Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

8:30am Sitting outside with Angel this morning I saw the recycling guy come up the street with some stuff but what was surprising is that preceding him was one of those “turkey vultures” I saw at the waterpark hopping ahead of him.  I’m guessing it’s injured and can’t fly anymore.  A few minutes later I saw him down the street eating something he had found amongst the garbage lining the street.

The recycling guy has so much stuff today I don’t know how he’s going to be able to carry it all away at one time.

I previously mentioned Yahoo’s Colombia Expat forum.  I read all 2,200+ postings there before I made my move to Medellin.  I still get a lot of useful advice there through daily emails.  A recent posting there started “My husband got a job offer in Phnom Penh and we are thinking to make a move in August so our kids (4 and 6) can start school in the fall semester.”  There were a number of expat responses but one of the best was “I have heard that some Americans are bad at geography, but not knowing to what CONTINENT you are going......what?????”

10:20 the garbage men finally came through; according to the sign on their truck, Medellin is a candidate city for the 2018 Juvenile Olympics.  I noticed then that the recycling guy had already left.

Angel is definitely getting a voice.  It’s more like a whimper or whine; only once so far did I hear something like a bark.  He’s also getting more teeth: the 2 I saw on top originally are now 4 on top and I can see others about to come through his gums.  That’s probably why he’s chewing on everything including us.  We’re probably going to get him a rubber chew toy today.

Now that Angela paid me back it’s nice to have a little cash in my pocket.  I can really empathize with Cheryl, the character in the book I’m reading as many times she doesn’t have money to buy something at stops on the Pacific Cast Trail.

I got an email from my brother today.  He told me he would save his pennies and come visit me late in the year and show me some basic cooking skills.  By then, if I don’t have a girlfriend cooking for me at least occasionally, I should be pretty tired of cheap restaurant food. 

Since we were going to the Immigration office I decided to dress up a little: dress shirt instead of t-shirt, jeans instead of shorts, and my newest gym shoes with socks instead of sandals.  It had been another relatively cool day with overcast skies so I hoped I wasn’t going to be too warm.

We left about 1pm.  It’s in Belen, a barrio south of Laureles.  We took a taxi south on Avenida 80 to Calle 19 then turned right and went west a couple blocks to the Immigration Office on the right.  (Their phone number is 345 5500 Ext. 1060.)  We checked in at the main gate again where they gave us our badges.  (Badges? Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!  Sorry, about that!)  We then went to the building behind it, checked in, the lady took my passport, and we took a seat.  I asked Reina how many Americans she thought were there now.  I pointed to 3 with my hand and she told me that wasn’t polite and I should point with my elbow.  Ok.  That sure looks funny to me.  Anyway, Reina asked me what my passport number was as it appeared they were calling people by the last 2 digits of their passport number.  I had to pull out my photocopy to see what it was.  So, I’m sitting there saying “cinco siete” to myself so with her accent I wouldn’t miss her calling me.  After about 15 minutes a lady came out and called me by my first and middle names - I’m guessing that maybe she only used the passport number for names she couldn’t even hope to pronounce.  I went inside with the others who were called, all those who I thought were American plus 1 more named David which she pronounced Dahveed.  She handed each of us our Cedula and I understood we were to check it for accuracy and then sign our name in a book – which I did.  She also electronically fingerprint scanned my index finger – I guess to ensure I was who I said I was.  Then she gave each of us our passports back.

My Cedula expires on January 11, 2014.  (They must have set it for 1 year from when I received my Pensionado Visa rather than from when I arrived in Colombia.)  We returned our badges and walked out to the street.

Reina was going to take buses to visit her mom but first she set me up with a taxi.   The first taxi we saw told Reina that he didn’t go to Medellin.  Strange!  So we walked down to Avenida 80 and across the street I saw a large building with the name Saludcoop on it.  This is the name of an insurance company that a lot of the Colombian expats have been recommending.  Which reminds me - I need to talk to Reina about getting public medical insurance.  From what I’ve heard from other expats I don’t qualify for private medical insurance because I’m over 59 years old.

On the way back to the apartment I changed my mind had the driver drop me off at Viva! Mall.  I checked out some of the prices of things at Exito: I can get a nice good sized TV for $500-$600, a Washer Dryer combination for $1000-$1100, a refrigerator for $750-$1000, a Canon Powershot camera for $150-$175.  I also saw t-shirts for about $10 but there’s a place between here and Angela’s I want to check out where the price for men’s t-shirts might be better.  I found an inexpensive can of men’s shaving cream (in English no less) for about 2mil to clean Angel before he’s big enough for a real bath.  On the grocery store side I found a small package of cornmeal (for killing ants) for about 2mil.

I then went over to Laureles Mall and found a package of small chew bones at the pet shop for about 6mil that we’ll probably buy later.  For about 17mil I see I can get a 2-piece fried chicken dinner combo at Frisby.  I had a single scoop chocolate chip ice cream cone there for 2mil.  

When I got home I had an email from my son that he had deposited the emergency money I need to pay my utility & communications bills into my CitiBank account.  Because it was cash it should be immediately available for my use.

First we went to the pet store La Casa del Granjero in Laureles Mall and bought some mini biscuits for Angel to teeth on and some mild soap so we can give her a bath from the neck down (14mil total).  Then we went across the street to Viva! and I took out enough pesos to pay for my bills and buy some groceries.  Next we stopped at Exito and bought some food.

When we got home Angel really enjoys her mini biscuits.  It almost seemed like it had catnip in it.