Sunday, May 19th, 2013

I did not have a good night last night!

After breakfast and a 2-hour nap this morning I sent the following email to the owner of the apartment:

“I went to bed at my usual 10pm and fell asleep pretty quickly.  I was awakened at 11pm by music and voices from what sounded like downstairs.  I told myself, “this is Colombia, it’s a weekend, and they like to party so let them have their fun”.  Either I got used to it or it stopped because I fell asleep shortly thereafter.  I was awakened again at 2pm by music which sounded like it might be from a radio again coming from downstairs.  It wasn't particularly loud it was just there!  These apartments are like an echo chamber amplifying any sound within them.  I went into the dining room and got a chair and put it against the wall in the back of the 2^nd bedroom and peered outside from the louvers in the window.  The only light I could see was coming from a large window beneath me – Lionel’s apartment.  I took the back legs of the chair and tapped them loudly on the floor and after a few seconds the music seemed to have been turned down a little.  I took the chair into the master bedroom (where I suspect I would be above Lionel’s living room or bedroom) and wrapped the back legs some more until the music went away.  After that I didn’t hear a sound in the whole neighborhood so I knew the music was coming from his apartment.

Could you please ask Lionel to be quiet during the night?  (Later I could even hear the hinges of one of his doors squeaking as he maybe even left the apartment and came back about 30 minutes later.)  Maybe that won’t be necessary as I believe I communicated my desire for quiet.  Tell him I’m sorry for having to do that but I have a difficult time sleeping anyway with my enlarged prostate problem.”

While at Exito picking up my milk I also noticed a woman picking up a flyer at the Subway in the food court.  I picked one up too and it’s a flyer advertising their 15cm (6”) Special of the Day subs for only 7mil ($3.89).  Most places charge 3mil ($1.67) for either soda or juice so I hope I can find one of the restaurants there selling juice so I can get a complete meal for only 10mil ($5.56).  Here are their specials for each day:

Monday – Italian B.M.T. (whatever that is)

Tuesday – Turkey & ham

Wednesday – Italianissimo (that’s Spanish; must be Italian something again)

Thursday – Chicken breast

Friday – Ham

Saturday – Turkey breast

Sunday – Tuna

They all sound like they are worth trying.  Maybe I can get the sub “to go” and take it to Laureles Mall where I know I can get juice, or vice versa.

I left the apartment for lunch at Laureles mall.  I had discussed with my brother calling my uncle Charlie today at 1pm to congratulate him on his birthday.  He turns 90 tomorrow.  It was a little too noisy at Laureles Mall but I didn’t have much more luck at Viva because of their piped in music and if I tried to get away from the other people talking there I had trouble getting a Wi-Fi connection.  I finally reached him about 1:15.  He’s still all there mentally and he must be ok physically because he loves to go fishing. He marveled that he could be talking to someone in South America.

I had lunch at SanJote Parrilla in Laureles Mall.  It was pretty crowded; had to sit all the way at one end of the Mall.  I noticed that most people dress pretty casually on the weekends, probably because they have to dress up more during the week to go to work.  I had the Mini pinchos de pollo again which was 3 mini chicken shish-kabobs with a small salad and a mini arepa (6,800 $3.78) and a mango juice for 3mil ($1.67).  It was very tasty and just enough to make for a filling lunch.

I got back to the apartment in time to watch A Company of Heroes on PBS from 7pm to 8pm.  Then I didn’t feel like going out again for dinner so I just finished the box of Fitness cereal and the bag of milk from this morning.  The money I would have spent on dinner will go towards another box.  And it did last me for 10 meals so that worked out pretty well.

Ignorance Tax

Some expats in Costa Rica or Panama have reported being invited out to dinner by their new local “friends” and then being expected to pay the bill at the end of the evening.  They call that paying the Ignorance Tax!