Friday, January 3rd, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11:15 and was awakened once in the middle of the night by a short burst of firecrackers.  I woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:30.  

I had coffee and a croissant at Panaderia Los Mejores and then I took a little money out of my checking account to pay for my Cedula.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I asked James Lindzey how much he pays for rent for his 13^th floor apartment in a gated community and he said 2,500,000 pesos ($1,315) a month.  Its 3 bedrooms plus a den (he called it a maid’s room).  Also, I probably again have 15 days from the date of issuance of my renewed visa (December 24^th) to renew my Cedula (Wednesday, January 8^th).

I stopped at the Tinto store and had a coffee so I could talk to Gonzolo about the arrangements for my laundry.  Before I had even received my coffee Beatriz stopped by and I made plans for her to meet me at the corner store in 30 minutes for my laundry.

I finished my coffee, went back to the apartment, picked up my dirty laundry (sheets, towels, and 4 shirts) and headed back to the corner store.  Beatriz showed up about 10 minues later and took everything.  It will be interesting to see if they charge more this time since once again I have included towels and there is an additional shirt.  Probably not!

I checked the US movie releases and The Best Offer (7.8) and Open Grave (6.2) might be interesting.  Unfortunately, there isn’t anything playing in Medellin this week with Spanish subtitles.

While waiting for Reina I filled out the Cedula application.  When she arrived I asked her to call Immigration to find out if anything has changed from the form James gave me.  Unfortunately no one answered so we decided to go for lunch first.  She didn’t want to have to come back to the apartment so I put everything I thought I would need in my TechBag.

We both had the solomito with a mango juice and she also had a bowl of soup for a total of 36mil ($18.95) at SanJote in LM.  She still has a little bit of a sore throat and it’s a little uncomfortable for her to swallow.  

Afterwards we took a look at the pets in the pet store; they have a cute little scottish terrier for 1,300,000 ($684).  Then I took her across the street to Viva CC and showed her the 5D eXtreme Simulador.  She talked to the young lady working there and at first she thought it was too expensive (7mil = $3.68) for such a short ride (3 ½ minutes) but I told her not to worry about that.  The original plan was to go to Immigration first but since we were already there and there was another couple going in and there are 4 seats she decided she wanted to go now.  I’ve been in something similar before.  You’re seat belted into a padded chair with goggles to wear and handles to hold onto.  I was told it was called Mountains of Russia but I think it was more like a roller coaster ride inside some mountains that didn’t have any resemblance to Russia.  It is 3D and at several points a large cobra is menacing you and when it spits somehow a mist of water comes at you.  That part was pretty cool.  

We then took a Circular 302 bus down to the Saludcoop Clinic where we got off and walked west a couple of blocks to find that the Immigration office was open.  After we walked in Reina asked them if the form we had was accurate (it is) but when I reached to get my passport I realized I left my TechBag in the 5D Simulador.  Immigration isn’t going to be open Monday so we’re going back on Tuesday.  We took a Circular 303 bus back to Viva CC and luckily retrieved my TechBag with passport and all my documents.

I told her I wanted to pay for the Cedula today and it has to be deposited into a special Banco de Occidente account.  She said the usual buses we take downtown take too much time so we walked a block short of the Burger Bar (Carrera 77 & Transversal 39) and caught a Laureles 190 bus.  

We got off at Calle 50 & Carrera 46 and walked to the bank at Calle 52 & Carrera 47-29.  It was nice that there was only one person ahead of us in line and the lady teller was very helpful.  I deposited the required amount 153,300 ($80.68) into the required account.  What was a little unsettling is both guards in the bank stand there with their revolvers out, hanging at their side or in front of them.  We then walked a few blocks away (Carrera 46 #52-23) and had some ice cream.  She had the fruit salad with ice cream and cheese and I had the same without the cheese.  I told her that cheese isn’t an option in the US.  I asked her if she had ice cream when she was in the US and she said yes.  I asked her if she had cheese with it and she said no.  The total came to 14,800 ($7.79).

She walked me back to the bus stop across from Parque Berrio.  My bus wasn’t there yet but I convinced her not to wait and she took a cab instead of a bus home because she was so tired.  My bus came a couple minutes later, thankfully it left right away and I was home in 30 minutes.

The plan is to just have a bowl of chili tonight at LM.