Friday, May 3rd, 2013

Another rough night.  Went to bed at 10pm but couldn’t get to sleep.  Had a slight headache so I took 2 Excedrin Migraine and finally that went away.  Woke up about 2am to a heavy rain that lasted about an hour.

Took out the garbage, took my shower, had my coffee with the Sun-Times then opened my new exercise mat.  It’s good sized but pretty thin especially when kneeling on it.  I did some warm-ups and then a few yoga type exercises.  I’ll wait to start with the dumbbells next week.

Walked down to Exito and bought 2 AA batteries as backup for my mouse, toothpaste, garbage bags, plastic gloves (Super Domestico size 8), and a pair of Bermuda shorts.  And I finally found a cheaper bag of milk (Exito generic?) for 1,630 pesos.  I think tomorrow morning I’ll buy a banana to go with my cereal.

Garbage truck came around at 9:20.

After breakfast I continued with the cleaning.  I forgot I had to clean the guest bathroom so now that’s done and the dining room area.  While that’s drying I left to pick up the shorts I left a couple weeks ago to be altered.  I waited 20 minutes while he went through all his plastic bags looking for my shorts.  He doesn’t give out a receipt so he has nothing to match back to the original item and no delivery date nor amount owed – it’s all done verbally.  At least the shorts were fixed nicely and cheaply 7mil = $3.89.  I think that would probably cost $10-$20 in the states.  I dropped off my new shorts when I picked up the altered pair.  (I’ll probably do the same thing Tuesday with another pair of pants.)  Seems I’m a 33 in a world where my closest size is 32 or 34.  Luckily it doesn’t cost much to get them altered.

Reina is coming by about 2 or 3 or 4 today to pick up everything she left behind.

I went to Laureles Mall and had a Combo #1 at Gordog’s: hamburger, fries, coke and something called Maizitis for 16,500 pesos.  The picture of Maizitis looked like a small bowl of creamed corn and maize means corn so I thought I was safe.  Turns out the bowl contains a layer of corn kernels covered with some type of cheese.  I ate some of it and then removed the cheese and ate the rest of the corn.  I could have saved 5,500 pesos if I had gotten Combo #3 which does not include the Maizitis.  While I was there the security guard that walks around with the shotgun went up to the table next to me and said something to the young lady there.  She immediately took her cell phone from the side of the table and put it in her purse so I think she was just told to be more careful with her valuables.

Which reminds me, I got a nice email today from a man who read my blog after I sent the URL out to everyone at Colombian Expats.  He has lived in Panama and Colombia and has traveled to other South American countries.  After thanking me for taking the time to create the blog he cautioned me I might be compromising my safety by giving out so many details as to where I live and where and when I go to take money out of the ATM machine.  I’m still waiting to hear back from him after my reply but I’ll probably soon be removing my picture and other details.

On the way back I stopped at Exito and bought 12 rolls of toilet paper (Suave Gold) for 15,950 pesos.  

2pm Electrician came and fixed the overhead light in the 3^rd bedroom.

Reina showed up about 4pm and took the last of her things.  I helped her carry them to a taxi.  I asked her where we bought the white Cannon bath towel and she said Carrefour.  I want to get a matching hand towel and washcloth.  I asked her how to clean the kitchen stove and she said to use the Loza Crem tub of soap and the soft scouring pad.  After she left I cleaned the stove.  Now the whole house is done!

On the way back I stopped at a little stand and for 1mil (55 cents) I bought a bag of Chirros.  Here they roll them into tight little rings and coat them in sugar and there were 8 or 9 in a little paper bag.

Reina uses the blue soap on colored clothes after soaking in Fab and uses Fab only on the whites.

I just checked and the Los Molinos cinema is showing Oblivion with subtitles.  (Of course they are all showing the new Iron Man 3.)  That means instead of dubbing the entire movie in Spanish only, they show the original movie in English with Spanish subtitles.  And it’s basically showing every 3 hours from noon to 9pm.  Maybe I’ll go see it one afternoon this coming week.  That’s actually the closest movie theater to me.  Here’s their interesting rate structure:

Rates Box Office

Monday, Wednesday & Thursday Cineco Card: $ 7000 - $ 8000 Preferred
Non-holiday Tuesday: $ 7,000 - $ 8,000 Prefrerencial
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 3:00 pm and after 10:30 pm: $ 7,000 - $ 8,000 Preferred
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between 3:00 pm and 10:30 pm: $ 7,500 - $ 9,500 Preferred
Friday to Sunday and holidays Cineco Card: $ 7000 - $ 9000 Preferred
Friday-Sunday and Holidays before 3:00 pm and after 10:30 pm: $ 7,000 - $ 9,000 Preferred
Friday-Sunday and Holidays between 3:00 pm and 10:30 pm: $ 8,500 - $ 10,500 Preferred

3D ROOM
Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Cineco card: $ 10,000 - $ 11,500 Preferred
Non-holiday Tuesday: $ 10,000 - $ 11,500 Prefrerencial
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 3:00 pm and after 10:30 pm: $ 10,000 - $ 11,500 Preferred
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between 3:00 pm and 10:30 pm: $ 11,500 - $ 13,000 Preferred
Friday to Sunday and holidays Cineco card: $ 10,000 - $ 13,000 Preferred
Friday-Sunday and Holidays before 3:00 pm and after 10:30 pm: $ 10,000 - $ 13,000 Preferred
Friday-Sunday and Holidays between 3:00 pm and 10:30 pm: $ 13,000 - $ 15,000 Preferred

Got it?  So if I see the noon or 3:00pm show it should cost me 7,000 or 8,000 pesos ($3.89 or $4.44, not bad!).  Not sure what preferred is but I know I don’t have a Cineco card.

For dinner I wanted something light without a soda so I went to Laureles Mall and walked around a bit.  I finally ordered something from the new place – SanJote Parrilla.  I had a Mini pinchos de pollo which was 3 mini chicken shish-kabobs with a small salad and a mini arepa (6,800 $3.78) and a fresa malteada which is a strawberry milkshake (4,000 $2.22).