I went to bed at 11pm but had great difficulty getting to
sleep. Is that because: I had a Pepsi
with my dinner; I forgot to take my medicine until just before I went to bed;
or I couldn’t stop thinking about the “mystery woman”? It rained for most of the evening which
didn’t seem to help things much. The
last time I looked at my watch it was 1:10am so my best guess is I finally got
sleep about 2am. I woke/got up at 7:45
and took a hot shower (YEAH). I walked
up to Carrera 84 and walked down to Calle 35 and down to the bakery where I had
my usual café con leche and croissant.
(On my way I passed a small restaurant where they advertise breakfast
and lunch for only 2,900 pesos ($1.53).
Jhon told me later it probably doesn’t include any meat.)
I basically retraced my steps on my way back but then cut
down the street that Bob’s hostel is on and found him sitting out on the front
steps. He was checking his tablet while
I read some more in my Nook. I asked him
again how much he pays for the hostel and he said $10 a day. When he was ready for his breakfast we went
across the street to his bakery, which I found out is named Fresco Pan, where he had his usual –
coffee and a ham and cheese pastry. Bob
told me that Sunday night he and Patricia “bonded”, if you know what I mean, so
I told him he can relax, she’s obviously made her choice and I’m out of it. A man Bob knows from the Tinto store stopped by
and told him they are having a surprise birthday party next week on Tuesday,
October 29th, for Mary, the owner’s wife.
BTW, Mary is married to an older man who owns the Tinto
Store and her sister is Patricia.
Patricia’s son is the gay nephew I mentioned back on September 12th.
And Patricia has one more sister who is 29 and has 2 kids. So I think that completes the family.
I met Jhon at his office at noon and we went to Exito and I
got registered for their points (rewards program). They gave me a card with a special set of
numbers to use for the first month and then I can use my Cedula number. Jhon and I had lunch at Likkes where we found
out they have a new owner but the same workers.
That’s comforting to know! Jhon
told me Beatriz called him to find out what I had to say about the breakup and
he told her I hadn’t said anything. (I
think it’s best for him to stay out of this, especially since I consider it to
be over!)
The next lesson (Core Lesson #3) in RS took me 55 minutes to
complete but at least I had a score of 99%.
It introduced a lot of new words relating to time and travel.
At 4:20pm I checked my iPad and I have an email, via
Facebook, from Beatriz which says “hello, how are you”. Interesting!
Jhon told me earlier he was going downtown for a meeting but
I found Bob at the corner store and he went with me to Fresco Pan where I had a café con leche and ham and cheese pastry
for less than 2mil. Boy does Colombia have
good coffee. Bob was going to meet
Patricia to discuss their trip to a finca tomorrow so I stopped at the
apartment and since it’s only 76 degrees outside I put on a long sleeved
shirt. Coca Cola has had a promotion
where they are giving a lot of discounts and freebies under their bottle caps
and I started walking towards McDonald’s to use one of them.
As I cut through Exito I noticed they now
have an entire aisle with Christmas trees, ornaments and decorations next to
the aisle for Halloween. In the lower
level I saw the cute lady who assists with the taxis and we exchanged
“hellos”. By the time I got to LM I
remembered that everything I could get included a Coke for a drink and I didn’t
want any troubles sleeping tonight so I turned around and headed back to
Viva. I sat in their food court until 7:18pm
and then I ordered a Whopper and large strawberry milkshake for a total of
16,100 ($8.47). There was a fat lady sitting
in the food court and I realized how rare it is to see a fat person here in Medellin.
I bought a small bucket from Exito, remembering to use my
new “points” card, for only 7,900 ($4.16) so I can soak my mop in it in bleach
between bi-weekly cleanings.
As usual I used the crossover bridge over Avenida 80 and I
stopped for a moment to see if I could see Bob (or maybe Margarita) in
Redd’s bar. As I turned around I saw the
woman who works with the taxis in the lower level of Viva Mall. This is the first time I’ve seen her “out of
uniform”; she usually wears sort of a smock or apron. She said she was going to the store for a
coffee and I asked if I could join her.
The Tinto store was closed but she ordered something from the corner
store and I said “the same” which turned out to be a Coke. Oops.
I wasn’t too pleased that she lit up a cigarette and when I asked her
about that she said it was because of the stress. She
passed me a note that said “I’m sad” but I didn’t know what it said until I
translated it at home later.
Then we started guessing each other’s age. She
told me she is very old! I didn't believe that so I started at 35 for her and she started at 50
for me. It turns out she’s 48 years old;
unbelievable. I haven’t had a good look
at her figure but she doesn’t seem to have a wrinkle on her face. Her name is Gloria and she lives with her 16
(?) year old daughter and has a 24 year old son who is married. She worked for Exito at another location for
a year and now this Exito for a year (which is probably how long they’ve been
open). She works every day, including
holidays, except Thursday which is her day off, from
10am to 8pm with 2 hours off for lunch from noon to 2pm. She lives in Itaqui which is quite a ways south of here. We exchanged cell phone numbers and I asked
her if she would like to go to a movie with me on Thursday. She
seemed kind of hesitant so I asked the owner of the store to tell her that I’m
a good man. I don’t know what she said
but it sure sounded good and Gloria seemed to be impressed and she said to call
her.
When she had to go I waited
with her by the bus stop for a while until finally a friend gave her a
ride. The main reason why I hadn’t asked
her out up till now is because I don’t think she’s even 5 feet tall. That’s a discussion for another time.
When I got home I finally remembered to take my medicine.
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