Monday, October 28th, 2013

Last night I was at the corner store just before 5:30 and there were plenty of seats available.  The place filled up as I sat there although there were still a couple of chairs left at halftime when I left with Chica ahead of A/N 1-0.  I had a café con leche and ham & cheese pastry up the street at the Fresco Pan bakery for $1.  One of today’s church sessions let out across the street about 7pm and I didn’t want to hog a table since I had finished eating so I left and headed back to the apartment.  As I passed another store I noted the score was still 1-0 but I heard a lot of cheering from the direction of the stadium by the time I got to my apartment.  

I took my medicine right away and then watched Episode 8 of Sleeper Cell.  I’m having a little problem “hearing” when they are speaking in Arabic.  I get the English translation in subtitles but on top of those it’s in Spanish so I can’t see the English.  I think I get the Spanish because my laptop’s IP address says I’m in Colombia.  One of the Colombia Expats posted information as to how to switch one’s IP address from Colombia to the US.  I think I’ll explore that further.

I found a small lizard about 2” long, caught him and set him outside on the balcony railing.

I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 4:40am and got up at 5am.  I did my exercises, took my shower and still was at the juice stand on Carrera 84 by 6am.  Alberto finally opened at 6:30 and he confirmed today IS NOT a holiday.  However, next Monday IS a holiday – something about honoring the sons of Colombia and the following Monday IS also a holiday – Independence of Cartagena from the Spanish.

I nursed a large orange juice for 2,500 pesos ($1.32) until 7:30.  No sign of the “mystery woman”; did I mention that this is my new name for her?  For my breakfast, at the Paisa Pan on San Juan (Calle 44) I had 2 donuts with arequipe inside and 2 cups of coffee for 3,400 pesos ($1.79).

Using my magicJack I called Apple and confirmed that I did purchase iTunes Match but the reason it didn’t show up on my debit card is because they charged it to a gift card I had associated with my account.

I called my dentist in Northbrook, IL and talked to Vickie his receptionist.  I mentioned I got 2 crowns for $500 each and she said that they charge $1400 for a crown.  Wow, I guess I did get a good deal.

About 10:45 I stopped in Viva and found Gloria right away and invited her to lunch but today is her birthday and her company is taking her to lunch.  I decided to stay in ML for a while and then go to McDonald’s to use one of my bottle tops for a free McFlurry when I buy a Combo meal.  I bought a bottle of water but then I spotted Franklin at one of the side tables.  I invited him to play chess and we didn’t finish until 3pm.  (About 2pm I bought a Pepsi and a large bag of potato chips that I shared with my opponent.)  I’m not even sure how many games we played – 9 or 11 but I won them all.

When I left I walked through Viva but no sign of Gloria so I stopped at the Tinto store where I spent a couple hours with Bob and Peaches.  I believe she was cutting Sim cards to fit in his cell phone.

When I left I stopped across the street (kiddie corner from the corner store) and bought a nice ripe banana for 100 pesos (5 cents).

Dinner tonight was a Whopper and small strawberry shake from Burger King.