Sunday, July 14th, 2013

At 7:45 last night I decided to change clothes just in case Beatriz showed up early because leaving here at 8:15 might not leave enough time to get tickets and treats before the movie starts.  I had just taken my shirt off when she rang from downstairs. 

I let her in and she told me her client didn’t show up.  As we agreed she was dressed much more casually than last time.  I changed into jeans and a pullover shirt and we caught a taxi to Los Molinos C.C.  It’s just a little under 5mil each way by taxi.  On the way I saw a Kit Kof Burguer restaurant on the west side of the street near Calle 33.  (I have “directions” to another location east of me I’ve wanted to try but it might be about a 20 block walk.)  Either it’s a very new location or I’ve walked right past it and didn’t notice because it was daylight and it wasn’t lit up like last night.  I will definitely be giving it a try in the near future – just to try something different.

At the theater again there was a long line for tickets.  Preferential (assigned seating beyond the front 2 rows) tickets for 2 cost 23mil ($12.11) – of course 3D movies are more.  (They also have some type of Cine Colombia Club card but I don’t know yet how it works.)  We bought a medium popcorn (with salt only) this time and again a large Pepsi for about $6.  I think those are perfect sizes for us.  We still had about 30 minutes before the movie start time so we went down 2 levels and walked around a bit.  Interestingly we found ourselves in a Payless shoe store.  She found a pair of pretty black strappy sandals in size 6 ½ for 50mil she really liked and I found a nice pair of gym shoes for about the same price.  We didn’t buy anything though – I didn’t have that kind of extra money on me anyway.

15 minutes before show time we headed upstairs, used the bathroom, filled our soda cup and entered the theater.  There were a couple of coming attractions at 9:15 before the main feature started about 9:25.  It was a good movie, lots of action, and there were a lot of funny parts as it didn’t take itself too seriously.  Since I’m listening in English and I can see the Spanish translation there were a couple of surprises I noticed.  First, Tonto was translated into Spanish as Toro, which translated back into English means “bull”.  Second, “mask” translated into Spanish as “mascara”.  It wasn’t until the final scene I realized the actor that plays the bad guy – William Fichtner – is the same one who played the blind man in the 1997 movie classic Contact with Jodie Foster.  The movie was supposed to be 2 ½ hours but somehow we were back in front of Beatriz’s house by midnight.

I was in bed by 12:15, asleep by 12:30 (even with all that late night soda), woke up at 6am and got up at 6:30.  But still my eyes feel tired!

This morning I picked up my cell phone in a careless way and dropped it.  I put out my foot to try to break its fall and I dropkicked it about 6 feet and it hit the floor and broke into 3 pieces.  Luckily just the cover came off and the battery came out and when I put it back together it still worked fine.

I was at the Golden Palermo Hotel by 9am and at breakfast Glenn Monk’s wife came up to me and reported her husband had his 2^nd heart surgery and was doing well.  Now I know what kind of surgery he had.  Yikes!   They are leaving Tuesday to go back to Curacao so I told her to give him my best and I wished them a safe trip back. 

I spent the remainder of the morning and early afternoon going through another chapter in my chess book at Laureles Mall.  No one showed up to play me however.  Lunch was another FriSnack from Frisby.  Again it started getting crowded at 1pm so I headed back to my apartment.  I saw Mary – the pretty dog walker on my way back and I said “hi” and she said “good, good afternoon”.

I finished my latest Nook book: Unbroken – A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.  It’s a very interesting biography of one Louis Zamperini: trouble maker as a boy, set a world interscholastic record in the mile, won a scholarship to USC, qualified for the 1936 US Olympic team in the 5000 meters at 19, shook the hand of Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics, stole Hitler’s personal flag, enlisted as a bombardier in World War II, survived (3 out of 11 on board) his B-24 bomber crashing in the ocean 850 miles west of Oahu, strafed multiple times by a Japanese bomber, he and his brother were captured by the Japanese in the Marshall islands on their 47^th day adrift, spent 3 years in a prisoner of war camp where he was singled out and beaten almost daily until the end of the war in August, 1945, suffered from PTSD until he attended a Billy Graham crusade and was converted, and finally forgave all the guards who had mistreated him.

My next book is a 900+ page beast - Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945.

Today appears to be the championship game between Santa Fe and Atletico Nacional (A/N) being played here in Medellin.  I see there is another match scheduled in Santa Fe on July 17^th in Bogota so maybe it’s best 2 out of 3.  It’s becoming obvious there is a big game today because I see many more people wearing the green and white A/N sweatshirts. 

