Sunday, September 8th, 2013 :(

Last night I made popcorn with butter and salt and brought it in the new plastic container I bought last month.  Bob arrived a few minutes later.  He really enjoys flirting with some of the older women there.  A Spanish speaking friend of his joined us at our table.  According to the business card he gave me later his name is Gonzalo and he rents apartments.  He’s a really nice guy and we had fun trying to communicate with his little English and my little Spanish and Bob’s ability to understand much more than he can speak. 

Atletico Nacional won 2-1.

I got a few missed calls just before 9:30 as I was trying to get the cell phone out of my pocket.  I left it on the table and a few minutes later I got a call from Reina.  She was crying and all I understood was “Angel muerte” which means “Angel dead”.  I asked her “why?” but I didn’t understand anything so I asked her to send me an email.

When I got back to the apartment I found this email from her: “el bebé se murió y estoy muy triste lloro y lloro el come veneno y esta aqi en el piso.”  If I change “aqi” to “aqui” it translates to “the baby died and I'm very sad I cry and cry the eating poison and is here on the floor’.

I guess somehow he ate or drank something that was poisonous.  I wrote back asking where he could get poison and she said “si yo muy triste el veneno estaba en casa de mi hermana.  que voy hacer sin no tengo a angel- no quiero tener sueño y despertarme y saber que angel no esta”.  “si” can mean “yes” or “if”.  Here it appears to have gotten translated as “if” when it should have been “yes” so I removed the “si” and it translates to “I was very sad the poison in my sister's house. I'll make no angel-I have not not want to have sleep and wake up and know that Angel is not”.  I understand Angel ingested some poison at Reina’s sister’s house and now Reina doesn’t want to go to sleep knowing that when she wakes up Angel isn’t going to be there.  Later Reina emailed me “how I miss my baby”.  While it was her idea to get a dog and I had some reservations I really loved the little guy, but I’m not buying another one!

I went to bed at 11:15 and fell asleep rather quickly but was awakened by the sound of music (mainly drums?), someone yelling something followed by others cheering.  I finally got up (it was just before 1am) ready to start rocking my chair to have Lionel downstairs turn off the music.  I took a chair into the 2^nd bedroom and looking outside I determined the sound was coming from the other side of the block.  Sigh; I guess there’s nothing I can do about that.  My best guess is it finally stopped 60-90 minutes later and I finally got back to sleep.  I woke up at 6am and got up at 6:50am.

After my shower I took a 5 minute walk over to San Juan (Calle 44) and had a Tinto (small Colombian coffee) and a sugar coated donut for 1mil (53 cents).  Talk about a cheap breakfast.  Since the waitress put it in a ceramic cup and put it on the table, I decided to eat it there.

My Rosetta Stone course has been introducing new words like:

Tienda – shop or store

Ferretería – hardware store

Joyería – jewelry store

Librería – book store

I already knew panadería is a bakery.  (Also, although slightly different, is farmacía – pharmacy.)  So, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that “ría” probably means store.  Anyway, on the way back from my “breakfast” I passed a:

Barbería – barber shop

Sisterría – tailor shop

And one you probably know, the waitress had a hat with the word cafetería.

9:15 and it’s a very cool overcast morning.  I’m definitely wearing jeans, shoes and socks with my Chicago Bears t-shirt today.  By 10am the skies had cleared and the coolness was dissipating. 

At 10:30 I was waiting downstairs and Beatriz soon appeared.  We discussed a few things using the translator in my computer and then we walked down to Avenida 80 where we met Bob and Margarita.  I asked Bob if I could sit in back as I needed to talk to Beatriz.  I told her Angel had died and while she was upset to hear that at least she didn’t cry. 

We got to Parque Lleras by 11:15 for about a 12 mil taxi ride.  Employees at Patrick’s were washing the patio floor and setting up tables so we walked across the street to Aloha Bar & BBQ where Bob and I had a cup of coffee and the ladies had breakfast for a total of 30mil.  Bob had a nice conversation with the owner as they had both worked on Oahu in the hotel business.  I was the last in line as we walked out and the owner said it was refreshing to see some “normal people”.  I asked him what he meant and he said most gringos here are with 18-year old girls while I was with a 40 year-old woman and Bob is with a 50 year-old woman. 

At Patrick’s it took about a quarter to get Bob’s Atlanta Falcons game and it took a half to get the Chicago Bears game.  Bob said the delay was something about a switch not being set.  In any case we’re going to investigate other options closer to home.  At halftime Beatriz and I walked down to Hooters and they had a soccer game on 2 TVs and the rest appeared to have the Atlanta Hawks game but they do have a more extensive food menu.  Back at Patrick’s I had the chicken satay, an order of onion rings and 3 cokes, and Beatriz had the Chicken Wallace and a beer for a grand total of 57,650 including tip (coded on the bill as Ser Vol).  The Bears eked out a win over the Bengals 24-21. 

As we were leaving we ran into Chris from the Flip Flop Sandwich Shop where we were headed for dessert.  We wanted to treat the ladies to brownies but instead they only had s’mores which they thought was pretty unusual and it didn’t help their lipstick any.  Since I picked up the check for breakfast, Bob picked up the check for dessert.  Beatriz had to be back by 5pm because she had a manicure/pedicure client so we caught a taxi and she was back by 4:30.  I met Bob & Margarita at the bar on Avenida 80 for a while and then headed to LM for dinner. 

I had the beans and mango juice and as I was sitting down I saw Jimmy and his wife Ruby playing chess.  After I finished eating they invited me to play a game but I had to get back to my apartment to take my medicine and write this blog.