Thursday, January 16th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11, got up twice during the night, woke up at 6:20 and finally woke/got up at 8am.

I had coffee and croissant again at Los Mejores on Calle 35 then I just walked up to 83A and over to Calle 37 where I caught the Simon Bolivar bus.  Interestingly, an attractive woman got on the bus right where I would have caught it at the top of my street but I’ve never seen her before.

I got to page 168 of Sidney Sheldon’s If Tomorrow Comes and I realize I read this book before – many, many years ago.  The part I recognized is when a couple con 2 chess grand masters, unknowingly, into playing against themselves when they believe they are playing simultaneously against some woman they’ve never heard of.

This time I noted the exact address of the bus stop near Parque Berrio – it’s Carrera 50 #49-26.

I walked about 2 blocks south and 4 blocks west to El Hueco at Calle 48 #53-53.  The number for the Local (store #) I had was an Administration office.  That’s when I realized that’s what I would get off the internet.  I walked inside and showed the lady there my note asking where I could buy a chess table or chess board. 

She called another man on her walkie talkie and he came and led me to a store but all they had were the usual chess sets that fold into a box.  I caught the next bus back and picked up my chess set from the apartment.

As I was leaving I saw the woman in the burqa with her son coming down the street from Carrera 83A.

I bought a bag of chips, Coke (my lunch) and bottle of water from SanJote and set up my chess set.  At one point Dario stopped by and we played 2 quick games – each of us winning one.  Later Jim stopped by and I gave him the extra Chess Life magazine and catalog I had.  Jim being there allowed me to make a quick trip to the restroom and order Solomito and mango juice for my dinner from SanJote while he watched my things.  He asked me if I was going to watch the Patriots vs Broncos game Sunday at 3pm to see 2 of the best quarterbacks in the NFL go against each other.  I just might.