Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Last night when I was coming back from dinner I exited through Exito and saw a banquet hall.  It certainly doesn’t look like anything during the day but it was sure looking lit up and fancy tonight.

 It’s 7:30pm and now I have to remember what I did all day.

I went to bed at 10:45, only made 1 trip to the bathroom all night and woke up and got up at 6:45.  

Following my new Sunday routine I packed my chess set and had breakfast for 10mil ($5.56) at the Golden Palermo Hotel.  I still haven’t seen anyone staying there that wasn’t black.  I had my usual - a bowl of granola with milk, some scrambled eggs with ham, coffee, and a large plate of fresh fruit, especially pineapple.

I then went to Mall of Laureles and studied my new chess course until Beatriz joined me at 1:30, ½ hour late, no problem but I thought she might not show.  Just before she arrived the Frisby mascot sat down at my table and finished a game of chess I was studying.  Of course I won.  One of the guys working there took his picture at the table, I may or may not be in the picture, but I asked for a copy and he agreed.

Perhaps because I was sitting right in front of Frisby we decided to have their chicken for lunch.  I gave her 40mil and let her order while I packed up my chess stuff.  It included 2 pieces of chicken for each of us, some small arepas, a couple of small baked potatoes, an order of French fries, one corn on the cob, and sodas (Pepsi for me and an “uncola” for her) for 37,400 ($20.78).  She asked me if that was too expensive.  When I eat there I know it usually costs me 17mil so that wasn’t too excessive so I told her no.  Of course we won’t always be eating there.

After we finished eating we went back to my apartment for a while.

About 5pm we headed down to the fiesta.  The sky looked pretty clear so I didn’t take an umbrella but was surprised that it was misting for about 30 minutes.  It was held in what appears to be a basketball court adjacent to what I think is a community center.  I’ve seen kids playing soccer or basketball there and I’ve seen the elderly doing exercises.  I think it’s a fund raiser.  There was no entry charge but it was so busy we were lucky to find a couple of chairs.  I saw a woman wearing a Chicago White Sox hat – red with white lettering.

They played a lot of Colombian and Mexican music which I enjoyed though at times it was a little too loud.  I warned Beatriz I only had 12mil left and since I have 6 mil now I guess I only spent 6 mil.  Just like in America you buy tickets that you use to purchase the limited drinks and food that they offer.  She had another uncola and I had a Colombiana.  We also shared a small package of mini empanadas with potato inside and a cup of salpicon which is like a mixture of fruit and juice eaten with a spoon.

I’m going to see Beatriz again Wednesday night at 6:30.  We’re going to meet at Jhon’s office.  I asked her if she was going to eat before our meeting and she said she doesn’t usually eat dinner.  I might ask her if she wants to go for ice cream.

Later when I Googled salpicon I also found that an arepa is flat bread made from cornmeal and it’s the basic side dish of any Colombian meal.

Tonight I watched the new TV series Under the Dome on CBS from 8-9pm.