Saturday, August 24th, 2013

Last night I left the apartment about 7:45 for the 9pm game.  I caught the 7:55 Circular 302 bus to Monterrey C.C.  (I was a little afraid buses wouldn’t be running this late; or I’d end up in their overnight garage at the end of their run.  Lol.)  I don’t remember seeing so much traffic – most of it around Los Molinos.  Finally I saw there was a motorcycle accident with an ambulance in the other direction so maybe our lane was slow because of gawkers.  What should have been closer to a 30 minute bus ride took about 50 minutes.  The bus stopped right across the street (a very busy street) from Monterrey.  I had to go to the bathroom so bad I took the time to duck into the mall real quick.  (On the way I noticed I forgot to put on my belt before I left the apartment. Lol.) It was almost 9pm so I paid 4,500 pesos ($2.37; minimum fare) to get to Parque Lleras as quickly as possible.  I decided to skip Hooters for the time being so I headed straight for Patrick’s Pub. 

Michael Patrick was there to great me and he went right to the back room office to try to find the game.  By 9:15 I was watching NFL Total Access on NFL Network.  The only problem was it seemed to be NFL highlights with the promise that after Total Access they would go straight to the Bears game live.  About 9:45 Michael checked and found he had selected the wrong link.  By the time he selected the right link it was 17-0 Bears so I only saw a little more than the last 10 minutes of the 2^nd quarter.  In any case there is no sound because of the many TVs in the place.  I thought the place would be crowded on a Friday night but it wasn’t bad because there are so many places in Parque Lleras.  I tried their Fish & Chips and it was pretty good.  With 3 cokes again the total came to 26,400 ($13.89).  The Bears were ahead 27-3 at halftime.  Michael Patrick says we won’t have all these problems like having a grainy picture once the regular season starts.  

(That was interesting.  A message just came up on my laptop informing me that the batteries in my mouse need to be replaced.  How convenient!  Luckily I’ve got an extra pair right here when they fail.)

I stayed just a few more minutes to catch some highlights and statistics and then I walked down the street to check out Hooters.  They didn’t appear to have the game on.  Parque Lleras doesn’t look like much when I’ve been here during the day but it was really hopping tonight.  It was very impressive with all the bars and restaurants open with all the lights on and people walking around.

I was back home by 11:15 and it sounded like one of the houses across the street was having a party of their own.  It finally stopped right at midnight so I guess it’s safe to go to bed now.

I went to bed at 12:30am, got up twice during the night and woke up again at 6:35.

Someday I’m going to go back through my postings and move all the “Last night” comments to the previous day where they belong.

I had the Desayuno (breakfast) Express at Bunuelo Express at 8am this morning and at 9am I picked up my laundry from across the street.  It’s a nice cool morning probably enhanced by the fact it’s so overcast.  I’m tempted to wear my jeans this afternoon.

I just figured out it’s only Google in Internet Explorer (not Firefox) that is automatically converting my Spanish to English.  I’ll have to remember that, that could come in handy.

I just checked the list of chess clubs in Medellin against my most recent map.  Three out of the five appear to be pretty close to here and one other appears to be about a block from where I was last night in El Poblado.

 SEE SEPARATE POSTING OF CHESS CLUBS IN MEDELLIN

I stopped by Jhon’s office about 10:30 and he was working with that pretty lady Isabel.  (According to Jhon, she’s 36 years old, a very serious lady, and works for the government.)  I asked him if he wanted to go for a drink later and he said to come back at noon.   I went down to the lower level of Viva and had a small Pepsi at Dogger’s.  While I was there I saw that pretty lady who, I think, obtains taxis for people with large amounts of groceries and no car.  We’ve been flirting with each other a little bit.  The main problem, besides she doesn’t speak English, is I’m pretty sure she’s under 5’ tall.  While there a man named Juan came up to me and asked me if I would teach him English.  I told him no, but my friend could and he gave me his business card.  It looks like his job entails construction.

I went back to Jhon’s office just before noon and while I was waiting Beatriz called me.  I told her the movie isn’t playing at Los Molinos anymore so we have to go to El Tesoro.  Because it’s a lot further away I asked her to meet me at my apartment at 7:30 and she agreed.  Because it’s a weekend I’m afraid there may be a line.  Maybe not because it’s a late movie; it starts at 9:30.  After tonight I’ll know better.

Jhon asked me to spend a few minutes talking to Isabel.  No problem!  She lives in Simon Bolivar with her mother, father, and 2 sisters.  She has a brother that lives in a different neighborhood.  She is a social worker who works for the Antioquian (sp?) government and she has just started working on her masters degree. 

After she left a man came by selling fruits and vegetables to Olga next door and I bought a bag of about 8 apples for 4,500 pesos ($2.37).  They look like Gala or Fuji so we’ll see how they taste.

I left there about 1:15 and I wanted something quick so I had a Hamburger Combo #3 at Gordog’s because someone, I don’t remember who, said they would meet me on Saturday at 1 or 2pm to play chess.

No one showed up so I left about 3:30 and headed to Jhon’s office to see if he wanted to get a drink but he had already closed up shop.  Luckily I remembered I needed milk so I stopped at the corner store.  I asked my new amigo what his name is and he said Fabian.

Tonight we should be going to see Red 2 at El Tesoro.  More details tomorrow.