The kids are playing “slip n slide” across the street.  They put a plastic tarp on the driveway that slopes at about a 30⁰ angle and they apparently poured soapy water on it.

I emailed Reina who called Jesus who apparently is coming to my apartment next Saturday – presumably with my chess table.

If my calves get any bigger I think they are going to explode.  I’m doing lots of walking here!

When I was transferring the capsules for my enlarged prostate from the aluminum packaging into the plastic pill container with me I noticed the box says “Only available under prescription” but all I do is show the lady at the pharmacy what I want and they give it to me, no questions asked.  (Not that I would understand them anyway!)

One recent Canadian woman’s posting to the Colombia Expats forum:

“Just thought I would stop by and say Hi I am headed to Medellin in 3 weeks. I have travelled extensively in Europe, the USA and have visited Argentina, Chile, Brazil and many times to Mexico....But first time to Colombia. A chance meeting last year with someone from Medellin who took the time to explain the truths and the myths has made me curious to visit. I am self employed and it is possible it could be something that could become completely transferable to an online business. But I am getting ahead of myself I am coming during the Festival of the Flowers, and I also will be doing some volunteer work and a little exploring, but I have no set plans for any particular day. All the online forums discuss the Colombian Women and their beauty and how they like White guys....I have never seen a discussion about if Colombian Men have any interest in Gringo Women. LOL. Perhaps I have to assume the answer is "NO" Which would be too bad as there are many good looking latin men...many I have observed in my travels ;) I know there is no hard and fast rule, but just wondered if any other women have put forth this question ....... I guess I might have to wait and find out in 3 weeks. blondehairblueeyes – Canadian”

The following is one expats reply:

“Hi Blondie, Ha Ha. I had to smile when I read your post. I will let you into a secret. There is a very good reason why the Colombian girls want to find a nice Gringo, US or Brit. It’s because many Colombian girls would never marry one of their own men, or sometimes they have, and regretted it after a long period of abuse. My wife and I used to run an introduction agency for Colombian girls to meet English or American men. Almost every Colombian girl would tell us they would prefer to stay single their whole life, rather than marry one of their own. The overwhelming story was one of "keep the wife pregnant, whilst you go off shagging every other girl they could get their hands on, whilst the Colombian wife stays at home bringing up the kids, cleaning, cooking, and spending all their money on other women. So we Gringos are lucky. There were simply millions of available girls, almost throwing themselves at any Gringo. We had a reputation of being a good husband, and there is also a bonus of the girl getting a visa into the USA. But that was the reputation, but it has got a little tainted nowadays. The American men (or agencies) spoilt it by using this fact to sell sex-trips to the American guys, who used to come down and "try out" a load of women, purporting to be potential husbands, some of whom were pretty desperate, and then after bedding them, say "Sorry, I am going back to my wife". Often you will find the American guy got the girl pregnant, and so the attraction has worn a bit thin lately. But what goes around, comes around, and the tables started to turn the other way. After a hell of a load of women getting pregnant and abandoned, the Colombian girl started ripping them off, in a kind of revenge. There are many American men who subsequently got an e-mail saying "I'm pregnant", and trapped them into a lifetime of maintenance. Sometimes there were 20 or 30 alleged fathers to the same kid, sometimes they weren't really pregnant at all, sometimes they would borrow their sister's kid, and all these guys never knew. Today, it is the turn of the British. The Brits are seen as "gentlemen", and are much in demand. I am often walking down the Septima in Bogota, and you would never believe the number of girls who stop, give me "the look", even trying to get off with me, whilst I am with my wife and children. It’s really flattering at my age, when you get girls anything from teenagers upward trying to get my attention, but sometimes it’s a bit embarrassing too. :) So bad luck you are a girl. But good if you are just out for a quick bonk. I am sure you'll be very successful, but don't count on anything longer term than a quick 5 minutes in bed. And do take precautions. A lot of guys who are the most promiscuous, are carrying a hell of a package. They'll certainly give you something (really romantic) to remind you of them and last for your whole life ...... like herpes, HIV, genital warts, human papiloma virus, and a whole host of other stuff. But good luck. Have a really wonderful stay, and if you ever wonder why their own women don't want them as husbands, just try and remember what you read here.”

Dinner was just a bowl of cereal with milk leftover from yesterday.  I’ll probably have a snack wherever I end up watching the big game.  I’ll give you the final score tomorrow night, sports fans.