Thursday, October 10th, 2013

It’s 4:15pm and I have been too busy to keep up with my blog let alone continue with my Spanish lessons.  I have almost 3 hours before I have to leave for Sport Wings.  If they don’t have NFL network then I have to catch a taxi for Patrick’s Irish Pub in Parque Lleras.

I found out the name of the owner of the corner store is Arieles (sp?) pronounced something like Israelis.

Last night I walked to Beatriz office where we caught a taxi to Los Molinos.  We got there at 6:20 for the 6:45 show and found another surprise - a very long line for the movie.  There were 6 young ladies waiting ahead of us in line and in time we discovered one of them spoke English.  I asked her why there were so many people tonight and she said this is a discount night and many people are still on vacation this week.  I was thinking we should switch to another night, a non-discount night, but if it’s because of a holiday week then I guess we won’t have to.  Finally we purchased our tickets for 10.5mil ($5.53) at 7:05 – for the 9:25 showing of The Conjuring.  My lower back was killing me so I took 2 Excedrin Migraine and the pain went away pretty quickly.  We were both a little hungry so we first stopped at Popsy and shared a banana split with Snickers bits for 9,900 ($5.21).  I waited 30 minutes and then took my medicine.

We spent the next 2 hours walking around the mall.  They have an exhibit this month called Alaska where for 15mil per person you spend 15 minutes in a room that is cold and where it is snowing.  They provide the jackets and gloves.  I told Beatriz I would bring her here with her son and daughter on Sunday.  Beatriz found a small hair clip she liked for 4mil that I bought for her.  (I think I embarrassed the 2 young ladies that were “working” in the store when I pointed out they were both on their cell phones – the same as in the U.S.  They immediately stopped using them after that.)  I found a “yoga mat” for 40mil that is a lot thicker than what I have been using that currently is a little hard on my knees for 40mil.  I also asked at several barber shops if anyone spoke English and finally found Ruben – if memory serves me correct – at Nova Zhen local 1067.  At one point I tried to explain to Beatriz about the RunPee app I have on my iPad.  (Or go to www.RunPee.com.)

At 9pm we finally headed upstairs and bought our usual Combo #3 for 26,500 and a Snickers for 4,400 for a total of $16.26.  Imagine having to “dress” 2 hotdogs, fill 2 large sodas, while also carrying a bucket of popcorn.  They overdid the salt on the popcorn so I didn’t eat as much as I usually do.

The movie was pretty scary for a lot of the ladies as I heard some screaming and as the movie was nearing the end Beatriz had my hand in a death grip.

I went to bed at 12:30 but had a difficult time getting to sleep.  The last time I looked at the clock it was 3pm.  That’s probably the result of having so much soda so late in the evening.  I didn’t get up at all during the night and finally got up at 7:15am.

I decided to go over to San Juan (Calle 44) for a sugar/arequipe donut but when I got there – no donuts.  I walked all the way over to Calle 35 where I had my more usual croissant and café con leche for $1.  On the way back I walked near where Bob said his hostel was and I saw him sitting on the front steps.  We talked a bit and then took a taxi to the post office.  It only cost me 10mil each way – I thought I remembered it costing more – like 15mil.  Again the lady at the post office told me they don’t have the book yet.  She’s supposed to call Jhon when it comes in but I don’t think I’m going to depend on that.  I plan to stop by there every 2 weeks until I get it or find out it’s been returned.

I invited Bob to see my apartment when we got back.  We were sitting on the balcony when Martha showed up with the worker that’s supposed to fix my balcony door on Saturday morning.  He tried to “level” the door, cleaned the track, and greased the track but it didn’t seem to help.  (I don’t know that he knows what he’s doing because he was greasing one track that doesn’t touch anything.)  Martha said she would come back with a professional to fix it.

Lunch was a hotdog and Pepsi from Dogger followed by a vanilla cone from Burger King.  I walked over to Dario’s apartment complex and they started the tournament about 2:15.  There was one attractive woman there at the beginning but I think she was with her husband.  There were about 10 games going on, without clocks, and they were all finished by 3:30.

Its 5pm, time to do some Spanish lessons.