then we stopped at another shop and bought roller skates we are going to use Sunday morning outside the stadium.

Then we stopped at the store of the couple we had been at last Saturday night.  They have a paper store where it appears they cut paper to specific sizes.  I’m not sure what else they do there.

Then we went back to Aunt Helen’s house where I received an email from the owner of the apartment.  She said she did not receive the payment and could I sent it to a different routing number.  I did an online chat with a CitiBank rep and they told me I had to call their Wire Transfer line.

Reina and I went across the street to the same internet cafe we used last time I called Citibank and they were closed.  They guy kept saying malo malo malo so apparently something wasn't working.  We then walked 4 blocks to another internet cafe and tried a number of times unsuccessfully to reach the number Citibank had given me to talk about wire transfers.  Then I tried the number that worked for me the other day and it didn't work either.  So I went back home and emailed Mrs. Montes “Is the number you gave me an invalid number or as you said it will work but will just take longer?”

Now I’m going to start completing the application for the Cedula.