Friday, December 20th, 2013

I went to bed at 12:15am, didn’t get up at all during the night, and woke/got up at 7am.  My back feels better but I still decided to skip my workout this morning.

I had my usual breakfast at Bunuelo Express.  At 9:05 I called Augusto and he showed up about 9:30.  We played 3 games (I won all 3) and at 11:00 he had to leave.  

I stopped at the Tinto store for a coffee and Beatriz (the lady who irons my shirts) was there.  I think another woman washes all the clothes and then Beatriz irons my shirts and the charge is always 20mil.  Bob was there and he commented that Maria, the woman whose husband owns the store, is a real Grinch.  She won’t give Gonzolo money to buy Christmas lights to decorate the store.  She doesn’t want me leaving my laundry there; I’m supposed to drop them off across the street at the corner store.  Maria is also mad at him because he hasn’t called her sister (that’s Patricia aka Peaches) in the last 2 weeks.  Interesting!

I received a Message for U.S. Citizens email from the Embassy today.  I'll include it as a separate posting.

I checked the new U.S. movie releases and I want to see American Hustle (IMDB 8.3), Saving Mr. Banks (7.8), and maybe Walking with Dinosaurs 3D (5.2).  Saving Mr. Banks sounds like a good date movie.

I checked the local theaters and Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is playing at a lot of them but it’s dubbed in Spanish in all of them.

From 2-2:30 lunch was a Hamburger Classic, French Fries and 16 oz. Pepsi for 8,900 from Burger King ($4.68) with coupon.  While I was eating my meal I got a text message from Beatriz “La ropa esta lista” – “the clothes are ready”.  “La” is feminine; now why would clothes for a masculine person be feminine?  Without the aid of a translator I wrote back “a tienda en media hora” “to shop in half an hour”.

After I finished my meal I saw Beatriz talking to someone outside her apartment next to the Tinto store.  She gave me my clothes and I gave her 20mil.  I took them back to the apartment and hung up the shirts right away.  I put my dirty towels in the bag and walked down to the laundry.  The lady hefted them and declared 1 kilo = 6mil and that they would be ready on Monday after 10am.

Since I was in the neighborhood I stopped at the bakery across the street from the hotel but I didn’t see any sugar donuts and all the tables were taken anyway.  While walking over to Calle 35 a young woman with reddish brown hair gave me a big smile and said “hola”.  Interesting; I didn’t recognize her from anywhere.

At Paisas Pan on Calle 35 I had a coffee and sugar donut (churro).  I remembered I had seen an “American” store selling imports somewhere across the street so I decided to check it out.  It’s very close to the bakery; it’s called meImportas and they carry some familiar American products.  I noted they have 2# jars of mixed nuts for 44mil.  He gave me his business card after I asked him for one.

When I got back to LM I saw a young man on stilts in front of the Claro office there.

I took a nap from 4:20 to 5pm.

There isn’t any sign of life from the “working” house across the street.  I often see the owner there leaning outside the upstairs window smoking a cigarette but not for the past couple of days.

I finished Body of Evidence by Patricia Cornwell and downloaded Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy.

I've received some recent Expats opinions regarding the holidays.  I'll include it as a separate posting.

I completed Synergy Spanish Lesson 1.

At 7pm I was at Fresco Pan having a slice of ham & cheese pizza for 2mil.  A wedding had just begun across the street at the church.  Men were in suits and women in dresses and high heels.  A few of them sat at tables in the bakery instead of the church.  I left at 8pm as the bakery began to run out of tables.