Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

Yesterday, Jhon recommended to me a health club called Molinos Gym and showed me where it is on a map.  It appears to be the same one I’ve been trying to find so either I missed it or it isn’t open any longer.

Last night, Beatriz told me, for whatever reason, that the house cleaner isn’t available on Wednesday so we changed it to next Tuesday.

I found a little lizard in the living room last night, caught him pretty easily and released him downstairs.  I could swear I heard him squeak when I grabbed him; not sure though.

I asked Reina what poison was in her sister’s bedroom and she said (translated to English) “rat poison. she left her apartment and no memory to speak with me. not that poison she says sorry”.

I went to bed at 11:20, got up once during the night, woke up at 6:30 to Lionel’s radio and finally got up at 7:15.

I picked up milk from the corner store and had a waffle for breakfast.  Hopefully there should be plenty of time before I go to bed so I don’t get heartburn tonight.

Today, Colombia plays Uruguay at 5pm.  I understand CO needs a win or a tie to qualify for the World Cup.

By the way, Bob says he wants to be fluent in Spanish by December and he says he understands a lot that he hears even though he can’t speak it but he doesn’t appear to be working on it and I think I’m way ahead of him.

I took my Seiko watch to the guy with the cart under the bridge hoping he had a new battery for it.  He took the old one and said to come back tomorrow.

Lunch was a FriSnack at Frisby at 2pm.  On the way to LM I told the lady on the bridge with the 3 kids about Angel dying and I also told Daniel at Frisby when he took his break.

I left about 3:30 and bought a stick of butter for the popcorn at the corner store for 1,500 pesos (about 75 cents).  I was concerned about it spoiling quickly but Jhon had told me earlier not to worry because that type of “butter” doesn’t go bad.  L 

The owner of the apartment sent me an article extolling the benefits of living in Medellin, although I took exception to a couple of points:

1.  “In Medellin, … During our entire visit, I heard the honking of not a single car horn, not by a taxi driver and not by anyone else either.

She must not have left her hotel room.  As soon as a stoplight turns from red to green at least one vehicle (taxi, bus, or car) honks their horn.

When a taxi pulls up to a house to pick up a rider, they honk their horn immediately and repeatedly until the person shows up or the taxi driver leaves.

2.  “Medellin … In the central neighborhoods, you see no litter.” 

I’m not sure what she means by “central neighborhoods” but there must be litter as there are workers here at all hours cleaning up the streets.  At least they stay on top of the problem.  I’ve been impressed by the care they show and extent they go to keep things clean.  I’ve even seen workers removing grass from between the cement tiles in the park.

I made popcorn (too much salt this time) and took it with me to the corner store where I met Jhon, Bob and his friend (the other) Margarita.  Unfortunately Colombia lost to Uruguay 2-0 so I guess their aspirations for the 2014 World Cup are over.

Dinner was a can of fruit cocktail that Beatriz doesn’t appear to want but she does like canned peaches.