I went to bed at 10:30
but still got up at least twice, consequently I’m a little tired this
morning. Envigado is a ways further than
Monterrey C.C. which means a taxi might cost me 20mil each way. So I decided to finally test my
independence. I skipped both coffee and
my morning workout. At 7:40 I was at the
corner waiting to catch the Simon Bolivar 195 bus. I didn’t have to wait long. (I noticed the pretty lady I usually see
walking her poodle pick up the dog at somebody’s house; so it isn’t even her
dog. Maybe she does it to be helpful or
maybe for the cash.) At 7:45 as I was
getting on I asked the bus driver “Centro?” and he said “Si Senor” so I felt
extra confident I was going the right way.
And I recognized all the stops from when Reina and I would take the bus
together. So for 1800 pesos ($1) I was
downtown (Centro) at the corner of Calle 50 and Carrera 50 at 8:15. Just before I got off I asked the bus driver
in Spanish “Where metro station?” and he rattled off who knows what, but 2
elderly men thankfully pointed in the right direction as I was getting off.
I only had to walk to the end of the street and then go
kiddy korner (sp?) and I was at Parque Berrio and I could see the metro station
(hard to miss) right behind it. I remember
seeing “P. Berrio” listed on the bus so now I know where that is.
I didn’t really have any trouble buying a ticket for 1800
pesos ($1) except I probably should have saved myself the time and gotten a
round-trip ticket but I don’t know how to say that yet. The train was pretty full initially and
emptied as we got further away from downtown.
The trip took about 15 minutes.
Eddie gave me perfect directions and Exito turned out to be
only about 2 blocks away. Inside at the
back of the store there is a food court with a (most of it closed, except)
McDonald’s. I got there at 5 minutes to
9am, took a quick walk around the few people that were there and as I finished
there was Eddie walking in. He told me I
have to get a cell phone and showed me his with a calling card in it for Panama and one for Colombia. His phone is a BLU Model# N5C820T. He told me so far he likes Medellin better than any other city he has
visited. He is going to leave Sunday and
explore the north part of the country followed by the south. He might even visit part of Ecuador. He should be back in a couple of weeks and we’ll
meet again. Our meeting was scheduled
for 9-10am but we didn’t finish talking until 10:45. (BTW, breakfast was an Egg McMuffin and
coffee for (I don’t remember) so let’s say 10mil ($5.56).)
I walked around Exito looking for a few things that I needed
but it didn’t have any more than my own Exito. About 11:20 I decided to wait until 11:30 for
Q’Doba, the submarine sandwich company (I think that’s what it was called) to
open. At 11:37 I gave up and left.
I was back downtown by 12:20 and back home by 1pm. (As the bus was going over the river I saw a
woman standing naked (and very obviously pregnant) at the edge of the river
shampooing her hair.)
I met John on the way to lunch so he joined me for company and I had Bandeja
Paisa at Likke’s for 7mil ($3.89). After
that I went to Laureles Mall and played chess with Dario for about 2 hours.
Dinner was a cheeseburger at Burger King for 4500 ($2.50) and
a pineapple milkshake from El Corral for 6,600 ($3.67).
No comments:
Post a Comment