Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

I felt that Beatriz was getting a little too serious in regards to our relationship so I had a talk with her last night.  I made it clear that I want to date other women if I should meet someone I’m interested in.  She understood but wasn’t very happy about it.

I went to bed at 10pm and woke up sometime around 4am.  I finally got back to sleep and woke/got up at 7am.  At 8am I was at the bakery having a café con leche and croissant.  (I passed Beatriz on the way and I said “good morning” and she only said “hi”, without the usual “mi amor”.  It’s probably better this way.)  The ladies at the bakery are getting used to seeing me now and think I’m quite the novelty.  Jhon joined me about 15 minutes later.  I brought him up to speed on what I’ve been up to since last time we talked.  He went with me to Likkes and I was happy to see Laura still working there; that made it much easier to order 2 lunches for today – for me and the housekeeper.

The housekeeper, Olga, arrived about 9:15.  I had already removed the dirty bedding so I asked her to make the bed, wash some t-shirts and a pair of shorts in addition to her usual cleaning.

Laura brought our lunches at 11:45.

The following is from the October 15, 2013 issue of Medellin Living News:

Over the weekend, Colombia secured it's spot in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after an incredible comeback against Chile. 

Colombia was being destroyed in the first 30 minutes, with Chile scoring the first three goals, but to their credit, they fought back in the second half to finish with a 3-3 tie. They only needed one point to quality for the World Cup, and that's exactly what they managed.

Friday night may have been cause for celebration with the soccer victory, but Saturday night was a different story. 

A new apartment building collapsed, killing 11 and injuring two more. Luckily, it had been evacuated due to evidence of a structural fault, but sadly, the workers who went to resolve the issue ended up giving their lives.


Olga finished at 2:00.  She does a great job!  She even tucked in the bed like you see in hotels and she must have cleaned the toilet paper holder because both rolls are now unrolling from the back instead of over the top as I normally put them.

I met Bob in the park sitting on a park bench.  We chatted for a while and then I dropped off my laundry and picked up my shoe at the shoe repair shop – it took 8 days but for only 4,500 ($2.37).  On my way through Viva mall I saw an attractive young lady on the other side of the aisle and she gave me a warm smile.  It wasn’t until later that I recalled she was one of the ladies sitting at the next table at the corner store when Bob, Jhon and I were sitting together.

I met Bob again at the corner store and we had a drink and chatted a bit longer.  He’s really hung up on this Patricia (and I like her too) but he has some problems: he doesn’t have much money and he smokes (although he said he would quit for her). 

I stopped at the apartment for a few minutes to drop off my shoe and then went to LM and had their Ensalada Especial for 9,800 ($5.16).  This time I asked for no apples and a couple cherries – in Spanish of course.  They had the futból game between Colombia and Paraguay on the television and I saw the first goal – by Paraguay.

I left there and was at Dario’s for the award ceremony exactly at 7pm like I was supposed too.  There were 6 kids playing chess, one girl watching and Dario and another man were watching the futból game.  I saw Colombia score their first goal to tie it up.  Dario asked if I wanted to play chess and I asked with whom.  I didn’t want to get into a long game with Dario but he asked the girl to play against me.  She’s only 11 years old but she’s going to be good.  I checkmated her just as the 2^nd half was starting.

Ten minutes later I was at the corner store where Bob was with a crowd of people.  I found an empty chair and saw Colombia score another goal to go up 2-1 (which was the final).  Bob recommended another TV series he had started – Lied to Me.  After the game Jhon, who was sitting on the other side of the crowd, came over and joined us after the game.  We chatted for a bit and then I headed back to the apartment.